Wasteland Waltz
by Shepard's Lore
Summary: A young man leaves his life long home in search of his father. But can he survive the harsh wasteland, or will he fall into the depths of the apocalypse like so many others?
1. Reborn

OoO( Prologue )OoO

Legends. Every culture has them. The Greek had a pantheon of gods who lived on Mount Olympus. The Norse had their own world called Asgard where gods and giants fought one another, with the human world at stake. Even the Asian cultures had dynasty after dynasty of kami and shén bearing tales of romanticism, anger, hatred and tragedy.

Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, prophets of legend. Robin Hood, Paul Bunyan, Casey Jones, Hercules, Saint Nicholas, King Arthur, Ishiwaka Goemon, Sun Wukong, heroes of legend. Every culture has them, and they are forever idolized within the people of a culture, told to children to make them behave, or to give them hope. There was even an era where these figures were put into comic form. Grognak, the Silver Shroud, the Watchers, Mighty Man, the Unstoppables, and the Unbeatable Shebeast. All made and idolized by youth until they grew up, still praising the same heroes.

This is the tale of one such hero. Not one from comics, or mythological origins. But one who people knew, one who people loved, one who was idolized not because of unbelievable exploits put into text, or told to children. But because of his actions, and his unwavering gaze in the face of impossibility. Even when outnumbered, outmatched, and outgunned, he never gave up on the people of the wastes. It was because of him that the Capital Wasteland is the way it is now, and we have him to thank for the peace we enjoy every single day.

He is our hero, our legend, our idol. He is the Wanderer.

~Excerpt from...  
" **The Lone Wanderer,"**  
Published December 25th, 2297  
As written by famed author Moira Brown

OoO( 1 )OoO

It seems that a lot of the most important moments in a human's life, whether a single man or woman, or humankind as a whole, begin with a flash of light. The creation of the universe is said to have begun with an explosion on a universal scale, a massive flash of photons and galactic fire that formed the livable plain of our existence. And when we first open our eyes, we are assaulted by an intense flash of light as our never before used eyes take in the world around us.

In October 2077, when the bombs fell, the entire world was exposed to a flash of light that literally changed the face of the planet. From the moment that flash covered the surface of the Earth, mankind was plunged into a world of fire and chaos, the likes of which they had never seen before. The entire world, reborn in a flash of light.

Just as one young man was reborn as he kicked open the rickety door of the tunnel he stood in. As soon as he did, he regretted it, as the blinding light of the massive star in their solar system stabbed at him like knives. His entire life, he'd had nothing but the artificial lights of Vault 101 to guide his path. Now, he desperately covered his watering eyes as the ultraviolet light pierced him to his very core. He immediately shrank back into the small cavern outside of the giant doorway of his home, shying away from the intense burning blanket that the sun laid on him.

As he sat in the cavern, he also began to feel other sensations that he'd never felt before. His skin, at least that exposed to the open air, had began to tingle slightly when he had come into contact with the outside air. No longer did thick walls and air filtration systems protect him from the harsh irradiated world. He merely sat, running a single hand through his brown hair as he allowed his eyes to recover from the intense pain they had just received.

While sitting, he thought about everything that had just happened. It seemed as if just yesterday, he had had his tenth birthday almost ruined by the annoying and always intruding Butch. Then again, time itself seemed to disappear in a flash to him, as if vault life were somehow making things go incredibly faster than they should. That was the same day he had gotten his Pipboy 3000, a device clamped around his arm that had practically become a best friend to him. No matter how hard he thought life was in the vault, the Vault Boy always continued to smile courageously, giving him the iconic thumbs up.

He looked down at the green tinted screen of the pipboy. But he was surprised to find that the Vault Boy no longer had a smile for him. Instead, the small figure's face was melancholy, as if saddened by what the boy was about to learn. It wasn't long before he happened to see the blinking appendage that the Vault Boy had. Immediately, he lifted and examined his own arm which was covered in the usual Vault 101 blue jumpsuit.

As it turned out, one of the officers he had to gun down for firing on Tom and Mary Holden had actually gotten him in the arm with a stray shot. How he managed to make it all the way through the fight and through the situation with the Overseer without noticing was beyond him. Such was the wonders of adrenaline, he guessed. Luckily, it wasn't bleeding much, and wouldn't be beyond repairing with a stimpack. He had gotten of much better than Mary, who unfortunately, had caught a bullet directly to her ulna, leaving it in pieces. She'd live, but would likely have to endure weeks of pain and medication before she fully recovered. She told the pair as much when he removed the round from her arm himself, a surgical process taught to him by his father.

That's when he growled menacingly. His father, the man who loved him and cared for him, ultimately left him behind in the vault when he made his escape. No warning, no signs, no hints, no nothing. Just fell asleep one night, then gone the next morning, leaving his son to fend off psychotic vault guards, radroaches, and an Overseer with a power trip. He slowly began to bandage his arm as he recalled the encounter with the overseer.

After his close call with the two officers down the narrow hallway leading to the Atrium, the young man was attempting to sneak past the Overseer's office to reach the front entrance to the vault itself. That was when he heard probably the most blood boiling, enraging sound he had ever heard in his life. It was the sound of Amata screaming in pain. The next few seconds were a blur as he stepped into the office and raised the gun that Amata had given him and fired it directly into the face shield of the man responsible.

Officer Mack, the guard that the Overseer was using to extract information from his daughter, was as sadistic and psychotic as all the rest put together. He had a baton out, one of the non-lethal methods used by Vault Security to keep the peace. But his had small rods on the tip, which sent waves of electricity into whatever they came in contact with. That was currently his best friend, and teenage romance, Amata.

As he fired, he aimed directly for the chest, knowing that it was the greatest target from their distance. The officer, who had turned as soon as he entered the room, was struck in the chest plate and knocked onto his back, groaning in pain. It was then, when he had a clear shot, and Mack was unarmed, that he stepped on the officer's now pain riddled gut, and aimed directly at the man's head. The next bullet smashed the flimsy plastic and splattered the man's blood all over the inside of the shattered mask.

The much older man quickly backed up, raising his hands in defense as John, the doctor's son, reached down to grab the electro-baton off of Mack's corpse. "Please! Don't kill him!" shouted Amata. His finger froze on the trigger as he stared at the man with a hatred that burned deeper than any of the fires that had sprung up in the vault. Reaching down, the doctor's son grabbed the baton that had fallen from Mack's hand when he was shot in the chest.

"Now young man, don't do anything you may regret…" said the Overseer, his tone surprisingly level for having a gun pointed at him by the young man responsible for executing one of his guards.

"You killed him you son of a bitch..." John said as he whipped the edge of the baton into the side of the Overseer's leg, causing the man's stance to buckle, sending him to the floor in pain. "He was a pushover, a fan of sci-fi comics who had trouble asking Jane on a date. And you had him killed..." Despite the probable knee fracture, the older man still managed to crawl backwards as the pistol was held in his face.

"Please..." was all he managed to get out before John aimed the baton at him as well.

"Save it." he said, whipping the baton across the Overseer's hand as it tried to grab the leg of his jumpsuit. "You've killed Jonas, you've tried to kill me, and you had that barbarian torturing your own goddamn daughter!" he shouted, the force behind his voice practically shaking the walls. Two of the guards that had come up to the door, preparing to take the young man down froze in place at the statement.

"I-I did it for the vault!" shouted the older man.

"Say the phrase "for the vault" one more time and this'll be going up your ass." said John viciously as he waved the shock baton in the man's face. "Now, I'm going to say two things, and you're going to listen to me as I say them. Do I make myself clear?" asked the enraged young man. The Overseer nodded his head rapidly. "Good, now stand up." he commanded. As Alphonse stood, John lowered the gun. "First, Officer Kendall has a wound to his left shoulder where I shot him after he pulled a gun on me. I patched him up, and he should be fine. Officers Richards and O'Brian are lying in the hallway to the atrium with their arms and hands crippled. I shot them because they fired on unarmed men and women who had nothing to do with me. And Officer Mack..." he said, looking down at the body as blood began to pool out from under the shattered face plate. "Well, he got exactly what he had coming." he said, then turned to the Overseer again. "Do you see what I'm getting at?" he asked.

Alphonse sighed and nodded. "You were defending yourself, and the other dwellers of the vault." he said in a tired tone. "Including my daughter..."

"Good. And second, this is for Amata." he said, pulling the trigger on his weapon. A loud pop sounded, and the Overseer, fell to his back. The Overseer's daughter watched in wide-eyed horror as her father seemed to fall in slow motion and hit the ground. She wanted to scream, but couldn't. She watched in shock for a few moments before she registered that someone else was screaming, namely her father.

The older man was now holding both hands to his head and was rolling around in throes of pain. "D-Dad!?" she asked incredulously as she stumbled over and knelt next to him. After taking a moment to pry his hands away from his face, she saw that his eyes were watering and he now had a large red welt directly in the center of his forehead.

"Amata is my best friend. She has my comm code, and I swear to you that if you ever lay another hand on her, I will kill you with my bare hands. Even if I have to rip away and blow through the vault walls myself. Do I make myself clear?" he asked.

"Yes! Yes! For the love of God yes!" he shouted, still rubbing tenderly at the sore spot on his forehead.

"What did you do to him?" she asked, bewildered that her father was still alive.

He smirked and turned to her, handing her the gun he held in his hand. "Taught him a lesson. If he ever gets out of line again, give him another shot." he said with a smirk. Amata looked down at the weapon and noticed immediately how small it was compared to the gun she gave him.

"A...A BB gun? You switched your guns out?" she asked. He nodded, and she laughed, and laughed. Her father glared at her, then stood up, noticing that John was now walking out the door to the office.

"Where do you intend to go?" asked the Overseer, his voice much less angry than a minute before, but no less irritated.

John just shrugged. "I don't know..." said the doctor's son as he reached up and scratched his head. "But I will find him, and I will make him answer for what he did here today." he said with a look of steel in his eyes.

"Good luck then." he merely said. After those final three words, he left the room and headed for the entrance of the vault, unhindered by the officers who were waiting outside the room for him. When he finally made it to the giant cog that sealed their vault shut, he marveled at it once again. He had only seen it a couple times, none of those times did he ever suspect he would one day return to open the doorway.

Amata approached the young man and eyed the door warily as the giant mechanism slammed into the entry point on the giant cog. After a moment or two of locking into place, it began to pull the crenelated metal wheel free from its home and slowly began to roll it aside. Now, Amata stood next to him as they watched the occurrence with wide eyes. "W-Wow...it's actually opened. You did it." she said in shock as she stared at the dark tunnel beyond the once secured door.

John turned to her and stared at her for a long moment before he held out his hand. "Amata, come with me." he offered.

She turned and looked at him as if he had just slapped her. "What?" she asked.

"I know it's a really crappy time to ask for a commitment, but we're here now. And...I know that when I'm with you, I can do anything. So...please. Come with me and help me find my father." he asked, holding his hand out to her.

The young woman looked at him, her gut plummeting at the admission, but at the same time, her knees were weak in fear. She wanted so bad to reach out and grasp his hand. Slowly, she put her hand forward to place in his, wondering what life on the outside was like. But then she remembered her father, and the people of the vault. She didn't know what was going to happen after the door closed again, but she knew that if she left, they'd all be defenseless. As that thought ran through her head, her hand pulled away again.

John's eyes widened as he saw her pull away. "I-I'm...I'm sorry..." she said, her eyes watering slightly as she stared at him. Despite his father's actions, and despite having to gun down several officers, this was definitely the most painful thing he had encountered today. Taking a step back, he turned away painfully. "John...please..."

"Close the door behind me. I don't want anything else getting in once I'm gone." he said as he reached up and grabbed the tattered armor that was now barely hanging off him. Ripping the velcro clad chest piece clean, he tossed it aside and grabbed his pack again, then began to venture into the dark tunnel that would forever change his fate.

Remembering the situation sent him through another rollercoaster of emotions, from fear of his father being gone, to the pure, unfettered rage he felt at the Overseer's actions, to the heartbreak of seeing her pull away. It all hit him again as he sat, still waiting for the dots to remove themselves from his gaze.

Now, he sat in the cave just outside the vault with the door sealed shut behind him. With his vision clearing, and him going nowhere until the sky darkened a little, he began to notice that the cave was littered with bones. Human bones to be exact. Most of them had been taken by the erosion of time and exposure, but there were still some that survived, the odd skull or full set of arm bones. Surprisingly, there was even a plastic sign written with the words " **LET US IN FUCKERS!"** scrawled on it in a hasty fashion. These people had wanted in the vault so badly that they literally died trying to enter. And he just left. The safety of the walls, the purified water, the non ultraviolet lights, all of it thrown out the proverbial window. He was here now, and there was no going back anymore.

He pulled out the lunchbox that his dad had stashed behind the picture of his mom's favorite quote from the Bible. Opening it up, he found the note from his father to Jonas transcribed on a holotape, something he'd listened to multiple times now since he had sat in the cave. The rest of the contents were a mix between different medications, and oddly, a large amount of bottle caps. He sighed to himself as he threw the holotape against the wall, shattering the fragile disc, then stood to his feet.

Finally, he stood up and stared out through the crack in the door. The sun was now setting, leaving the sky a hushed dark blue, and making it more than tolerable to his sheltered eyes. Grabbing his supplies, he tucked them away before opening the door and stepping outside. It was hard to breathe out here without coughing, but something he'd likely get used to with exposure. Looking out over the landscape to the east, he saw a small, ramshackle town. Then and there, he decided that this would be his first stop. "Dad, wherever you are, you've got a lot of questions to answer." he growled.


	2. Springvale Massacre

OoO( 2 )OoO

John had stumbled down the hill quite a bit as he made his way towards the small, decrepit town that he could see from the front door of the vault. The going was slow, considering his entire life he'd had nothing to compete with gravity on except the occasional staircase. Mostly, it had just been the long, flat, metal hallways with their artificial lights built into the side, leaving a soft glow to light any of the darkened areas of the underground bunker.

This, this was difficult. There were rocks, dead plants, and worst of all, dust. The mix of dust and sand put his footing in a constant state of peril, leading to shifting rocks and ground. Twice, he had been sent sliding down the hill, face first because of a foothold mysteriously disappearing into the shifting mire, leaving him coughing and irate. Before leaving the cave, he had cleaned and bandaged his arm, and had given himself a small dose of Med-X in order to keep the arm from hurting after his adrenaline from the escape had faded. This left Vault Boy with his usual happy, smiling face, despite the bruising from the tumbles he took down the hill.

Finally, after thirty minutes of falling, sliding, and backtracking for better ground, he made it to the bottom of the small mountain that the vault had been built into. Already in a foul mood because of his father's actions, this had only put him in a more miserable state. He shaded his eyes with his hand again and began heading towards the buildings that were nearby.

They were small, destroyed houses. There was very little sign of life anywhere in the entire puny town. The occasional empty bottle of whiskey here, the crumpled up food wrappers there, all shoved into the corner of one of the houses that was exposed to the elements. He found one such house that at least had a roof over it, so he ducked inside to find a filthy mattress, littered with empty boxes of something called 'Sugar Bombs'. To the right side, there was a sink built into the wall, just below a large hole that let the dusklight flood into the small enclosure. On a nearby bed stand was a television that had seem much better days. The antenna were ripped completely off, and the receiver box that normally would have sat below the screen was cleaned of nearly all of its parts. Somehow, the only thing that was untouched was the screen itself.

He sighed, then moved over and cleared the cereal boxes off the bed, before sitting down on it. He sat for a moment, deciding that this was as good a place as any to camp as the sun sank full behind the horizon. Suddenly, his ears perked up as he heard...music? Looking around, he dug out a small trench next to the bed, threw the lunchbox inside, then covered it again with the dirt and ash that had to have been from the burnt house itself. Once he was satisfied that it was properly hidden, he drew his pistol and moved out into the darkening landscape, looking around for the source of the obnoxiously patriotic music.

It had taken him the better part of a minute to find the origin, but when he finally did, he was a bit in awe. The small orb was floating through the air, using propulsion jets. Special filters that pulled air through one duct on the top, then forced it out through the bottom, creating a stabilizing, floating effect. Andy, back in Vault 101 ran on the same kind of tech, allowing the jovial robot to float around the vault as he pleased.

Unlike Andy however, this wasn't a Mr. Handy model. This was unlike anything he had ever seen before. All it was, was a floating mechanical speaker that hovered around, playing loud, patriotic music. "What...?" was all he could really ask himself as it hovered past him. He stood and watched the spectacle for a bit longer, before feeling the bruises from earlier pulling him towards the house again. He sluggishly laid on the mattress, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes before his mind finally shut down and he drifted off to sleep.

OoOoO

"Well, look what we have here boys!" came a shout that immediately woke the young man up. He sat up, reaching for his pistol, only to find that his gun was missing and there was a heavy boot placed firmly on his chest, pushing him right back down to the mattress.

"Oh look! He's alive!" shouted another voice, this one much more feminine. John looked up into the face of the man now stepping on him. He looked insane, like one of the villains out of his old Grognak the Barbarian comics. His hair was spiked up like one of the old world roosters, and he wore a bandit's mask of paint across his eyes, which were wide as he smiled insanely. His armor, if it could be called that, consisted of numerous bits of rubber and metal chained across his body in an odd assortment. The man looked like he had ripped a car apart and strapped it to himself.

But the most noticeable thing about the man was what was in his hand. John growled to himself as he saw his own 10mm pistol being shoved into his face. "Hey boss, can I go first this time?" asked the same feminine voice from before.

"Sure! Let's get him outside. I want everyone to see this." he said happily, then reached down and grabbed the vault dweller by the hair. "Come with me little vault rat!" he shouted as he pulled the young man out of the small shelter by his hair. When he finally stopped again, the man left John on his knees with the 10mm still pointed directly at him. "Alright boys and girls! We got us a vault rat!" he shouted loudly.

At least five other voices began to shout and holler loudly behind him. John stared at the barrel intensely, realizing that his situation was bad. He had heard from the few GNR broadcasts when he was younger about raiders, that they pretty much killed, and stole what they wanted without regard to others. His hand discretely went down and tapped the shock baton that he had slid into his boot earlier in the day. To his major relief, it was still there.

But it wasn't going to be enough. He was fairly skilled at hand to hand combat, even better with a baton. But five people, armed with firearms was far too much, even if he did manage to get his pistol back from the man in front of him.

Finally, the female who had been talking before approached, with a long blade, probably fashioned from a lawnmower, in her hands. "So, what question should I ask him first boss?" she asked greedily as she eyed the young man.

"The vault! That vault! Tell us how to get into the vault!" shouted the man as he kept his weapon trained on the vault dweller. "Boppo said it couldn't be done, but we got a key to the front door right here!"

The girl, who couldn't have been much older than him, if older at all, eyed him up and down. "You know kid, you're actually kinda cute. Maybe after we're done, I could keep you around as a plaything." she said, tickling his throat with the tip of her blade.

John's eyes rapidly scanned everything in the area, looking for anything to help him get out of this situation. Finally, he spotted the butt of some kind of weapon peeking from over the raiders shoulder. He smiled gently as the group closed in around him. He had the means to defend himself, now he just needed a distraction.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, than his ears perked as music began to play again. One of the raiders behind the female shouted, "Boss! It's one of those things!" Immediately, the rooster-man turned with a growl.

"Shoot the damn thing!" shouted the man as he pointed at the mechanical orb.

While the man had his attention elsewhere, John slowly reached down and slid the baton out of his boot, extended it with a button push, then jabbed it into the girl's stomach before she could move. Jamming his finger down on the button built into the handle, waves of electricity flowed through her, stunning her, and eventually knocking her out. Moving quickly, he laid the young woman down, then turned to the head honcho and swung the weapon upwards between the man's legs. The thud that sounded from the attack made even his stomach turn as the organs were crushed in the blow. The man bent forward in stunned pain, unable to scream, unable to shout, unable to do anything but stare silently at the ground as the pain nearly made him black out.

As the man bent forward, John rose to his feet and grabbed the stock of the weapon, which turned out to be an assault rifle of some kind. Dropping the baton, he pulled up the assault rifle and froze for a split second. When he pulled this trigger, people were going to die. Like his father drilled into his head when giving him the BB Gun, he knew that as soon as he put his finger on that trigger, he was going to take more human lives. Back in the Overseer's office, he had put down a man who was torturing Amata. Even after the sting of her not coming with him, he would still kill for her sake. Then his mind quickly flashed back to the question he was asked when he was dragged to his knees, the raiders behind the gasping man finally pulling their firearms off and shooting at the small drone.

They wanted to know how to get into the vault. And if they got in, what would they do to her? As that question entered his mind, a blood red haze filled his vision as he glared in anger. Putting his finger on the trigger, he aimed directly into the back of the man still kneeling in front of him in agony and ended his suffering. Whipping the barrel of the weapon upwards, he aimed at another one, then fired a burst of rounds into the man's back. When their comrade fell, the others immediately turned and raised their own weapons to him. Immediately, he hurled himself back inside the house he had slept in earlier with bullets following him and ripping apart the woodwork.

The young gunman quickly scrambled away from the door and kept his head low as they chipped at the crumbling wall with their automatic fire. He looked around frantically for any escape, and his eyes immediately locked onto a small hole in the wall to his right. But suddenly, the fire stopped.

"Did we get him?" asked one of the rabid females from outside.

"I don't fucking know! You check!" shouted a male. Footsteps could be heard approaching the house, and he knew he had to move quickly. Reaching up, he grabbed the remains of a broom that had been laying across the floor and threw at at the doorway. The sound that resulted was a loud _clack!_ That appeared to have the desired effect when the spooked raiders began unleashing another storm of bullets at the doorway.

Frantically, he scrambled towards the opening in the wall and squeezed himself through, ignoring the pain of a sharp jab that he received from a piece of split concrete. Once out of the hole, he could see the raiders, but they couldn't see him. The shadow of the house cloaked him in the night air, on top of the fact that they were so focused on the splintered remains of the broom that they might not have seen him even if they were in plain daylight.

Knowing he had little time left before they realized his decoy, he lifted the weapon and fired again. This time, he didn't let off the trigger. Round after hellish round punctured their skin, ripping through tissue and organ and silencing the mad men and women of the group forever. The unorganized nature of the raiders was their undoing. The gunfire that they shot at the distraction masked John's own retaliation, making them easy targets.

After the short battle was finished, the vault dweller sat down with a thump, his heart racing and his breathing heavy. Even though he wasn't crying, he could feel tears running down his face as the ringing in his ears died out and the haze lifted itself from his vision. Whatever their reason was, they weren't getting into the vault anymore. They wouldn't be able to get to her.

Suddenly, he was startled by a groan to his left, and was immediately back up again. The female raider that he had stunned with the baton was just waking up after her shock treatment. Moving quickly, he reached her and pulled the firearm off her side, then grabbed the melee weapon again, compacting it and sliding it into his boot before aiming at her with his new assault rifle.

When the young woman finally got her bearings again, she realized that she was now staring down the barrel of a machine gun, and all of her once allies were now on the ground, dead. Her own eyes were wide with horror at the massacre before she saw his tear-stained gaze. Immediately, she glared venom at him from her spot on the ground.

Before, he had never really gotten a look at her. She had dark, tanned skin and dark eyes to match, but her hair was in contrast to both of them. It was light, and dyed an offensive pink color, while being tied up in pigtails on the side of her head. Despite the dirt and grime that covered her, she was somewhat attractive. But all thoughts of that had passed as he noticed her glare.

"What's your name?" he asked, his voice shaking. After a minute of her saying nothing at all, he aimed next to her and fired three rounds into the ground, causing her to jump in fright and scramble backwards.

She had thought from the look on his face that she might get the upper hand due to his obvious inexperience with weapons. But he was beyond the breaking point, and was on a hairs trigger. That thought alone erased defiant look, and one of panic replacing it.

"I asked you a question goddammit." he shouted through clenched teeth.

"Poison!" she shouted, her heart now hammering in her chest.

He wiped the tear tracks from his face, then walked up to her and aimed at her again. "Stand up, Poison." he commanded. She did as he bade, standing to her full height, which was still a head shorter than him. "Here's the plan Poison. I need information, and you're going to give it to me." he said threateningly. "Where is the nearest town from here? And I mean actual town with people. Not some shithole like this!" he snapped, his eyes locked on her every movement.

The wild look in his eyes shook her to her core, and she nodded silently. Looking behind him, she slowly, so that he didn't find the move threatening, pointed to the horizon behind him. "There's a city over there called Megaton." Keeping the weapon trained on her, eyed her threateningly.

"You ever dance Poison?" he asked, the weapon still aimed directly into her chest from far enough away that there was no chance of her getting to it before he pulled the trigger.

She stared, startled and wide-eyed at the question. "The fuck kid? Are you high?"

"You and me, we're going to dance real quick. I'm going to move in a circle, and you're going to move with me. But we're going to do it real slow, understand?" he asked, his tone reeking of anger. She just nodded dumbly, and he began to move. She moved with him, step by step, like two particles in quantum entanglement. He continued to move until he was standing directly where she had been standing before. When he stopped, she took that as her cue to stop as well. "That looks like a junkyard." he said, eyeing her curiously.

Finally, understanding that the dance was so that he could look at the city without having to turn his back on her, she shook her head frantically. "It's a town, I swear! They made it out of some kinda plane that crashed there a long time ago. Our last leader, Boppo died trying to raid the place." she finished, her hands now up, showing she was defenseless. John smiled briefly, then nodded his head in the direction opposite of the town.

"Now, you're going to run. Take whatever supplies that your guys brought with you, but no weapons, and take off in that direction. When I can no longer see you, I'll leave. If you turn or deviate from that path, I'll open fire until you're back on it. Get me?" he snapped threateningly. She nodded, slightly wide-eyed at being let free. "Oh, and if I see you again, chances are I'll kill you. So try not to cross me again. You see what happened to them." he said, nodding his head towards the corpses now littering the street. "Now, get your stuff and go."

She wasted no time in running and grabbing one of the dead raiders' packs and cramming it with as much food and water as she could. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that he was still aiming directly at her with the automatic weapon. Finally, when she could fit no more, she stood in front of him again, her head low and her hands still up. "Please..."

"What is it?" he asked, slightly surprised at the politeness she was expressing.

Looking up at him, her pretty face looked desperate. From the look she was giving with her brown eyes, he'd have thought she was begging for her life. "Please, I need some kind of weapon. Out there, I'll be killed without one." she said, her voice wavering as she pleaded.

"Funny, I was pretty defenseless when you were holding a blade at my throat." he said, glaring darkly as she shriveled at the comment.

"If I go out there like this, I'll be lucky if I'm killed before they can do anything else to me." she commented, practically in tears by this point. "They'd likely take my stuff and…" she begged, but he cut her off.

"Who the hell are 'they?'" he asked, bewildered at the direction of her statement.

"Anyone! Nobody out here gives a fuck about anyone else! Anyone I come across would put a bullet in me as soon as they saw my bag!" she shouted. Despite the raise in the tone of her voice, her hands stayed in the air.

"So, you mean other people like you?" he asked spitefully. Something about the desperation in her voice shook him however. "Is that what it's really like out here?"

With a look of doom on her face, she lowered her head in defeat. "You'll find out soon enough."

He glared at her for a long moment before he finally lowered the barrel of the assault rifle. "Fine. But..." he started, pulling out the pistol he had taken from her. Her head snapped up immediately, her eyes wide at his words. Hitting the button on the side of the weapon, he ejected the cartridge of ammo from it. As it was falling, he kicked it towards her, then threw the gun towards her as well. "Hold them in separate hands, and hold your hands wide so that I can see them separated until you're out of firing range." he said cautiously, the muzzle of his automatic weapon once again aimed at her.

She nodded in shock as she slowly knelt down and grabbed both of the tools he had thrown towards her, then stood back up, holding her arms out with the ammo clip in one hand, and the weapon in the other. Turning away from him, she walked at a fairly quick pace, trying to put as much distance between her and the gun barrel as possible. It was five long minutes of holding the weapon up, his arms shaking from the strain, before she vanished from sight. Finally, he exhaled deeply and sat back against the wall. The events of the last day suddenly just slammed into him as he stared around at the bodies that he helped create. Suddenly, he just leaned his head back, and tears began to flood from his eyes once more.

He just covered his face with his hands and let them flow, no noise coming from him as he sat in the dirt, covered in the blood of the man he executed point blank. After what seemed an eternity, he stood again, his eyes red, his jumpsuit stained, and his weapon now cold. He cleaned the raiders of what weapons they had, and started picking up the food and water that Poison had left behind when he stumbled across the eye bot again. It was laying on the ground with a round piercing the front of the spherical object. It was an odd feeling having sentiment over an object that had done nothing more than play annoyingly patriotic music. But even so, if it wasn't for this drone, he would probably be dead.

Reaching down, he grabbed the robot and curled it under his arm. "Let's see if I can't fix you up when I get to town." he said as he eyed the front speaker. It had been destroyed by the bullet with no chance of repair. Thinking quickly, he wondered if he could find a replacement, when an idea snapped into his head.

It took less than a minute to salvage the inside of the house of his lunchbox and the parts he needed to fix the small bot, then he looked towards the large scrapyard looking town in the distance. Cleaning his face of the accumulated grime and the mess from the tears, he finally took his first step towards his unknown fate in the wasteland.


	3. Decompression

OoO( 3 )OoO 

Once off the mountain, traveling had become considerably easier. There was still the odd pothole and the occasional jagged rock, but the typically flat ground on the way to the city was much preferable, especially given all the new weight he had strapped to him. With the coolness that night brought, he made good time as he trekked across the sand and dust towards the dark walls of the supposed city in the wasteland. After about two hours of walking under the weight of all the weapons and equipment he had taken, he approached the front of the giant, walled city itself.

As he arrived, he noticed a campfire not far outside the entrance to the city. From where he was standing, he could easily see the silhouettes of several people sitting around the roaring flame. With Poison's words echoing in his head, he pulled one of the long-barreled, more accurate hunting rifles off his back and approached the minuscule camp with his head low.

As he ducked behind a jutting stone, he immediately sighted a large animal, made him go wide-eyed with awe. It had to have been somehow related to the pre-war cows. It was massive, even compared to its ancestors, and instead of one head, it had two that were split into a V shape coming off the neck. The other noticeable change to the creature was its blood red skin. No longer did it have the protective fur, but now just a thick, bare, red, withered hide.

Though curious about the creature, he refocused his attention and spied the three humans sitting by the fire. One was a rugged man, seemingly worn down by the wasteland with a machine gun across his back, armor covering him from head to toe, and a freshly shorn grey crew cut on his head. At the moment, he was focused on cooking whatever kind of meat he had speared on a skewer over the fire between them.

The second man was seemingly of a higher stature though. He was more finely dressed, had rounded bifocals on the bridge of his nose, a cleanly shaven head, and though his skin was slightly wrinkled, it was much less rugged and dirty. He seemed to be enjoying a loud, one sided conversation with the man who was cooking about a glorious new drug he had in stock. If John didn't know any better, he'd have thought the man was trying to sell said drug to the third man without asking directly.

The third of the trio was a more simple man. He sat in front of the fire, leaning back into a chair that was made of metal, but the configuration made it look like it was meant to fold and move easily. He however, was rigid in the chair, trying to become comfortable, and failing miserably. He had about the most normal clothing that he had seen on anyone yet, with a pair of trousers that had two pockets on the hips. He wore a dark colored t-shirt, with a sleeveless vest on top. And on his head, he wore a grey bandanna that ended on his forehead, just above the eye patch covering his right eye.

To John, it didn't look like they were grilling human. And aside from the armored one, it didn't look like any of them were even armed. Not to mention they didn't exactly hold the same air about them as the raiders from earlier. After listening to the conversation switch from this miracle drug, to the price of a new brahmin, then back to said drug, he finally resolved to approach them. Sliding the gun over his shoulder again, he still held the assault rifle in his hand, with one finger on the side of the trigger.

At a young age, when his father had repaired a mysterious BB gun for him, he had taught him the basic fundamentals of owning a firearm. Both the best, four step method of firing, and the safety precautions that must be exercised in both handling, and keeping the weapon. One of those precautions was to never have your finger wrapped around the trigger unless you were aiming to fire, lest the trigger misfire. According to his father and the history holotapes from school, one of the most bloody wars in American history had started with a weapon misfiring, leading a nation into war against thirteen small colonies that lasted eight years. The young man was careful with his weapons, and didn't intend to start any wars today.

Holding one hand up with his palm flat in a sign of greeting, with his assault weapon aimed at the ground, he slowly approached. Surprisingly, the man with the eye patch was the first to notice him approaching. "Looks like we got a visitor." said the man as he sat up straight. Then the one eye widened as he saw the jumpsuit that he wore. "A vault dweller? Well, that's a bit unexpected." he said curiously.

John looked at him oddly for the remark, but the young man immediately snapped out of it as the armored figure stood and reached to draw his weapon. The vault escapee immediately raised the gun before the other figure could pull his off his back. "Uh uh, don't touch it." he said, his voice lacking any indication that he was joking. "I've killed more people today than I care to remember, I don't want to start again." he snapped, already feeling his heart begin to pound again as it had before.

The armored man let go of the weapon, but glared at the boy. The pristine man stared at them both, and the eye-patched man leaned forward onto his knees, watching curiously. "Look kid, I've been marching this wasteland for forty years now. I'm not going to be intimidated by some snobby vault dweller with a silver spoon in his ass." said the man as he sneered. John just sighed in annoyance, then fired into the ground at the man's feet. The armored figure fell backwards at the sudden burst of rounds, landing firmly on his rear end.

"That's twice I've had to do that today..." he said as he walked over and stood over the man. "Four raiders are now dead because they tried taking me prisoner. Are you a raider? Because if you are, tell me now and I'll make this conversation a lot shorter." he commanded, raising the weapon to the armored figure's face.

"Now now, I don't think that will be necessary." said the eye-patched man as he walked up next to John with his arms raised. "He's no raider, he's just the guard for Doc Hoff here's caravan. And he doesn't like surprises. Don't worry, he won't do anything hasty." he said, turning his head and staring at the man on the ground. "Right?"

The man said nothing, but nodded. John lowered the gun to the ground again, allowing the strap around his shoulder to take the weight as he turned to the man next to him. "And you are?"

"My name is Billy, Billy Creel. That over there is Doc Hoff..." he said, nodding towards the well kept man. "This is George. Guard for hire, protects caravans and whatnot. Don't let his attitude get to you. He treats everyone who doesn't pay him like that." he said. "And you are?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow curiously at the vault dweller.

"John Ronas, I just left the vault earlier today and was attacked in my sleep by raiders in the small town over there." he said, thumbing towards Springvale. He looked over at George and nodded his head in apology. "Sorry for my itchy trigger finger. I've had no less than ten people try and kill me today, so I'm a bit on edge." he said in a friendly tone.

George regarded him for a moment, then stood again and dusted himself off. "After fighting raiders, I'd be pretty ornery too. No harm no foul." he said, returning to cooking meat by the fire.

"And thank you, it's good to finally meet someone out here with a friendly face." he said to Billy, the relief in his voice very noticeable.

Billy looked at him curiously as he shook the young man's hand. "You said you took out a group of raiders in Springvale?" his voice a mix of disbelief and

John nodded as he took a seat next to Billy's chair. "Yeah, I was asleep in one of the houses. I already had an ordeal getting out of the vault, and didn't know what was what up here, so I thought I'd sleep out the night. But, while I was napping, they swooped in and took me hostage. I killed all but one of them, and sent the last one running off into the night." he said as he dug through the survival pack he had taken from one of the raiders. Inside, he had stashed his important stuff, the lunchbox, the waters he had taken from the vault, rations left behind by Poison, and anything else he deemed important.

"That's a pretty big accomplishment for someone fresh in the wasteland." said Billy as he eyed the water. He was stunned at how clean it looked. "Is that purified water?" John nodded, offering the bottle to the man. Billy reeled for a second, then reached forward and took the thick plastic bottle. "You sure about this?"

John looked at him oddly. "You act like I just handed you a wad of money."

"I mean, you kinda did. To get water like this out here, you've gotta shell out some serious caps." said Billy as he continued holding the bottle out, as if giving the young man a chance to take it back.

But the young gunman just stared at Billy blankly. Doc Hoff spoke up for the man instead. "Caps, you know...money? Currency? Quid?" he asked, slightly surprised at the blank expression.

"He just got out of the vault Doc, he probably doesn't even know what we're talking about." said Billy, before he turned back to the vault dweller. "Since the bombs fell, bottle caps have become the wasteland currency. Don't ask how or why, but that's how it is. So if someone asks you for caps, they're essentially asking you for money." he explained, pleased with himself when John's face lit up like a bulb.

A look of enlightenment dawned on John's face, then he pulled out the lunchbox and opened it in front of them. "Like these?" he asked, showing the mass of bottle caps. Billy's one eye widened as he saw the sheer amount that the new wastelander held.

"Holy shit kid...that's gotta be at least a thousand caps you got." He reached up and pulled the bandanna off his head, using it to wipe away a small amount of sweat that had dotted his brow. "If you've been in the vault your whole life, how'd you manage to collect those?"

The young man sighed and shrugged. "My father left them for a friend, who was killed before I left. I don't think he intended for me to follow him out, but shit happens." he said, taking a swig of the lukewarm, but radiation free water. "In any case, is there a place in the city I can stay for a while? I'm looking for my father and intend to be here until I find out where he went off to."

Billy nodded. "There are a few options actually. There's the common house, which is a large building on top of the hill that houses most of the wastelanders who just wander into town. If you wanna keep your stuff safe in there though, you'll have to take it with you. Then there's Moriarty's Saloon. He's gonna cost a few caps, but he has rooms, food, and privacy. And last, if you track down Lucas, the sheriff, he's got a property that's for sale. But I don't know if you've got enough for that." he picked the gifted water bottle up and slid it into his pocket. "I can give you a tour if you like."

"That, would be amazingly helpful." said John as he stood again, collected all of his gear, then followed the eye-patched man through the grating gates of the city. His eyes locked onto the robot outside.

" _Howdy…pardner! Welcome...to...Megaton!"_ said the RobCo Protectron model as he and Billy approached the inner doors. John grinned widely at the automaton, with its cowboy hat and cheery greeting.

"I'll have to check that out later." he said to himself, his excitement already mounting. He remembered back to when he was younger, how he'd hunt Andy down through the vault and deactivate him, only to take him apart and put him back together. He'd had an interest in robots and artificial intelligence for a long time, but only had one specimen that he could actually take apart. Nobody really questioned why in ten years, Andy had never needed any repairs.

And any time they had discussions about robotics in class, there had never been anyone remotely as attentive as him. It was really the only time in class that his hand was up constantly, both for asking questions and answering them. The protectron model at the door was now a new specimen, something he strove to understand. But that was for another time. Right now, his eyes were scanning the city around him as he finally entered the giant doors.

The entire city was surrounded by walls and more walls of metal that rose up high above the center of the city, making it look like they were inside a metallic volcano. The shops and houses, unlike the vault, were all mostly rickety buildings with walls made of sheet metal, or some other flimsy material that was just as readily available. They were all built into the hill that sloped up towards the giant metal walls, leaving a slight stair pattern to the buildings that were stacked on top of each other. And nearly everything inside the city was connected by a string of walkways that criss-crossed around the large crater.

John was awed at the sight of the structures built into the side of the large crater that the city was built inside. He was amazed that anything within the walls of the large crater was standing with how rickety things looked. But you really couldn't judge a book by its cover. On top of that, he had come from a vault, where everything built was done so to last potentially millennia. So he knew that he wasn't any expert on architecture.

He scanned around the city a bit more before his gaze locked onto the large bomb planted directly in the center of the crater itself. His eyes widened as he realized what it was, two words echoing in his head. Fat Man. He stopped dead in his tracks, a look of disbelief on his face as he saw the undetonated ordnance sitting in a pond as if it were some kind of massive bird, taking a bath.

Billy stopped, then turned to look at him. "You like our centerpiece?" he asked with a chuckle. "No need to worry friend, that things been there for years. It's not going off any time soon. Now let me show you the Brass Lantern." he said and pulled John with him by the elbow.

OoOoO

It had taken a couple of hours to introduce John to every long term citizen of Megaton. He liked the grand majority of them, aside from Jericho who introduced himself by saying that a kid that'll be dead in less than a week wasn't worth getting to know. Bookmarking that statement in his mind, he just grinned and moved on. Then there was Nathan…

Nathan Vargas was a patriot, to say the least. They had run into him on one of the catwalks as he was heading home from the saloon, when the older man spotted the round orb-like machine hanging from John's ruck. Before Billy could even introduce the pair, he went off on a tirade. "Dadgummit! Another scrapper stealing precious materials from the United States government! It's treason I say! You should be ashamed of yourself!" snapped the angry elder.

John just stared at him dumbly, not saying a word as Billy stepped up for him. "I think what Mister Vargas here is trying to say, is that your droid down their belonged to the Enclave. What he forgets to mention however, is that the Enclave hasn't been seen for decades." said Billy as he eyed Nathan sternly.

Nathan looked like he was about to retort when John spoke up for himself. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't do anything to it. I was attacked by raiders in the town to the west when this thing flew by and spooked them. I'm actually planning on repairing it for helping save me." said John as he held up the bot so that both of the men could see the gaping hole where the speaker used to be.

"Oh!" said Nathan in surprise as he grinned. "You, young man, are a true American! You know, back when I was your age…" started the elder again, this time in a much kinder tone. But Billy cut him off, giving the man a pat on the back as well as he pushed him along the walkway.

"That's nice Mister Vargas. Tell Manya I said hello." said Billy as he waved at the old man.

Nathan glared at Billy before walking off. "Kids these days! No patience!" he snapped before finally leaving the pair to themselves. Billy just turned to John and shook his head, and amused grin plastered on his face.

"Shall we continue?" he asked as he turned towards the path down to the center of the city when a man in a long duster and a cowboy hat himself turned and headed up towards them. Billy immediately raised an arm in greeting. "Sheriff Simms! We were just coming to have a chat with you!" said the eye-patched man as John watched the man approach. He had dark skin, much darker than he'd seen in the vault, and a short beard to fit the cowboy visage he had going.

"And who might this be?" asked the man as he eyed Billy. "Another wastelander?" But he halted the question when he recognized the blue jumpsuit he was wearing, and also noticed that it was stained with crimson.

"A new friend from Vault 101 actually. Turns out this young man came out of the vault and immediately wiped out one of the gangs rummaging through Springvale." said Billy as he leaned against the wall of the now closed restaurant Billy had called the Brass Lantern. "By the way Lucas, this is John. John, this is Sheriff Lucas Simms."

"Good to meet you Sheriff." greeted John as he held out his hand. 

Simms looked at his hand, then back up at the young man's face, as if trying to read him. Finally, he took his hand and shook it. "Good to meet you too John." he said, locking his eyes onto the vault dweller's own. "He said you took a gang out over in Springvale, is that true?" John nodded. "Glad to hear it. Our eagle-eye has had to send them packing a few times. But that leaves us at an impasse."

"How do you figure?" asked John, who was currently not a fan of the sheriff's tone.

"Because, that either makes you a friend, or an enemy. And I'd like to get those details out of the way right now." he said. His voice was not hostile by any means, but also was he not friendly. More of a cold observer than anything else.

"And how does killing raiders make me your enemy?" he asked, his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. Not even a single night in the town and he had already been interrogated twice.

Lucas smiled grimly. "Because, raiders kill other raiders too. That doesn't make them my friends." responded the Sheriff as he crossed his arms in response. "And if you took out their whole group, it means that you know how to kill pretty damn good. So, given that I have a lot of innocent people here to protect, I need to know now what kind of person you are."

Never losing his annoyed look, John retorted, "I'm not the kind to start randomly firing at strangers if that's what you're implying. Everything I have I either took from those raiders or brought with me."

Lucas stared at John for a long moment before Billy spoke up. "I'm gonna have to vouch for him myself. When he walked up to us outside, he had his weapon ready. If he was going to kill us and steal our stuff, he had plenty of opportunity."

The sheriff smiled as he turned to John again. "Well then, it's good to have you here. Keep doing work like you're doing, and we'll be friends in no time." he said as tipped his cowboy style hat in a small gesture of thanks. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

"Sheriff..." said the vault dweller nervously. Lucas turned to him, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "I was wondering, early this morning, my father left the vault as well. I don't know if he came this way, but I was wondering if you had seen another wearing one of these pass through here." he inquired as he tapped the breast of his jumpsuit.

"I'm afraid not son. A lot of people come through here on a daily basis. Some stay, some go. But not all of them I get to meet. However, if you're going to ask around, I can save you some time by telling you to head to Moriarty's Saloon up on the upper levels. If your dad needed any information, he'd have stopped by there." he said. Then he patted the vault dweller on the shoulder and walked off into the darkness.

"He's right. If your dad came by looking for information, then he'd be directed there. And if I were stuffed in a vault for as long as him, that's the first thing I'd be looking for out here." said Billy as he patted John on the back. "Thanks again for the water. Hope you find what you're looking for."

John nodded with a smile, running his hand through his brown hair that tended to naturally spike backwards. "No problem. You'll have to introduce me to Maggie one day. It's a shame she was already asleep" he said. Billy nodded, then the two went their separate ways. John climbed the walkways once more until he reached the familiar saloon, then opened the door and went inside.

"Hello again sugar." greeted the female who sat beside the bar. He looked at her and smiled, not used to being stared at by women the way she was. Amata had always looked at him with tender caringness. Nova, however, smiled back with a very vixen like grin, one he wasn't too familiar with the meaning of.

The man behind the bar, if he could be called that, was named Gob. He stood taller than John by almost half a foot, but was shorter on account of his massive slouch. His skin was...gone. Or, mostly gone. Some places showed nothing but the facial muscles underneath, while other spots had patches of skin that looked as if they were slowly peeling off. The only sign of hair he had was a small tuft that grew from an even smaller patch of skin left on his ravaged scalp.

Despite his grisly appearance, his eyes told a story of friendliness, of sorrow, and of someone who didn't deserve his situation. "What'll it be?" asked Gob in a friendly enough tone. Before being introduced to him, Billy had warned John ahead of time about ghouls. The young man had to say he was thankful, as without warning, he would have likely run terrified out of the saloon.

"Is Moriarty available? I have some questions for him." he asked, drumming his fingers on the counter. He didn't realize how nervous he was that his father might not have come to this saloon, or town at all.

"Sorry hun, but he's out like a light for tonight. If you'd like, you can get a room and talk to him in the morning." said the red-headed woman, her voice rather suggestive as a coy smile played across her face.

He sighed heavily, the knot in his stomach clenching unbearably. "Alright...if that's all I can do. How much is it for a room?" he asked, pulling his ruck up onto one of the stools. Immediately, he noticed that nearly every eye in the room, aside from Gob's, who were on him, and Nova's, whose were "on him" were aimed at the stuffed pack.

Gob, who was in the middle of recapping a beer bottle, looked up at the young man. "It's usually 120 caps per night. But I'll tell you what. You seem like a nice kid, and you didn't gasp in horror the first time you saw me, I'll give you a discount. Just don't go telling Moriarty about it." he said quietly to John in his gravelly voice.

John smiled slightly, nervously aware of the people staring at his supplies. "That'd be great. Thanks." he whispered to Gob. Rummaging through his bag, he cracked the lunchbox and pulled out their agreed upon price, keeping the box inside to make sure that nobody knew exactly how much money he had. After paying the ghoul across the counter, he shouldered his gear and went to the room which the bartender had pointed out.

After closing the door behind himself, he placed the large pack, along with all the guns he had acquired on the opposite side of the bed from the door. Billy had been very kind to him, but had warned him ahead of time that things outside the vault worked very different. Instead of working together to make a better whole, most of the people in the wasteland found it easier to just steal and kill. So, with a certain paranoia surrounding him, he made sure that all of his firearms were within reach should anyone try to sneak in at night. Laying them all along the wall and within easy grasping distance, he took the drone off his bag and sat heavily on the bed, eyeing the small robot.

He'd never made an alteration to a robot like he was planning for this one. To make it work, he'd have to shift some parts around and redistribute some of the weight so that it didn't fall face first every time it lifted off. On top of that, if he did have to add extra weight to counterbalance the new face, then that would require him to increase the output to the stabilizing jet that allowed it to float. Otherwise, it wouldn't even be able to lift off.

As all the numbers ran through his head, the door behind him creaked open again. Immediately, he grabbed one of the pistols close by and aimed at at the door. But Nova raised her hands defensively, making him lower the weapon. "Easy cowboy." she said with a friendly smile. He set the gun down and and instead continued staring at the robot in his hands.

"Can I help you with something?" Despite trying to focus on the bullet hole, he couldn't help his eyes slipping back towards her. She had an unkempt mop of ginger hair, that despite its mussed appearance, worked well with how she dressed. Her clothes had smacked him in the face as soon as he entered the tavern. Back in the vault, the women never dressed provocatively like she was now. The only thing he had ever seen that could compare was a magazine that Butch had showed off to his buddies.

Her shirt was cut short, leaving her flat stomach exposed to the world. And while she was fully covered, it didn't leave much to the imagination as far as her bust went. The fabric was tight, and low cut enough that anytime she bent forward, the cleavage of her large bosom pressed against the edges and bulged further, giving onlookers a clear shot of her goods. The sleeves of the shirt were the only thing that wasn't tight about it, each one billowed and draping off her arms like she was a smoke dancer. And the only thing that she wore below the belt was a tiny pair of jean shorts that exposed her miles of legs, wide hips, and firm behind. Realizing that he'd been staring longer than he should have, he finally looked back at the robot.

The woman walked forward slowly and sat with him on the bed, eyeing the curious machine with him. "I just wanted to say that I'm very sorry for everything that's happened to you so far. I know that today has been probably the most chaotic day of your life." she said sympathetically. Despite his surprise that anyone out here could give a damn about another person, he kept a straight face.

"That's putting it lightly. Before today, the most exciting thing to ever happen to me was when I got into a fist fight with a group of gangers who wouldn't leave Amata alone." he said, chuckling as he realized how much he longed for another brawl with that idiot Butch.

"And Amata is?" she asked curiously, scooting closer to the young man. At her question, he seemed to sink deep in thought, making him oblivious to her movements.

"The Overseer's daughter. She was my best friend." he said, rubbing his forehead lightly with one hand. Remembering her face, and Butch's stupid grin made him feel an immediate wave of homesickness. Not for the vault per se, but for his friends. Even the leader of the Tunnel Snakes had loosened up as they got older, allowing for a lasting peace between all of them.

"Was she your girlfriend?" Nova asked as she propped herself up behind him and began to rub his bare shoulders, her hands appreciating every inch of his musculature that they could.

"Girlfriend? Like, were we going steady?" he asked for clarification. The woman, hearing the very archaic terminology just laughed and nodded. He stared at the floor silently as he recalled their parting at the gate. "She was..." he said, his face now a grim look of ire. Despite his annoyance, he began groaning in pleasure as she found a sore spot and worked out the tiredness.

Not stopping her gentle application of pressure, she eyed him curiously, the statement giving her the go ahead to reach in front of him and gently begin to unzip the jumpsuit that he wore. "Was?" she asked for clarification, grinning at the fact that he wasn't stopping her.

"We...parted at the door." he said in a tone that suggested he was tired of the subject.

"Shame." was all she said in response as she pulled the top of the jumpsuit off him, then wrapped her arms around his pale torso, her small hands sliding gently up his shirt to feel his bare skin. She then leaned her head against his shoulder, breathing down his neck and sending goosebumps all over his skin. It wasn't long before he was leaning back into her as well, his hands sliding along her bare legs that were on either side of him. "Want me to stay the night with you? Keep your mind off your crazy day?" she asked seductively into his ear.

He opened his eyes, knowing what she was really asking. Despite his urge to suppress the memory, her face popped up in his head again. He stared at Amata in his mind as if she were right in front of him, and she stared at him. This time, he pulled away. "Yeah...I think I'd like that."


	4. Dealing with Locals

OoO( 4 )OoO

That morning, the young man awoke, but didn't open his eyes immediately. It was a typical reflex from living with a man who was a night owl through and through. At random times when he woke up in the vault, his father would already have the lights on and be hard at work on his terminal, or talking to patients. This resulted in a disgruntling groan as the light stabbed through his tiredness and woke him immediately out of his sleepy state.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, only to find darkness. Slightly surprised, he tried to move, and found that someone was laying on top of him. Suddenly, the memories came flooding back. The escape, the raiders, and Megaton. He flopped back into his flattened pillow as he sighed heavily. Despite all of those things being real, Nova was too. He could feel the weight of her head on his chest, and her arm over his stomach as she continued to sleep without him.

Smiling slightly, he remembered the previous night. After the awkward talk about caps and having to pay for her company, she beamed happily at him. Tossing the small stash of caps on the dresser as if it were just an afterthought, she practically bulldozed into him and opened a universe of possibility that he never knew about. He'd had a taste back in the vault, when he and Amata explored one another intimately. But he never knew what lay just beneath the surface, what his body was crying for every time he saw Amata's bra, or when he accidentally saw Christie in her underwear after she'd gotten into her father's alcohol.

Most of that was thanks to his father. The man was a doctor, so any explanation related to the sex topic was practically word for word from a data file. So cold and scientific that humans reproducing by flinging spores at one another sounded more romantic. The only clue he had was his time with Amata, and his comic books, where the romance was so passionate that it seemed almost mythical. But that illusion was shattered last night.

The educational videos in the vault told the young men and women of Mister Brotch's class that prostitution was a profession, and shouldn't be chosen over a true relationship with one of their peers. Something about it meaning more, being more fulfilling, and more satisfying. But that couldn't have been any less false than what he experienced last night. Despite the very 'cold and businesslike approach' that the videos preached, Nova lit up the world for him. He didn't know if she was this enthusiastic with all of her customers, or if he was some special case. But he was forever grateful for her assistance in getting his mind off the nightmare of yesterday.

Staring down in the darkness to her naked, busty silhouette, he gently ran his hand through her short, red locks and down to the bare skin of her back. He was pretty sure that she was older than him, though she refused to say how much so in one of their breaks the night previous. Even so, he was still slightly taller than her, easily allowing him to reach down to her bare, curvy hip and start running his fingers over the soft skin.

At his gentle touch, the fiery woman awoke and purred gently into his pale chest. "Mmmm...good morning stud."

He smiled gently and leaned his head back against the rickety headboard of the bed, his hand continuing its exploration of her sultry curves. "Morning."

But she wasn't having any of it, and smacked his hand playfully before sitting up in the bed. The room was still dark, but the sun was starting to shine through some of the cracks in the imperfect structure of the wall, giving him a clean view of all of her assets as she stretched. "Sorry champ. If we're going to go again, I need some coffee, a cigarette, and we need to take care of business." she said in a playful tone.

Her statement reminded him of something else she had taught him last night. Looking over at the small stand next to the bed, he saw the pack of cigarettes that she had given him. On top of the Overseer preaching about their relationships, he had also had an anti-drug video that taught them about carcinogens, as well as the stronger drugs like hallucinogens, inhalants, opioids, and amphetamines. When he was in the vault, he rolled his eyes at the educational material, asking himself who would be stupid enough to subject themselves to such things.

But, ever the teacher, Nova taught him that while in the vault, he had a high life expectancy, and would likely live to see the results of such poor choices. But out here, his chances of survival dropped immensely. "We're all on our way to death's door kid. No point in not enjoying the trip there." And the thought resonated in his head. So he tried it, and hated it. But he kept trying it until it became tolerable, giving Nova a break from both their physical activity, as well as conversation as he tried to regulate his breathing again and stop the coughing.

Now, he could tolerate it, and even somewhat enjoyed the calming sense that it gave him. Reaching over, he picked the box up and pulled one out for both of them, before lighting it and breathed in the smoke. It still did weird things to him, but he could deal with it now. Exhaling the smoke heavily, he stood and stretched his sore muscles.

This time, it was Nova's turn to stare. She didn't know what kind of intense workout he had gone through in the vault, but she certainly appreciated the toned body that it had given him. He wasn't bulging with muscle by any measure, but he looked like he was a figure carved out of pale wood. She admired him, with his delicate, undamaged skin thanks to the artificial lights within the vault. Even without the full light of the sun shining in the room, she could still see the shadowing of his muscle, and was already looking forward to another night with him. As she was staring, the young man picked up his Vault 101 branded jumpsuit and sighed heavily. Cocking an eyebrow, she asked, "Something wrong sugar?"

"Ugh..." was all he managed before throwing the torn suit onto the bed. The previously flawless cloth was now marred by a long slash of red down the center, and the arm had a bullet hole through it that had torn even wider sometime during the fight with the raiders. "I don't think I can wear that and walk outside. People will look at me and start running."

Nova started laughing gently. "Probably." she said as she took another puff from her cigarette. "Looks like you need to go shopping." she remarked before starting to gather her own clothes.

"I didn't have much room for a planned trip when I left. I grabbed what was necessary and ran. Clothes weren't on that list unfortunately" he said in irritation as he plopped down on the bed.

"So, that was your only jumpsuit?" she asked curiously, getting a nod from him. "Well, you could just stay in here and keep me all to yourself for the rest of your life." she said, giving him an innocent smile.

He just glared at her as he released another cloud of the toxic smoke from his nostrils. "You're not helping..."

She giggled again, then smashed out the clover and began to slip her own clothes on. When she finished, she opened the door to the room. "I'll be right back. Just sit right here and wait for me." she commanded as she closed the door behind her. He cocked his eyebrow at her exit, but just sat on the bed and finished his clover. After a few minutes, he realized she wasn't just running to the girls room and decided to examine the small drone he had picked up the previous night. Turning to his bedside table again, he grabbed a knife and began to undo the seals around the edges of the small sphere that were holding the speaker in place.

Once he finally pried the destroyed device from the robot's face, he reached back for his ruck of parts, but stopped as the door opened once more. Nova walked in with several layers of clothing over her arm and shut the door behind her. Turning to him, she saw the curious bot and eyed it oddly before finally tossing the clothing at him. "There you go sugar." she said, smiling as he set the device aside and picked up one of the jumpsuits that she had thrown at him. There were a total of three, and all matched with a slate grey color.

"Where exactly did you get these?" he asked, looking at her with a curious eye.

"What's it matter? Just put them on." she commanded, flapping her hands at him as she stood with her back to the door, watching him hungrily. Grabbing his shirt, he pulled it on over his head, then took one of the jumpsuits and began dressing. Sliding his legs in, he started zipping it up until finally he was fully encased in the new outfit.

Surprised that it fit so well, he began to flex his arms and legs to make sure nothing was too tight at the edges. "These are surprisingly comfortable." he remarked, then looked down at the patch over the right breast. "Moira?" he asked as he tore the patch clean from the suit.

Nova nodded and gave him a gorgeous smile. "I know you're probably used to wearing jumpsuits, and she just happens to have like...six spares. So I thought I'd...get a few from her." remarked the woman as she watched him sit on the bed and start putting his boots on.

Crossing his arms, he stared at her curiously. "And she just gave it to you?" he questioned, wondering if he wasn't getting the whole story.

As if to mimic him, she crossed her own arms under her bosom, with an annoyed look on her face. "Don't worry about it." she ordered, a slight growl in her voice.

He chuckled and nodded to her. "Alright alright." he conceded as he finished tying his other boot, then stood to his full height. Despite being inside, he still felt his skin itch. He then realized that he'd need a shower soon. "Who is this Moira anyway?"

"She's the owner of Craterside Supply. It's the only surplus store within miles of this place. So if you want to get rid of some of your excess weight there..." she said, nodding towards the guns beside the bed. "She's the one to take them to."

Nodding, he started to gather the weapons and lay them out on the bed. "That's not a bad idea. Most of them would just weigh me down." Looking back up to her, he asked, "By the way, is Moriarty in yet?"

She shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, I'm not sure sugar. I went straight to Craterside and back. Didn't think to stop and ask." Despite her not knowing, he got the sense from her tone that he wasn't in for great news when he left.

"That's alright, I'm heading out there anyway. I'll stop by and find out." he finished as he took enough caps for supplies for later. Despite the tour Billy had given him on the previous night, he still wanted to see what the glorious Megaton looked light in broad daylight. Previously, he had seen the city in shadows, a very sinister scene with the bomb at the dead center.

She smiled and opened the door. "Alright hun. See you tonight, hopefully." she chimed before winking at him, then closed the door behind her as she headed into the saloon.

He looked back at the guns he had just laid out on the bed and decided that he needed to choose what he wanted to keep and what he wanted to sell. Lugging all of them around, while well prepared, left him extremely worn out and unable to react quickly in case he were ambushed by more raiders. Examining each of them, he first decided that the 10mm that Amata had given him was staying.

The assault rifle had done him very well thus far, and he liked having something that he could reliably spray fire with, upping his chance of hitting something while behind cover, so it was staying as well. Last night during one of their breaks, he had consolidated all the weapons' ammo into magazines that were now placed in his ruck, leaving the weapons bare. Along with the pistol and assault rifle, he had collected an entire collection of different knives, a claw hammer, three .32 caliber revolvers, two other 10mm pistols, a 10mm sub-machine gun, a hunting rifle, and a double-barreled shotgun. He sighed to himself as he looked at the collection.

"I don't think this is what dad had in mind when he was teaching me to shoot..." he complained as he tossed the .32 caliber pistols into his ruck for hocking. One of the other 10mm pistols, the submachine gun, all of the knives, and the double barreled shotgun went into the bag as well. The hammer he picked up and looked at briefly before throwing it behind him. "Barbarians..."

Picking his baton and pistol up from his pillow, he stashed the baton in the belt that he had saved from his vault jumpsuit, allowing it to be hidden from sight whenever his rucksack was on his back. The utilitarian belt had many pockets and compartments, as well as snaps and small securing hooks to allow things like tools to hang from your sides. He placed both of the pistols he was keeping into leg mounted harnesses that were be built into the new jumpsuit, then slid the automatic rifle over his head, the strap allowing it to stay firmly against his back once adjusted. Finally, the hunting rifle, a weapon kept in case he needed a weapon to take things out at a distance, he strapped to his ruck.

Picking up the rather heavy rucksack, he kicked the door to the room open and walked out into the saloon, where he was greeted by an appreciative whistle. Looking over, he saw Nova staring at him admiringly. "Looks like that new jumpsuit works for you." she said smiling. "You going to win a war somewhere?" she asked.

He chuckled at her as he approached the bar. "Hopefully not. I don't really like using these more than necessary." he said as he eyed the ghoul across the bar from him. Finally, Gob looked up from where he was cleaning the bar.

"Damn kid, packing up to take out more raiders?" he asked, his usual warbling voice now sporting a lighthearted chuckle.

"'Fraid not Gob. What I am ready to do is talk to Moriarty. Is he around yet?" asked the young man eagerly. It had been the first thing on his to do list today, and he intended to do it. But from the worried expression on Gob's face, he figured he wasn't about to cross that off just yet.

"Uhh...sorry boss. He left this morning before Nova came out. I tried to tell him you wanted to see him, but he said if I talked to him again while he had a hangover he was going to remove what was left of my skin and feed it to me." said the ghoul as he looked down at the bar submissively. The worst part of this situation to John was that he couldn't tell whether Gob was reacting to the memory of Moriarty's threat, or he thought the vault dweller was going to attack him for it.

He just sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Gob, I'm not going to hit you."

"O-Oh...thanks..." said the ghoul as he stopped cringing. "So used to people throwing beer bottles at the first sign of bad news." he said in a morose tone.

"And Moriarty allows this?" asked John curiously, his anger simmering lightly as he tapped his fingers on the bar.

"Of course not. Each bottle thrown is one less he can sell back to them later." said the ghoul matter-of-factly. The irritation on John's face must have been extremely apparent. "You alright kid? You look like you'd like to chuck some yourself."

He snorted. "Yeah, right at Moriarty..." he said under his breath. Turning back to Gob, he asked, "Did he say when he would be back?"

Gob shook his head mournfully. "No, but he was going to have a talk with one of his suppliers. That kind of thing usually takes days."

John just smiled and nodded. "Thanks Gob, appreciate it." he said and headed for the door. "You two watch my room for me. If anyone goes near it, come get me." he said, getting a nod from the woman and the ghoul. Opening the door, he stepped out into the sunlight, and again had to cover his eyes as the blaring sun jabbed at him. The going was slow along the walkways as he tried to remember where Billy took him to get to Craterside Supply, but he finally found the way and opened the door hastily to get out of the sun again.

Relief flooded him as the light of the sun vanished, and the half light of the store eased on his eyes. As his vision cleared of spots, he noticed that there were two people inside the shop. One, a short woman with muddy brown hair tied up in a bun on the back of her head, and wearing a matching jumpsuit to his. Currently, she was behind the counter of her store, hammering on something wildly with the head of a claw hammer. The other, from the looks of him, was likely some kind of bouncer. Automatic weapon on his back, thick hide armor from foot to throat, and a look that said he had much better things he'd rather be doing.

As the young man entered the store, the guard immediately stood up to his full height. The guns must have that effect on him a lot. "Take it easy, I'm here to buy and sell, not to cause trouble." John said to the guard, his heart picking up slightly at the aggression. The man, who had a small beard and matching, sandy blonde hair, just mean-mugged him and leaned back against the wall.

As soon as his voice was heard, the woman sprung up from behind the counter with a bright smile. "Oh! A new customer!" she said excitedly as she stood up straight behind the counter. "Hi there! What can I do fer ya?" she asked curiously in a very northerly accent. He hadn't heard words like that since one of the vault's Yule movies during the holidays.

John walked up to the counter and pulled the ruck off his back, then set it onto the counter. Taking the hunting rifle off the top of the bag, he held it away from himself so that the bouncer didn't get any crazy ideas. "Want some weapons?" he asked curiously. The young man had to keep from laughing as the woman's eyes almost sparkled.

"Oh boy! What kind?" she asked. He opened the rucksack and tipped it over on the counter, letting the assorted weapons spill out on the surface. The curious woman's eyes shined brightly as she saw the knives. "Ooohhh...I love knives." she said excitedly. John stared at her oddly as she took each knife and laid them in a neat row along the counter while the guns lay untouched.

"Are...you alright?" he asked with concern. He didn't want to assume drugs right off the bat, but it also wouldn't surprise him if the woman was swimming in chemicals.

She looked up at him, a questioning look on her face. Then she nodded. "Oh dontcha worry about little ol' me." she said, going back to her previous task. In a manner of minutes, all of the equipment he had laid out in front of her was in neat order in front of her. "So, ya wanna sell all these huh?" she asked, her eyes scanning over the lot, as if seeing them for the first time. He merely nodded. "I'll give ya a hundred caps for all the knives, and two hundred for the guns, given their state of repair." she said, smiling and planting her hands on her jumpsuited hips.

He just nodded. "That's fine. Do you repair weapons?" he asked, the last part of her statement egging at him.

She nodded. "Unless it's a melted pile of slag, I can repair it. Well...weapons that is. Can't do much on anything else." she said, looking to the side as if she were ashamed of her inability.

He smiled. "I'm good at repairing machinery, but I haven't had any experience in weapons. So I'll tell you what, just put the caps you gave me for these..." he said waving towards the weapons on the counter. "Into repairing these." he said, handing her the ruck sack. She took it with one hand and opened it up. He immediately took a step backwards, uncertain about the woman. Even with some of the guns gone from the bag, he still needed two hands to balance it. She just took it with one hand without a thought and began rummaging around inside it. While she was rummaging, he noticed a curious patch from her arm staring up at him. But before he could think much about it, she snapped the bag closed and set it aside.

"Alright, ya got yerself a deal." she said cheerfully.

He nodded nervously. "Alright...when should I be back?"

"Should be done by sundown. In the meantime, since yer a good repairman and all, Walter's been looking for a sidekick to help him in the water plant up top." she said, pointing towards the wall. "If'n yer looking for work that is…"

"Thanks...I guess I'll be here a while, so it wouldn't hurt to help out a bit." he said. "I'll just leave the ruck here with you since I'll see you later anyway. Thanks again!" he said waving as he left, getting an excited wave back. As he exited the door, he just shook his head. "Good to see cartoons aren't dead out here." he asked as his feet carried him up the ramp to the water plant.

OoOoO

Hours later, the sun began to set as John mapped out the entire settlement in his head. He had talked to Walter right after his visit to Craterside Supply, who was more than happy to have someone else aboard to help with the many pipe leaks around the town.

It had taken him a couple of hours to track down and fix all the leaks that were spraying water from the plant above into the dirt. As a reward for helping, Walter had let him keep the tools he had let him borrow for the task, on top of a handful of caps. When he had finished, John decided to use his spare time to actually get to know the people of the town. And not surprisingly, there were only a few people he didn't much care for. Jericho, the former raider whose mouth only stopped drinking to insult others, Andy Stahl was about as friendly and inviting as one of the dead trees outside the town, and though he was nice enough, he didn't like the vibe that Confessor Cromwell put off with his preaching.

Everyone else, he got along with swimmingly. Leo Stahl, a drug addict by Johns medical estimate, found out he was fresh out of the vault and offered to teach him how to pick locks, something the vault dweller found extremely interesting and caught onto quickly.

He also finally got to meet Maggie, Billy Creel's young adopted daughter. When he found them, they were crossing his path back to Moira's shop on the upper catwalks. He was signaled by Billy with a friendly wave as the pair stopped in front of him. "Hey! If it isn't our resident vault dweller!" said the man cheerily. "Well...you will be if you decide to stay anyway."

John chuckled at Billy's friendly nature and nodded. "I can't say I will for sure, but the place is nice enough. And it's good to sleep somewhere where I don't have to worry about being attacked in my sleep." remarked the young gunman as he looked down at the young girl standing next to the man. "And who is this?"

"This here is Maggie Montgomery. I told you about her last night." Billy replied as he grinned. Looking down at the young girl who couldn't have been more than ten years old, he nodded. "Say hello to John."

The girl looked from Billy to John, then smiled weakly. "Good to meet you mister." she said quietly, getting an odd look from the stranger.

"Sorry, she's really shy around strangers. To be honest, I prefer it that way." said Billy as he reached up and scratched his head gently.

"Understandable." commented John as he noted the girl's uniquely Asian features. She had hazel-colored eyes and pitch-black hair that fell to her shoulders in a straight curtain. Currently, she was wearing a short-sleeve t shirt with a familiar favorite of his on it, the Unbeatable Shebeast flexing her muscles with onomatopoeia stamped in comic book fashion all over the shirt. "You like comic books?" he asked curiously, watching as her disinterest in the conversation immediately evaporated and she looked up at him in surprise. Slowly, she nodded, making him smile widely. "Me too! Who's your favorite?"

Excitedly, the girl smiled back, showing that she had a large gap where one of her baby teeth had fallen out. "I like them all! But Grognak and Bionic Girl are the best!" she exclaimed happily.

"Very fine taste for one so young." said the young man as he knelt down in front of her. "How about this Maggie, if I find any comics when I'm out and about, I'll bring them back so we can read them. How's that sound?" he asked curiously. The young girl had a look of shock on her face at the offer, but answered his question by leaping forward and hugging him.

"That would be great!" she said, sounding as if she was going to start crying. He was startled by the act, but just reached up and patted her on her back gently. "Thank you Mister John…" she said almost sadly. Such a show of affection had startled him. He hadn't been hugged since he was a child, and feeling it now made him feel a pang of homesickness to the vault. But, he brushed it off and ruffled her hair gently. Pulling away, she held her arms behind her back nervously. "Sorry...there aren't many other kids in town. All they talk about is guns and throw rocks at each other."

"Ah...so you're just relieved to have someone else with similar interests?" he asked, getting a cheery nod from her. He just chuckled and nodded at the young girl. "Don't worry. I'm sure when they see the collection I get you, they'll be interested real quick." he exclaimed, earning a giggle from the young girl.

Billy was practically beaming at the encounter and leaned over to whisper to John while Maggie leaned against the rail to the walkway. "Don't worry man, I can pay you for the comics."

"They wouldn't be gifts then, would they?" he asked as he patted Billy on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it's not like there's some fat cat out there paying a million caps for them that I'd be missing out on. It's no inconvenience to me." he said reassuringly. Billy hesitated, then nodded, a smile of appreciation on his face.

It was about that time that John looked up and noticed that the sun had sunk past the walls, and the sky had faded from a bright blue to a darker lavender, as it does when it nears the horizon. As such, he bid the pair farewell, then headed back to Craterside to find Moira just as eager as before. She was sweeping the dirty floor of her shop when he entered, only looking up when the door closed again.

"Ah! There he is!" she said happily as she walked back behind the counter and presented him with not only his fully repaired weapons, but also a suspender harness and a set of leather armor with 101 already painted on it.

John was astounded as he looked at all of the new offerings, as well as the fully restored weapons. "Uhhh...thanks but...what's the occasion?" he asked, wondering if he should even ask. He didn't imagine gifts like this were given out freely in the wastes, and it might have been better for him to just take them and run.

"Well, as I was fixing yer weapons, I realized that you need weapons because yer eventually going back into the wasteland, right?" she asked, her head tilted slightly sideways as she stared at him curiously.

"Umm...eventually, yeah. Why?" he asked, his eyes wide as the odd woman continued to stare into his soul.

"Weeeell, I was kinda hoping maybe you could help me out with a project. A little tiny one." she said, holding her fingers up about an inch apart. He looked from her fingers to her smiling face and immediately grew suspicious.

"How tiny?" he asked, eyeing her warily and leaning against the counter.

"Well, ya see, I sorta need someone to go out into the wasteland for me to help me finish this project I'm doing called the Wasteland Survival Guide! It's an instruction manual on how to survive in the harsh wastes out there. But, the problem is, I'm running this store so often that I can't go out and do any research. And you're a smart guy yeah?" she asked, never losing her chipper tone.

"Something tells me the answer to that question will be determined by whether I agree to this or not..." he said grimly, wondering what the ditzy woman was conjuring up in her brain. "Look, cut to the chase for me, yeah? What are you wanting me to do?" he asked, leaning forward on the counter on his elbows.

She sighed and looked him straight in the eye with her best puppy expression. "First off, I need you to go to the Super Duper Mart. People need to know where they can and can't find food and medicine out there, and Super Duper Mart is likely a good spot to look for such things."\

He thought about it for a moment. "I guess it doesn't sound that hard...then again, there's no telling what I'll actually find out there." he said, then stood straight in surprise when she smacked the counter in excitement.

"That's what the armor is for! I even gave you some extra rounds to go with it." she said proudly. John reached up and scratched his head, unsure of what to say.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Moriarty isn't going to be back for a few days anyway, I guess it wouldn't kill me to take a look." he said, scratching his chin. "How much for supplies? And how do I find the place?" he asked.

"I can supply you for each trip myself with rations." she said, pulling up the small pack filled with edibles and water. "As for the location, it's off to the southeast. But I have something that should be able to help ya out." she said as she walked over to her terminal. He walked over and eyed her curiously. "So, I noticed that ya had a pipboy. I actually have a program on my terminal here that I got from Reilly, it's a program that allows you to place customizable markers where you wish. And it uses one of the old pre-war satellites up in the atmosphere to track your position along a grid that she created." she said excitedly.

He scratched his head, trying to wrap his head around the program. "So, as I walk, it tracks my movement across a map...so to speak?" he asked, getting a nod from her.

"Problem is, despite Reilly and her Rangers' best efforts, not much of the map is filled out. I managed to pay Jericho to go out and find the mart for me, but he chickened out and came back before examining the store. He said..." she said clearing her throat, then deepening it in a mocking imitation of the former raider. "You never know what the eff is inside those places! I go in there and I could never come out!" she said, giving a small cough as she finished.

John, despite his best efforts, couldn't help but laugh at the cheerful woman's mockery of the hardass former raider. Moira just smiled as the vault dweller recovered. "Alright, you've got a deal. But it's too late tonight. I'll go out tomorrow." he said as he gathered all the gear into the ruck. With her enthusiastic assistance, he put on the armor, which was surprisingly light given how thick it looked.

Before he left, he spotted a pair of tinted goggles strapped to the head of a mannequin. "Uhh...how much for those?" he asked curiously. But the woman just snatched them off the wooden figure's head and shoved them at him.

"All yours! Now go! Shoo!" she said, practically pushing him out the door in her excitement.

He headed back to his room in the saloon and shifted some of the gear in the ruck around, making sure to take only what he needed for the trip. When he finished packing everything up and donning his equipment, he flopped on the bed and lit another cigarette, thinking about their conversation. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright, smoke shooting from his nose. "What the hell did she mean 'each trip?'"


	5. Shopping with Raiders

OoO( 5 )OoO

Sleeping for his big journey to the supermarket tomorrow was especially difficult when there was a naked, attractive, woman in the room. Despite her enthusiasm however, he still managed to get enough sleep to be up at dawn. Dressing in one of the jumpsuits the redhead had given him, he tied on his boots, then started to don the armor piece by piece. When Nova awoke, she helped him reach some of the harder to reach places until he was fully decked out in his hardened leather armor. It likely wouldn't stop bullets, but it did wonders against typical melee weapons and raiders themselves if they got their hands on him.

When he exited the saloon with his weapons in their holsters, his ruck on his back, and well wishes from both Gob and Nova, it was still dark out. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, and the sky was blanketed with countless stars. Reaching down, he grabbed the straps on the ruck and tightened them to fit his form now that it wasn't so crammed full of weapons. Once he was comfortable, he set off out the gates of Megaton and into the wasteland once more.

Several hours went by at a grueling pace. Despite him being relatively in-shape, he was still unused to walking around as much as he had in the last few days. Not to mention each step onto the earth resulted in a cloud of radioactive sand and dust exploding into the air, making it even harder to breath. Over the last few days, he had gotten used to the inhalation of smoke, a supposed gift from Nova. Despite that, the dervish that swirled around him constantly was making travelling difficult. On top of the environment, he felt his arm aching once more from the round that had punched through his arm from one of the officers he'd had to shoot through to get out of the vault. Quickly, he drew a small dose of Med-X out of his belt and gave it to him to help fight the growing pain. Once it had taken effect, the going was much easier, even with the sun in the sky and the heat washing over him.

Before long, he stepped up onto the crest of a hill and saw the supermarket with SUP R D PE MAR in giant, electronic letters that had blasted out hundreds of years ago. However, the lettering on the front of the store was the last thing he was thinking about. As he scanned the front of the grocer, he felt his stomach lurch at the decorations placed there by the new residents. From chains and hooks hung dozens of body parts, from arms and legs, to full torsos, to a full body minus the head. All of them were hooked into the chains and hung up from the front of the shop like some kind of demonic holiday tinsel.

And he didn't have for to look for the heads either. On top of the overhang that the body parts were dangling from, were spears fashioned from wood and metal, each one of them with a severed, rotting head spiked onto it as well. Immediately, he crouched down and removed the goggles from his eyes, then used both hands to try and wipe the image clean. But it wasn't going anywhere, and neither was he. After a minute of just basking in the sun with the image of humanity's most depraved show of dominance still in his mind, he reached into his bag and grabbed a bottle of water. Before drinking, she spit into the sand at his feet to try and clear his mouth of dust, then took a long sip. As he gulped it down and put the cap back on the bottle, he slipped the goggles back on and looked up at the blazing ball in the sky.

When he had arrived, the sun had already past its zenith and was sinking back towards the opposing horizon. Hew knew he didn't have much time before darkness took the land again, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to travel that distance at night given the crazy kinds of creatures he'd heard about from the saloon. But from the sun's position, it didn't look like he was going to have a choice in the matter. But all thoughts of return were slapped from his mind when the sound of gunfire echoed over the ridge. Crouching down, he kept his head low in case he was the target of the shooter's fire. But none of the bullets seemed to be hitting the ridge, and from the yells of the men below, he had a pretty clear idea of what was going on.

Flipping onto his stomach, he grabbed his long range hunting rifle and crawled up towards the edge of the small cliff, then peeked over at the ensuing battle below. From all appearances, it looked like there were three men, likely raiders given the ragtag armor they wore, shooting at the same kind of buzzing, musical drone that he'd found in Springvale. "Get that fucking drone! We've got another spear for it!" shouted the closest one to the machine as he started firing on it with an assault rifle. The spherical robot responded by firing lancing beams of light directly in the man's direction, but given the odds, it wasn't looking like the floating radio was in for a win.

Unsure if it would call the drone's wrath, but knowing that he wouldn't have a better opportunity to take out the three hollering men, he aimed his rifle down at the parking lot and looked down the sights. Each time he'd had to aim a weapon, his father's words echoed in his head. This time was no different, and he repeated them verbatim. "Aim...breath...squeeze." he whispered as he sighted one of the men, drew in his breath and held it, then squeezed the trigger instead of pulling. The rifle roared, sending an echoing shot across the parking lot that surprised the raiders.

Two of the men froze and began looking around frantically while one reached up and touched a gaping bullet hole that had just emerged from his gut. Falling over, the man died, and his two friends began frantically rushed to his side. They saw the wound and the blood pooling from it around his body, then raised their weapons as they began to look for the shooter. But another immediately went down when a beam of energy pierced his skull and left a circular hole through it, making him collapse next to his downed friend.

When the last of the trio realized he was alone, he immediately began sprinting towards the store as more laser fire was aimed in his direction. "Oh no you don't..." John whispered to himself as he looked down the iron sight again. He exhaled deeply, then squeezed the trigger, sending a second bullet smashing into the man's leg, shattering his knee and bouncing off the destroyed pavement below. The crazed man screamed as he fell, clutching his now destroyed leg. But his cries were short lived, as the eyebot caught up with him and silenced him with a barrage of plasmatic death.

After the psychotic gunner fell, John pulled his eyes away from the sights of the weapon and waited, watching the entire lot in his peripheral vision. If anything, he wasn't stupid enough to believe that these men were the only ones occupying the shop. There were likely more inside than there were out here, and he didn't want to just run down and potentially end his quest early with a round to the heart. So he waited for what felt like hours, watching and drinking what was left from the bottle. The drone had gone back to drifting lazily around the shattered concrete lot, playing its patriotic music speaking with the voice of a man who was supposedly the president of America. But if anything, it sounded like old recordings left on loop after the bombs had fallen.

Finally, with the sun still moving in the sky, he stood up from his perch and took a small detour to get down the cliff, then emerged through a torn chain-link fence into the parking lot. His first action was to raise his hands high as the drone hovered near him, but it showed no threatening movements, so he continued to walk towards the bodies. Looking down at the dead men, he hardened his eyes, then grabbed their weapons. There were enough people in this world already who he felt sorry for. He certainly wasn't going to waste any more tears on the blight of humanity.

When he'd cleaned them of their belongings, he came up with another assault rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, and another 10mm pistol for guns. The other belongings they had amounted to about fifty caps between them, an incendiary grenade, and a fairly dinged up machete. Taking all the goods off the the side, he stashed them away in his ruck, while attaching the blade to the top of the bag and clipping the grenade onto his belt.

Finally, he was ready to enter. But he knew to do so he'd have to walk past the sun-baked corpses hanging from the store's overhang. Already his stomach churned at the thought. But he knew this wasn't where he was stopping. If he was going to find his father, he needed caps, he needed guns, he needed armor, and he needed help. And so far, the most helpful person in the walled city had been Moira, who offered him supplies and payment quid pro quo for his assistance with her book.

So, locking his jaw and covering his nose and mouth with a leather-gloved hand, he marched past the bodies and up to the door of the grocer. His forest green eyes never left the door, as any deviation towards the remains would likely make his stomach explode all over the pavement. Once he was finally past the ugly display, he slowly opened the door and silently slipped inside as the sun finally touched the opposing horizon.

Once inside, he immediately realized why nobody had come outside to the sound of gunfire. The walls of the story were several feet of thick concrete, and where the display windows used to be was a giant metal door similar to the emergency shutters they had back in the vault. It was soundproof, praised by Vault-Tec in its day as blast proof, and even rumored to be vibration proof. But that was all conjecture considering they could never test them to make sure.

Given the build of the store, John couldn't imagine it was built long before the bombs fell. During the Great War that heralded the supposed end of humanity, many shops, stores, and businesses invested in making their properties as resistant to invasion and destruction as possible. As such, any gunfire outside likely wouldn't have made it through at all. Thanking his luck, he entered the small room that still held a few shopping carts and pressed himself against the wall on the opposite side next to the door.

The door he was now standing next to led into the main store, and would likely be where the main bulk of the raiders were at. Reaching up, he pulled the goggles onto his head again and barely peaked around the concrete doorway.

Unfortunately, he didn't like what he was seeing. They outnumbered him at least ten to one. Four sentries were walking along the top of the large store shelves, scanning through the aisles for anything unusual, while two more were behind a counter at the back. The rest just walked between the aisles with looks on their face like they wanted to find trouble. He sighed, wondering how exactly he was going to clear the place out. It wouldn't be as easy as setting a distraction outside. As dumb as they were, they likely weren't stupid enough to go chasing after spirits while he cleaned their stash out.

As he was contemplating however, one of the sentries diverted, walking to a shelf off to the west, and leaving the ground walker by himself. He eyed the man curiously, biting his lip as a plan formed in his head. There were many things that could go wrong, but this situation didn't really have a perfect answer. He'd have to improvise on the fly if something went off the rails. But finally, he settled on a plan of attack. Unshouldering the rucksack gently, he set it down as quietly as possible. Opening the top of the pack, he dug through the supplies, found what he needed, then sealed it off again. Taking it with would be too cumbersome, so he pocketed the goods and drew the baton from his back as he stepped into the store.

The odd character he had chosen for his target stood taller than anyone he'd ever met. He was bulky and wide shouldered, only adding to that appearance with a set of shoulder pads that looked like they were made for an old school sports team. Under the shoulder pads, he had a belt lashed across his chest that went all the way down to an odd looking leather kilt that he wore. Despite his odd attire, the man looked psychotic. Every hair on his body looked gone, and when he turned his head to look down one of the allies, red face paint could be clearly seen smeared over the man's face in wide, handprint shaped swathes.

Given the man's movement patterns over the last few minutes, he was likely going to be coming back this way soon. But if the pattern held true, he wouldn't reach John's position before turning to walk back again. Counting on this pattern to hold, the young gunman held his breath as he heard the man's steps heading towards him once more. Closer and closer they got, one after the other as the raider mumbled in anger. "Dozer better get his shampoo drinkin' ass back out here or I'm gunning him down the next time I see him." Finally, he stopped, then spit at even having to say the man's name, and turned around again.

"That's bad manners you know." said a voice behind him. The man's eyes widened, and he felt his entire core go cold as he heard the voice. But he spun and reached for the shotgun on his back anyway, ready to kill whoever was stupid enough to spook him. However, he was cut short when a metal rod slammed into his stomach, blasting the wind out of his lungs. But the worst of the damage to come was when his body went rigid as waves of electricity began to surge through his muscles. He felt his body contracting horribly as his attacker just stood, staring at him with the rod pressed to his chest. Finally, the stimulation became too much, and he fell forward as his mind blacked out.

John tried to catch the man as he fell, and managed to lay him down without much more noise. Once the raider was flat on his back, the young man went ahead and pulled the shotgun and extra ammo off him, stashing them in a pouch, then pulled his little playing field leveler off of the side of his utility belt. The grenade was a bit slimmer than the old school kind, which looked like an army green pinecone. This one, instead, was triggered by a button on the top that stayed sunken into the grenade and inaccessible until the other safety, a small pin with a loop at the end, was released.

Taking the pin, he pulled it loose and tossed it aside as the button on top of the weapon popped up and started flashing. Lifting the raiders head, he set the grenade straight up, making sure that it wasn't going to slide, then set the man's head directly down onto the button. Like the previous grenades, this model, just known as the Battery Bomb for its particular look, required for its trigger to be released before a detonation could occur. And with everything set up how he planned, the only thing preventing a teeth rattling explosion and shower of hot metal was the bald raider's head holding the detonator down.

Finally, John yelled loudly in a fake cry of anguish before he slithered off behind the front entrance wall again. The cry drew attention from all of the raiders within the main store area, and as he hid behind the wall once again, he heard the trampling footsteps of the man's many allies coming to the rescue. Once all the footsteps stopped, he risked a quick peek at the group. He couldn't tell if all of them were there, but there was certainly a large group gathered around their fallen comrade.

"What the hell happened?" asked one of the other men as he scratched his unshaven face..

"No idea, he was just like this when I got over here." said another man who was perched atop one of the shelves like a gargoyle. "Wake his ass up and ask him, if he's still alive." said the raider as he watched the others like a hawk with his assault rifle across his lap.

The girl of the group glared at the others and leaned down. "Hey cue ball. Wake the fuck up, you're not off shift yet." she said as she kicked him in the side. No response from the raider. "You think he's actually dead?"

"I don't see no bullet holes." said one of the other raiders who was crouched next to his body. "Didn't hear no guns neither."

The woman growled, then knelt down and slapped him in the face. "Wake up lazy ass!" But her voice immediately caught in her throat as she saw his head fall to the side, and a grenade roll out from under him. Her eyes locked onto the glowing button on top, noting that it was solid red. "Mother of fucking shi-"

All the shelves in the store shook as an explosion tore the group apart. The detonation killed those immediately around the body, and the rest were ripped apart by fire and shrapnel, sending bodies and limbs flying throughout the store. The blast from the grenade immediately blew the shelves apart and devoured them with fire, leaving flames nearly up to the ceiling.

One of the raiders from behind the counter had been blasted backwards, but he growled, drawing his pistol and leaping over the flat surface. Looking around for the perpetrator, he never saw through the flames as John stepped up with his new double-barreled shotgun. Pulling the trigger, the gun jerked backwards and slammed into the young man's chest, nearly driving the wind from his lungs as he fell on his behind. But the shot had found its mark, and the raider went down, falling into the flames that had cloaked his adversary.

Rubbing the spot in the armor that had taken the blow from the buttstock, John groaned and got back to his feet. When he did, another figure ran out from the bathrooms off to the side, shouting as he did. "What the fuck is going on!?" asked the bewildered man as he attempted to pull his pants up. But he froze in horror at the sight before him. Bodies and fire everywhere, all of the men and women he used to know and tolerate were now looking up at him through lifeless eyes. Those that still had eyes that was. The rest burned as fire tore at their skin, charring their faces as black as volcanic as, making them look like wailing souls of the damned.

But the raider stopped looking at them as he saw something move. Looking up through the flames, he eyed a dark figure walking through the flames as if he were untouched by the agent of destruction. It was as if the fire itself weaved its way around him, was comforted by his presence. Looking up, he saw the creature-man's eyes glowing red and glaring directly at him as it held a shotgun at his side.

He had always been superstitious. From the day he could comprehend the words his mother had spoken to him, she had instilled within him the fear of God, Yahweh, the Creator, and any other name he went by. The one who came before all, he was to be feared and respected, else he would send his Archangel after you with a sword made of fire to take your soul to the depths of hell. Throughout his life, he never really understood his mother's motivation in trying to make him fear something so transparent and non present. Nor did he really care. He had gotten himself in with a good group, with girls, caps, and protection aplenty to keep him from ever having to face the inevitability of judgment. At least until he was old and ready to kick it, and by that time he probably would be a good person, right?

But all of her words slammed into him like a shot from a cannon now, playing through his head like the words of the Almighty. _"Almighty God knows your sins. And when he sees such sins on your body from on high, he sends his Archangel down to smite you with blade made of fire. After he finishes with your body, he drags your soul down to hell for an eternity of suffering."_ her words echoed in his head. The raider had noticed the shotgun in one hand, then watched, his eyes widening with each second as the figure drew a blade from behind his back. Tears began to roll down his face as he saw the fire dancing on the flat metal of the blade.

The man immediately felt a warm sensation slowly travelling down his pant leg. But he felt no shame in it, the only thing he felt was fear. He didn't know if it was for him specifically, or for his entire group, but he knew his time had come. He heard the bell on his life tolling from a long ways off as he looked back up at the flaming red glare from the man's eyes.

From behind him came the woman who he had been in the bathroom with. She angrily drew her sub-machine gun and aimed at the figure, but he vanished behind one of the crumbling shelves as she sprayed the rounds towards him. "What the fuck are you doing!?" she asked angrily as she tried to follow what she perceived as his movements with her weapon, continuing to suppress the trigger until she heard a click over the roaring flames.

"H-H-He's the…" he stuttered as he pointed towards the shelf she had been shooting at. But before he could finish the statement, a section of the shelf that was still standing blasted apart with a roar, and she screamed in pain as her leg suddenly exploded with buckshot.

The dark figure burst out from the spot wielding the blade, and within seconds he closed the distance. Her head soared into the air before thudding against the floor and rolling off to the side while her body collapsed into the flames. Then he turned around and locked his wrathful eyes on him once more. As the woman's body caught fire, the flames seemed to burn brighter until they rose behind the man like a pair of flaming wings.

John watched the curious figure who just stood staring at him from the entrance to the bathrooms. He didn't have a weapon, so he wasn't just going to kill the man. However, he was in all likeliness a raider, which the young man was quickly growing to despise. Still, he was shaking in his boots and had literally wet himself while standing stock still in front of him. Suddenly, the man moved. John went to raise the machete he wielded again, but the man didn't run for him. Instead, he was sprinting for the door of the shop faster than he'd ever seen someone run.

Reaching up, John lifted the goggles from his face as he watched the front door of the shop fly open, and saw the man vanish out into the darkness of the night.

"All cowards at heart I suppose." he remarked as he looked around the store. Most of the shelves were now ash, and aside from the smouldering bodies, the fire had died down immensely, leaving the room safe enough to scavenge. He sighed to himself as he trudged through to the back counter of the store where he saw an entire line of refrigerators on the wall. But he stopped himself as a small sound of panicked breath hit his ears.

He glared, holding up the machete, then smacked the counter with the flat of the blade. It made a loud clatter that was followed shortly be a loud cry of panic from behind the counter. Leaning over the counter, he saw a woman with blonde hair wearing nothing but overalls covering her face with fear. Smiling slightly, he spoke. "You're not going to hide from anyone if you're that loud." She squealed in terror and ran on all fours across to one of the refrigerators as John climbed onto the counter and crouched on it, glaring at her as she put her back to the fridge in fight.

Hopping off the counter, he stepped towards her slowly with the blade in one hand and his pistol in the other. With the shells from the shotgun expended, it was easier to switch guns rather than just reload the shotgun itself. John internally chuckled to himself as he watched the older woman, probably no older than her early thirties, cowering.

"Please! I'm married!" she shouted.

"Don't care." he said cooly.

"I have kids!" she shouted back in desperation.

"Don't care." he snapped coldly once more.

"I...I..." she said, stuttering to find some kind of failsafe. "I can have sex with you?"

He swung the machete straight for her neck, making her gasp in horror and slam her eyes shut. She waited for the embrace of eternity, but it never came. After a full minute of cringing more tightly than she ever had in her life, she opened her eyes and looked down at the blade that nipped at her throat. "I..." he said, stepping closer to emphasize his point. "don't..." he said, taking another step forward until he was nearly pressed against her. "care." he said icily in her face as the blade dug a bit into her flesh. He had to admit, she was alright looking. Nothing really special, but if she had offered him the same in different circumstances, he would be interested. But as it stood now, with the bodies all around him and the decorations drying in the sun outside, he was a dead fish.

"P-Please..." she begged, her eyes filling with tears now. He pulled the machete out of the way after a moment, then walked back and sat on the counter with a wicked smile.

Taking the pack that he had retrieved from the door, he laid it on the counter. "See this bag?" he asked, tapping it with the machete so that there was no confusion. She nodded rapidly, her breathing heavy. "Grab all the food and medicine you can find, and put it in here." he ordered, then threw the pack at her. She stood for a moment, unsure if he had allowed her to move yet. "Now!" he shouted, setting her off like a rocket. In a matter of minutes, his bag was stuffed with FancyLad Snack Cakes, Salisbury Steak in a can, cans of Cram, No MiSteak Brahmin Steaks, Beans 'N' Pok, Sugar Bombs, and a variety of other, more generic brand foodstuffs. There was also medkit stuffed inside with Med-X, Rad-X, Stimpaks, Jet, Psycho, and even a large bottle of something called Buffout.

When she finished, she stood before him nervously, wondering if her usefulness had finally ended. She stood in silence as the young gunman, still sitting on the counter, ate one of the FancyLad Snackcakes out of a wrapper, staring at her as if seeing straight through her clothes, her skin, down to her very soul. "A...Anything else?" she asked, her hands shaking behind her back.

"No." he said, making her flinch at the suddenness. That likely meant that her number was up. Squeezing her eyes shut, she was preparing to brace for death once more, when he spoke again. "Now get the hell out before I do to you what I did to them." he commanded her, nodding his head towards the still smoking corpses of her former fellows. He took another bite from the sweet snack cake and jumped down from the counter. She took him at his word and immediately bolted for the front of the store.

John, with his heavy pack over his shoulder now, walked into the back where there was a locked door. Pulling out a few of the bobby pins that Leo had given him, he ducked down and worked at the lock for about twenty minutes before getting angry with it and blasting the door handle off with his new shotgun. Already irritated with his failure, he swung the door open and walked in.

But all ire flew from his mind as the heavy leather rucksack hit the floor, his eyes wide as he stood stunned at the sight before him. Around the room there were several file cabinets that looked as if something inside them had blasted out of the drawers, leaving everything inside, papers, files, binders, and folders strewn across the floor. In the back of the room was a table with a bulky terminal on it and a broken lamp, along with a few caps just sitting on the table. On the far side of the room were numerous ammo boxes, probably full of all kinds of goodies depending on how long the place had been locked.

But the most prevalent and interesting thing was the giant capsule in the corner sitting next to the table. It was a full head taller than him and was made of glasteel, a composition of different alloys that made for a very thick and break-proof transparent window. At the bottom and top of the inside of the glass coffin-like contraption were fluorescent lights that lit up the main attraction, which happened to be a Protectron class robot. He stared in awe at the machine, before immediately moving over to the terminal and turning it on.

Immediately, the young man began absorbing the knowledge that typed itself out in front of him. "Protectron T-800, Robco Industries model 101. Subroutines currently set to dormant. Note to all employees, stop messing with the tin can. The last time someone decided to be funny with programming, the damn thing started acting like a bouncer and was throwing customers out on their asses." he read with a slight chuckle. "For the moment, I'm locking it up until I can get some better security on its programming. In the meantime, try to refrain from drawing mustaches on the glasteel." he finished.

When he was through reading, he attempted to open the subroutine programming, but was immediately assaulted with a password screen. He frowned briefly, then looked down at his pipboy. It had helped him crack open a few terminals in the vault before, but the Overseer was an idiot could barely understand his own pipboy worked. Pulling a small, extendable cord from the wrist-mounted computer, he plugged it into the universal port on the terminal, then opened his own designed hacking program. The vault boy on the screen suddenly vanished, then reappeared in a comical picture of him smashing a padlock with his bare fist. The screen of his pipboy lit afterwards and was filled with numbers, letters and symbols of the terminals last few hours worth of typing before it had been shut down.

He browsed through the mass of code before running across the moment when the previous owner had actually locked the terminal again, and sighed. He placed his head in his hand and rubbed his forehead. "Is it any wonder the employees kept messing with the Protectron?" he asked rhetorically as he entered the phrase he saw on the screen. Typing out each of the letters one after the other, he then hit enter on the terminal. **Password "drowssap" accepted.** "What an idiot." he finished, finally accessing the subroutines of the robot next to him. "A friendly greeter for the store, and robbery prevention unit." he read off the screen with a smile. "I wonder if I could bring you back with me..." he said curiously, the possibilities flying through his mind.

He sat in the chair typing away at the terminal for what felt like hours and hours, putting his fingers to use like he had never done before. He'd used his father's terminal a couple of times, but there wasn't much of interest on it. A couple of medical files on the different vault members, a few digital issues of "The Fast and the Luxurious" car magazine, and a couple pinups that Butch paid the young vault dweller for. But nothing in there challenged him. The biggest challenge was keeping up with and recording the readings in the vault's reactor room, and that was just a job. Finally, he finished his typing and smiled as he hit the "Accept" button on his pipboy.

But his joy was interrupted by a loud scream from the main store area. "Hey ya little shit! I know you're back there!" came a loud voice from behind the cash registers. John sighed heavily as he placed his face in his hands again. "Spikechain ain't scared o' no Bible story, now get your ass out here! Do it fast, and Spikechain might wait til after Spikechain kills you to skin you and hang you up!" shouted the man angrily.

John looked up at the door behind him curiously. "The hell is he talking about? Bible story?" he asked, then just shook his head. As soon as he turned the corner, he knew he was going to be full of holes. He needed another way out. Looking over at the robot he sighed unhappily. "Well buddy, I guess it wasn't meant to be." he said as he turned towards the terminal and began to type away once more, activating one of the robot's main functions. When he finished, he hit the Activate option and the capsule next to him slid open.

OoOoO

Spikechain, the long time, self-named boss of the Spikechain Gang sat on one of the counters that had managed to stay intact after the fire. After he had made his speech, he turned to what remained of his gang. They had been out of the store raiding when the attack had occurred, but had gotten an earful from one of his cronies who had made it out of the shop about what had happened, right before he put a bullet into the cowardly bastard. Now, he had the little shit cornered. "As soon as he comes out that door, you all put him down quicklike." he said to them with a nod.

"You know I can hear you from in here right?" yelled the young gunman from the back room, his voice almost amused.

The old raider looked at the door in surprise, yelling back, "No ya cain't!" Then he turned to the others again and, this time in a whisper, told them, "As soon as he comes out that door, you all put him down quicklike." He smiled widely as the others acknowledged the command and all aimed their weapons at the door. But they didn't fire when the door opened wider, as they were too stunned at what they saw.

It was a large robot, taller than anyone in their group, with squat legs and arms, each hand having three claw like grips on it. It was barrel-chested, having a trunk larger around than any of them present, and a glowing bright yellow headcap where the central processor was located. As it walked towards them, most of them were too stunned to do much of anything.

 _"Oh say...can you see, by...the dawns early...light."_ it said, its voice eerily childlike as it sang the United States National Anthem in a broken lineup, its clunky walk stuttering as if it were malfunctioning. _"O'er the ramparts..fzzzzzzz...we watched, were so ga...fzzzzzz...llantly streaming."_ it continued in its high pitched, strangely non-robotic sounding voice. The bandits in the room all felt goosebumps at the eerie scene of the metal man singing the Star Spangled Banner in a child's voice, while walking towards them in a very puppet-like manner. Immediately, one of the raiders fled out the open door, dashing off into the wasteland as the robot got closer.

"The fuck is this?" asked Spikechain as he stood in front of the robot, which had now stopped in front of him.

 _"And the home...fzzzzz...of the brave!"_ It sang the last high notes before the recording cut off entirely. The raider captain growled and kicked the machine, doing absolutely nothing but knocking himself on his on rear end.

Immediately, the yellowish dome on the robot turned blood red. _"Die communist scum."_ it said, before holding up its arms and firing two precise defensive lasers directly into the man's face. His head immediately unraveled as if it was made of paper, splattering all over the ground as his body fell limply to the floor. The other raiders immediately reacted by unleashing a hellstorm of gunfire on the automaton.

The Protectron began to spark as the bullets tore at its outer shell, its servos overloading from the strain of both time and bullets. One of the raiders ran up with a sledge hammer and swung it heavily, slamming the metal head into the robot's side. But the patriotic bot didn't flinch from the attack. Instead, it grabbed the woman who had assaulted it with both arms and locked her into a bear like grip before shouting its last words. _"Uncle Sam sends his regards!"_ Then, with a few seconds of loud beeping, the mines in his storage compartment detonated outwards in a shower of fire and metal, ripping the Protectron to shreds. The woman it its grip was torn limb from limb, and the raiders surrounding it with guns were downed as shrapnel punctured their bodies. The only two unaffected by the mass explosion were so stunned that they were easily gunned down by the former vault dweller, who was now standing in the doorway of the back room.

He sighed to himself as he walked over towards the massacre and looked down at the body of his new metal friend. "Well buddy, if it wasn't for you, I'd probably be dead. So I owe you one too." he finished. Reaching inside the robots blackbox protected cranium and pulled out the brain chip, which was a combination of a CPU and memory storage. He had spent hours on the device, and wasn't about to give it up simply because of a few dead raiders. Sliding the card into one of the pouches on his rucksack, he relieved the raiders of their goods, then headed out of the store and into the darkness of the night..


	6. Wasteland Cowboy

OoO( 6 )OoO

Finally leaving the burned out insides of the store, John revelled in the cool night air. Pulling out his cigarettes, he lit one before packing them away again and looking down at his pipboy. The marker for Megaton was where he left it, and he began heading in the direction of the settlement with his bags full once more.

Taking a long hit from the clover, he made his way around the ridge and readjusted his path towards the city again. But it wasn't long before he sighed to himself in frustration. "It just never ends, does it?" he asked in annoyance as he ducked his head down at the sound of gunfire. In the distance, he could easily see muzzle flashes, as well as the thin, lancing beams of light that the buzzing, patriotic drones used firing back and forth beyond the skeleton of a house to his 11 O'clock. Luckily, it looked like they were firing at each other instead of him. Using the cover of night, he slowly made his way past the house and hid behind the burned out husk of a 2068 Nexian Firecat that had been the car of choice over two hundred years ago. Deciding he was going to stay out of the encounter, and just be a spectator, he peeked over the top of the vehicle in interest, but kept his hands on his hunting rifle just in case.

The battle was taking place in the remains of a small ghost town that looked like it had suffered the worst of the blast from the bombs. The ruins of three more houses were visible thanks to the starlight with corpses of formerly fancy cars around them as well. But the most interesting thing about the sight were the combatants.

On the left side, crouched behind the crumbling walls of one of the skeleton houses was an older man. His hair and beard were silver from age, only seeable in the flashes from his weapon. Currently, he had his hair tied back into a long ponytail, likely to keep it from interfering with his aim. The man wore a long, light colored duster, and on his head he had a dusty cowboy hat that looked as if it had seen the hard work of a hundred men.

The man's appearance was definitely interesting, but what drew John's eyes the most was the long rifle that he fired with one hand. He was no expert on firearms, but there was something special about the weapon. It only fired one round at a time before having to be reloaded, which was unlike any rifle he had seen yet. And the force with which the shot commanded the air when fired was palpable. Instead of the loud crack let off by most gunpowder-powered guns, this one let out a much softer, more mechanical sound. He figured it had to be some kind of energy powered weapon, as the rounds ripping from the barrel left a dull light trail as if they were practically molten. But the figure's shots were wild and inaccurate, making the rounds smash through anything but their target.

The opponent however wasn't as inaccurate. Opposite of the cowboy was a titanic figure wielding a massive laser shooting gatling gun. The size was likely because he was in full mechanical armor that was painted nearly as black as the night around them. His eyes were a soft glowing golden color, making him look like some kind of demonic figure glaring into the darkness. Unlike the old man, his aim was nearly on target. The only thing saving the cowboy from demise by hot laser was that he ducked behind cover to reload. Eyeing the weapon that the armored figure had, he deducted that distance likely lessened the impact of the lasers, making them less effective the farther they traveled. Since this was likely a fight to the death, he wondered why the man in the impenetrable fortress-like armor didn't just stomp over and take his nemesis out instead of keeping his distance. With each step of the giant figure, the hydraulic sounding mechanics could be heard, cluing him in that the armor itself was moving, and not just the man within.

Once again, the old man popped up from his cover, slapped the exotic weapon over the wall of his cover, then fired. But again, the shot went wide and blasted through one of the remaining walls of the surrounding houses. In an instant, he was ducking back behind the barrier. John eyed the wall he was hiding behind, and knew as a new stream of plasma rained down on it that it wouldn't hold for long. From the look of it, he had maybe a minutes worth of cover left before the beams would break through and riddle him with holes.

Suddenly, the lasers stopped again, and the dark titan no doubt had to let the weapon cool down to prevent it from melting in his hands. And the fight continued, back and forth, one firing when he had the opportunity, and the other using sheer force to power through his opponent's barrier.

As the barrels overheated again, John began to grow annoyed. The old man took another shot, and as predicted, the daylight on the shot was massive. From the level of the weapon, it didn't seem to be firing wildly due to damage or an uncoordinated sight. Wherever the man pointed, the rounds flew. So that meant it had to be user error. Once again, the man was behind cover, and the armored juggernaut began to peel back layer after layer of his cover with laser fire. As he continued to watch, John wondered just what he was watching.

If comic books were to be believed, the cowboy was some kind of bringer of justice, biding his time until his opponent opened up a weak spot, then would spring up and disable the armored man. That would lead to him bringing him into the law. From comic book standards, the armored figure was the model of a villain, but he knew that comic books had a very limited basis in reality. People were more complicated than good and evil, light side and dark side, benevolent and malevolent. For all he knew, the old man was a killer who was getting due justice and the titanic gatling laser wielder was with some kind of police force. Such was the levels of society, you never knew who you could trust. However, his thinking was put on hold as the lasers finally did their work and cracked the barrier wall in half, making it crumble.

John stared wide-eyed at the scene. Now, in order to take cover, the old man had to lay down flat. There was no way he'd be able to get up and get a shot off, then get back down in time before another stream of laser fire finally put him down. He watched the intense scene for a moment longer as the old man held his position. "Just stay down…" he mumbled to himself. Turning to see if the armored figure was advancing, the young gunman was surprised to find those golden glowing eyes staring directly at him. He watched in near slow motion as the titan turned the minigun in his direction and began to fire.

A split second was all it took to realize he had been spotted, and he hurled himself down behind the vehicle as the lasers smashed through the aged metal of the car, creating a loud klaxon that made him cover his ears to keep from going deaf as the metal began to heat and buckle. Unlike the old man, he luckily had more cover to resort to, and he grabbed his pack and began to low crawl away from the destroyed car. But he stopped a moment as he heard a loud pop. Turning his head, he saw the engine compartment of the car blazing with fire now, and his eyes widened, knowing what was coming next. It was simple, and something he'd experienced back in the reactor in Vault 101. When nuclear cells are exposed to extreme heat, they self destruct. And not in the clean purging of materials within the cell, but an outward purge at high velocity and rad count. In the vault however, they have disposal methods that keep that from happening.

There was no possibility of that in this time and place. Instead, he immediately jumped to his feet and sprinted away from the car, but he got only a few steps before a wave hit him that sent him sprawling. "Fuck!" he growled as he got to his feet, feeling like he'd been hit by the car that exploded. Turning back, he saw the miniature mushroom cloud that had erupted from the engine block.

Much to his chagrin however, the explosion had hit another nearby car, which was already blazing with fire. He quickly looked at the arrangement of cars and immediately saw a domino effect about to happen. And if he didn't get his ass moving, he'd be dead before it finished. Grabbing his rifle and rucksack once more, he sprinted away from the burning car. Again, it detonated and sent him tumbling, but he didn't stop. Rolling back to his feet, the next one exploded, then the next, chaining towards him as if he were being carpet bombed.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" he shouted as he felt the blasts getting closer by the second. Suddenly, one went off behind him and sent him soaring once more, this time right through the wall of one of the dilapidated houses. When he hit the ground, he immediately coughed loudly, trying to clear the dust from his lungs. Looking down at his pipboy and immediately saw something wrong with his leg. Scanning the area with his pipboy light, he saw that the armor he had had been penetrated, and blood was pouring from the lacerated area. "Alright asshole…" he growled, gritting his teeth together in pain as he pulled out a dose of Med-X and hit himself with it. He didn't have time right now to bandage the wound, so a stimpack to try and stop the flow would have to do. "Guess who just became the bad guy." Grabbing his hunting rifle, his attitude deflated when he saw the barrel bent at an angle.

"Not gonna kill anything with that." came a voice from the darkness. Immediately, the young gunman grabbed the assault rifle from his back and aimed it in the direction the voice had come from. Standing in the same house, dozens of yards away from his previous cover, was the old man. As expected, his hair and beard were silver, and his duster was sand colored in the light of the pipboy. "Evenin'." he said, holding the large rifle in his left hand. In the small amount of light they had, John could see what the problem was. The cowboy's right arm was dangling uselessly at his side, many scorch marks scattered across the limb, likely making it useless.

"Evening..." responded John as he kept his gun on the man. He examined the figure as the older man sat down in a state of near exhaustion. It was then that the younger man saw the figure on the back of the duster. It was the head of a wolf, burned intricately into the back of the leather coat so that it stared directly at him, as if calmly questioning his presence.

John suddenly joined him on the ground as laser fire hit the wall of the house, cutting through the wood, but not getting through the stone. "I'd say thank you for the diversion. Without you, I'd still be in the last house, ready to be gunned down. But then, you're in this situation with me now."

John sighed and pulled more ammo for his assault rifle out. "That's the way it's looking." he grumbled. Then he looked at the man's arm, wanting to wince at how bad it looked. "I guess your crazy firing is because you're doing it one handed?" asked the young man as he pulled out his medkit. "Given that we're in this together now, I can try and fix you up."

"I'm fine son. No need to worry about ol' Angus." he said, his breathing heavy and deep. "Besides, the damage is done. It'll take a lot more than little needles to fix this ol' thing."

John walked slowly over to a crack in the wall and peeked through, spying the large figure in the distance. Suddenly, the laser fire diverted and focused on that spot, blasting the wall with heat and exploding the stone inward. John only just ducked in time, the heat from the laser fire nearly blistering his skin as he fell on his rear end. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted, rubbing the damaged cheek.

But the old man held a finger to his lips, shushing him before speaking in the same low tone as before. "He has gadgets in his helmet that let him pinpoint you with sound. The more noise you make, the easier he can spot you."

"So that's how he found me!" whispered John as he crawled away from the spot, not wanting to try his luck with the man's aim. Why the hell isn't he overrunning us right now? He could have just walked up and splattered us with that weapon and armor." he asked as he finally took a moment to try and wrap his leg.

The old man chuckled. "He's too cowardly for that." he said, smiling over at John with pearly white teeth, something John had hardly seen since he left the vault. "As long as he stays at a distance, he knows I can't hit him. But if he gets closer, my aim might improve." he said simply between increasingly laboured breaths.

John looked from the old man's smirking face, down to the large weapon in his hands. "So that thing can pierce his armor?" he asked curiously, nodding at the rifle in the man's lap.

"Damn right it can. This thing could drill through a nuclear blast door with two or three shots. And the Enclave armor is strong, but not strong enough for this." he said, running his hand along the barrel of the rifle as if he were stroking the neck of a favorite pet.

"What kind of weapon is that?" he asked, staring at the smoking muzzle of the weapon.

The old man lifted the gun and handed it to him. John went wide eyed as he examined the curious weapon. "It's a Gauss Rifle. Made by the US Army to counter Chinese Chimera tanks. Ain't no armor can stand up to it for long." said the older man as he chuckled. Suddenly, his chuckle turned into a heaving cough that splattered blood across his good hand.

John set the weapon aside and immediately got to his knees. "You're not doing too well. How long have you been fighting for?" he asked as he pulled his medkit from the sack, the sound of lasers hitting the wall constant once more.

"Heh...about twelve hours straight. I've hunted this demon for almost ten years now. And when I finally have him cornered, I lost my arm. Luckily, I took out his radio. And he's too stubborn to go for backup." said the man as he wiped the blood from his mouth.

"Why are you chasing him? That doesn't sound like a good life choice to me." said the young gunman as he began pulling out medicine. When he went to treat the man, the cowboy just grabbed his wrist and shook his head.

"Don't be wastin' that stuff on me young'un. I'm too far gone for any o' that." he said as he wiped the blood onto his pant leg. "He was responsible for a raid that left my daughter's mother dead. She was the love of my life, and I was bad to her, spending too much time working. Trying to make a good life for them both." John pulled out a cigarette and lit it as the barrage from behind the other side of the wall continued. He offered the man one, who took it gratefully.

The young man nodded. "Why did the Enclave attack your wife?" he asked, puffing from the clover as he put the medicine away reluctantly.

Angus just sighed remorsefully. "They were after some loud-mouthed protester for goddamned President Eden. Apparently the man had taken out all the drones in his area, then started gathering an army to try and attack what he thought was an Enclave outpost. The Enclave don't come out of hiding often, but when they do, they mean business. Once they got wind of it, they moved in and wiped the place clean. No survivors." he said, his voice, usually steady and calm, starting to shake at the claim. "I happened to be out relic hunting with my daughter at the time, teaching her how to make it in the family business." he said, noticing that the battlefield was quiet.

 _"Surrender yourself to the Enclave and mercy will be shown."_ commanded a robotic voice from the other side of the wall.

The cowboy looked at John and shook his head, coughing blood once more onto his hand. "Don't you believe him for a second. He was the one who supposedly disposed of the unwanted innocents during that raid. He'd have no qualms about killing you here and now." he said, his breathing now wheezing and dry.

"Are you sure you don't need medicine? I can tell you have internal injuries as well." said John as he crouched next to the man with concern.

The old man just shook his head sadly. "I'm done, I've used up all I've got..." he said as he pointed at the rifle that John had set aside. "Give me a gun and help me kill this bastard. I'll distract him, and you use that to put him down. Once that's done, I can finally die in peace." he said in his gasping breath.

The gunman looked at him wide-eyed, then nodded. "Alright...take this." he said, offering him the assault rifle. "It's a spitfire, so it'll keep him distracted until I can get a shot off. I'll take his weapon out and keep him from drawing anymore. Afterwards, you can do what you want with him." he finished. The old man smiled lightly and nodded.

"You got a good head on you kid. Do me a quick favor..." he said, getting the young man's attention. "Don't let the harsh wasteland turn you into him." he said nodding towards the armored soldier. "Many let the wasteland turn them into monsters. Not literally, like the ghouls, but here." he said, tapping his heart with his good hand. "I can see you aren't one of them. Don't change that." John stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Now, get going. I'll draw his fire."

The cowboy lifted the automatic weapon and stuck it into one of the holes made by the previous laser barrages. He aimed in the general direction of the dark figure and pulled the trigger, causing rounds to fly across the field. The Enclave unit took a step back at the fire, but only took a second or two to realize that the gun being fired wasn't any threat to him.

With the soldier properly distracted, John moved from the house and dove behind another car that had been far enough away not to get hit with the chain reaction.

Keeping his head low, he sprinted from cover and did a baseball slide behind the rickety wall of another house just before the armored man recomposed himself and began firing back at the old man's position. It wouldn't save him from the laser fire, but it kept him out of sight as he lined up the shot. He wasn't aware of the kickback on the weapon, but he wasn't taking any chances after the shotgun incident in the grocer. Setting the stock against his shoulder, he looked through the startlingly advanced scope and aimed. The armored soldier was already firing at Angus' position again, allowing John to set the red dot directly on the weapon that the man was firing. Thinking about the four principles of firing, he adjusted his stance, aimed, exhaled deeply, then squeezed.

Unfortunately, the stance that countered the recoil from a hunting rifle wasn't the same needed for this weapon. John was thrown back into the dirt as soon as the slug left the barrel, sending him into a coughing fit. "Right...gauss rifle. Magnets, Newton's third law...I'm an idiot." he chastised as he got back up from his position. To his relief however, the weapon had struck true. Not directly on the weapon, but close enough.

Despite the weapon recoil, the round flew straight and not only smashing into the Enclave assaulter's weapon, ripping the top half of the heavy gun to shreds and sending two of the barrels flying off into the darkness. The round continued however, also annihilating the man's hand that was holding the trigger of the gatling laser. The dark, robotic voice cried out loudly in pain as he held up a stump that was gushing blood from his arm.

John stood again after catching his breath, then walked out of cover, rifle up again and aimed directly at the mourning soldier. The old man stepped out from cover as well, the assault rifle in his left hand. Together, they converged on the soldier until they stood before the gasping, kneeling figure.

"I've been waiting a long time for this..." said the cowboy as he glared down at the man. "Take off the helmet." he ordered, the assault rifle aimed directly at the soldier.

 _"Burn in hell old man."_ said the robotic voice, no doubt synthesized by the helmet itself.

"Unless you want to lose the other hand, I'd suggest doing as he says." John snapped, keeping back away from the pair. He didn't know how capable this man was, and didn't want to presume that just because he'd lost a hand meant that he was out of the fight.

The man before them growled, translating to a robotic rumble through the voice synthesizer. But finally, he reached up with his good hand and hit the pressure release catch underneath the lid. The helmet released the contained oxygen inside, then the Enclave unit reached up and slid the helmet off his head, showing the shining bald head of an older man. He had a five o'clock shadow on his grimacing face, and his right eye was accented with a slashing scar that rendered the optic dead. "Not a bad shot for someone with one eye." commented John, his finger already on the trigger.

The soldier smirked at the young man. "Thanks." was all he said as he clutched his mangled hand.

The old man stood in front of him glaring down at the bald man in spite. "You know...I wondered for a long time what I'd say if I ever had you in this position. Turns out, the answer is nothin'. I could stand here and make a speech about how you killed my wife, and try to make you remember the day that it happened as some kind of twisted retribution before I kill you. But you wouldn't remember. Your kind never do. So why don't I just get this whole thing over with?" he asked, drawing a revolver from his side.

The man on his knees sneered up at the cowboy. "Why not duel me for it?" he asked. The old man looked at him darkly, silently. "We've both lost our good hands. So if you think you deserve retribution for your wife, give me a gun and we'll do this like men. Winner walks away." he said in a raspy voice, laced with desperation.

The old man looked at him for a long moment before nodding. "So be it." he said. He pulled his duster off, then his armored chest piece and tossed them to the side. "Out of that armor, and you'll get a gun." he said sharply.

Standing to his full height, the Enclave soldier slowly reached up with his remaining hand and activated the release on the armor. John's gauss rifle was pointed at him the entire time, making sure he didn't try anything funny. The armor, much to the young gunman's amazement, opened up in the back. The plates unfolded, sliding outwards towards the front of the armor until finally there was a large enough hole in the back for him to step out of. It was like those old holovids from the vault where cicada would shed its skin, leaving it standing behind while the bug itself moved on. Underneath the armor was only a jumpsuit emblazoned with the American flag over the heart, and a pair of boots that matched perfectly.

As John realized he was staring at the armor, he shook his head, snapping him out of it just as Angus signaled him. "Hey kid, can you loan him a pistol for me?" asked the oldest among them. With his duster and chest plate gone, Angust was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a navy-colored tshirt.

John looked at him sternly for a moment, about to question whether handing the man a weapon was the best idea. But he conceded as the old man gave him a knowing stare. "Alright." he said, reaching down and grabbing the 10mm pistol off his side. He threw the weapon, landing it in the dirt right next to the man. "Bend down and pick it up. If you fire early, the last thing that'll go through your mind is a gauss round." he snapped, keeping his sights locked onto the man through the scope of the energy weapon. The soldier was growing more pale by the second, no doubt from the blood loss.

The Enclave unit picked up the pistol and held it in his good hand at his side, just as the old man did with his revolver. "Now turn around." said the cowboy as he turned, having faith in the young gunman not to allow the man to shoot him in the back. The bald man turned as well, a look of darkness setting over his face. "Kid, count to three and fire a round into the air. When the round goes off, you and me spin and fire. Understood?" asked the old man. The soldier said nothing, opting to stay silent in what could be his last moments.

"One!" shouted John as he lifted the rifle up and grabbed the pistol from his other holster. He watched the pair as they stood, facing away from each other patiently. "Two!" he raised the pistol into the air. "Three!" he shouted, then pulled trigger and sent the round flying into the night sky. Immediately, he felt a hot sting in his shoulder that sent him careening into the shattered fence behind him. As sat there, he reached up and felt fresh blood pouring from a new wound that had materialized. Turning back, he glared at the bald man, seeing the smirk on his face as he turned on the old man and fired.

But his smirk was gone in seconds. Six loud cries from the rotating revolver sounded, and the man fell dead with six new holes in his head, all nearly perfectly circular. The old man dropped the revolver, letting out a breath that he had carried with him for a long time. He inhaled deeply as he closed his eyes, a small smile on his face as he did. "The wasteland smells cleaner."

John stumbled over to his rucksack again, yanking out the medkit and hitting himself with another dose of Med-X. Luckily, it wouldn't need surgery, as it appeared that the bullet had gone all the way through. Once the painkiller was applied, he took another stimpak and injected it into the shoulder area. Once that was finished, he just flopped back against the car that was closest and growled, waiting for the medicine to kick in. "I knew it was too good to be true."

Turning his head towards John, he smiled brightly. "Thank you son. You don't know what it means to me to have killed him myself." he said, bowing his head in a strangely Asian-cultured way. "Are you gonna be alright? Didn't mean to get you even more injured."

Finally, he started feeling the relieving effects of the medication. He nodded dumbly as the pain lessened immensely. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Looks like he didn't have much faith in your aim with a revolver. Wanted to take out the most threatening presence." he said chuckling at his poor luck.

"Yeah, I've trained with that damn gun all my life. With a rifle, firing one handed leaves much up to luck. But you only need one hand to fire a pistol. There's been a lot of fools that underestimated this old man." he said, smiling down at the young gunman. "Now, I need you to do me one more favor."

John, after wrapping his shoulder enough so that he could make it home, looked up and lit another clover to take his mind off of it. "What do you need?" he asked, watching as the cowboy sat down against the car, his breathing heavy.

"I want you to find my daughter for me. My little Moonbeam. Find her, and tell her that her father loves her." he said sadly. "Take my jacket and my rifle in return. Just keep bein' a hero kid. The wasteland really needs one."

John looked over at the man, the clover dropping from his mouth. The sun had finally risen into the morning sky, allowing the young gun to see the bullet hole in the man's shirt near his heart. "Goddammit old man! Why didn't you say something!?" he shouted as he scrambled towards him, patting himself down for medicine.

"Don't, you'd be wastin' your medicine. It's done the damage, and can't be repaired." he said, his breathing now very labored now. "Just promise me..." he said, grabbing the collar of John's leather armor desperately.

Sighing, utterly defeated, John nodded. "I'll find her, and I won't become what he was." he said to the older man. "I promise. Now, what's her name?"

The mans smile lit up his face. "Thank you..." he said, then laid his head back. "Her name is...Sssss…" started Angus, but he never got to finish his sentence. John noticed almost immediately that the man's breathing had stopped. He simply sighed to himself and stood up as the light of dawn started to show in the east.

OoOoO

Hours later, the sun was up in the sky, shining down on the gunman as he looked down at the old man's grave that he had dug. Fighting through the pain of his arm and his leg both rebelling, he forced himself to do it, until finally it was deep enough to keep the any roaming animals away. Pulling him into the grave was also a hassle, but he just dosed up again and forced himself to do it. Finally, the task was done, and he took one of the fence posts that he'd shattered with his own body last night and spiked it into the ground at the head of the grave.

He stood, staring for a long moment at the post, before sighing and flicking his cigarette into the wind. Reaching down, he picked the cowboy hat up off the ground, then set it on the post to rest. Taking the duster off the ground, he slid the coat onto his shoulders. The right arm of the thing was nearly gone, and seeing how damaged Angus' arm was, that was no surprise. Reaching up, he ripped the scraps free, leaving it without a sleeve. He then proceeded to do the same to the other side until it was nearly symmetrical.

Finally finished, he slipped the coat on over his armor, then picked up the rucksack and secured it to his back. Lastly, he picked up the gauss rifle and took another look at the grave before remembering the dead man's words. The wasteland was a place filled with people who thought nothing more of others than as stepping stones. It was a lifestyle now, kill or be killed, never turn your back on anyone, only the strong survive. The people with this thought process, he had called them monsters. People who were so cowardly that they had to shove others into the fire so they could survive.

The people of the wastes needed someone who wasn't like that. They needed someone who wouldn't walk on them to get to greater heights, someone who wouldn't turn their backs on them when things things got tough. He sighed to himself, annoyed as he remembered that Mr. Brotch's G.O.A.T. exam said that he would make a good vault Chaplain. Finally, as the sun rose from the horizon, changing the sky to a bright orange, he turned away from the grave and pulled the goggles back down onto his eyes. "See you later cowboy." he said silently as he made his way back to the city of Megaton.


	7. Intimidation Tactics

OoO( 7 )OoO

Hours later, the sun once again blasted the wasteland with its heat, cooking anything that was unprotected from the elements. The wind had picked up slightly, causing sand and dust to fly into the air, stinging anything it impacted. That included the wandering vault dweller, who was currently stepping up to the sizzling gates of Megaton. He greeted Deputy Weld, who was as enthusiastic as ever at an approaching visitor, before he pushed the inner wooden gate open and stepped inside. He turned, he used his uninjured shoulder to push the heavy door back. Finally, he stepped back towards the city, wiping sweat from his brow as he did.

"Damn kid. Haven't been out here a week and you already look like you just hijacked the Brotherhood of Steel's headquarters." said the dark-skinned sheriff with a laugh. John turned and looked up at the man, seeing him standing on a catwalk that used the roof of the clinic as part of its path. The sheriff was leaning against the railing with his trusty assault rifle over his shoulder, and a cowboy hat, not unlike the one that Angus wore. Suddenly, Simms' smile was replaced with a look of curiosity. "That's an interesting coat you've got there. You mind telling me where you got it?"

Stunned by the question, it was only then that the young gunman realized that the duster he was wearing was oddly similar to the sheriff's own. Doing the math, he knew that the lawbringer had to have known the old man. Reaching into his pack, he grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it up to Lucas, who caught it, never dropping his curious gaze. Finally, John grabbed one as well and headed up the catwalk until the two stood next to each other. "I got it from a man out in the wastes." he said, popping the cap off the bottle and taking a swig.

"I imagine so. Don't think there are many outlet stores with sales going on this far out." said the man in amusement before taking a drink from the gifted bottle.

"He was fighting a member of the Enclave, one of the big guys in the armor. I got pulled into it when the asshole heard me, and started firing at me just for being there." said John as he let out a long sigh, finally giving in and leaning tiredly against the railing of the catwalk. If the thing snapped off and sent him tumbling, he'd probably just lay there and sleep for all he cared. "I helped old Angus take the guy out, but his wounds were to severe, and he refused medicine. He asked before he died that I take his coat, his gun, and give a message to his daughter."

Simms adopted a look of both relief and sadness. "If you heard about the daughter, then I'm inclined to believe you." said the sheriff, getting a wide-eyed stare from the young man. "I knew Angus pretty well, worked with him a couple times. Never talked about her with anyone he didn't think was good people." commented Sheriff Simms as he tipped his hat to the old man.

"Sorry to hear that." said John quietly as he too looked over the ground level of the town. Then, a question popped into his head and he turned back to the sheriff. "Any chance you know who his daughter is? He...died...before he told me her name, and all he called her was his 'Little Moonbeam.'"

Sadly, Simms shook his head. "Never asked much about her. He was very proud, talked alot about her accomplishments, how big she was getting, that kinda thing. But I think he didn't even really trust us, because he never told us anything about her. Not even her name."

"Damn…" complained John as he finally finished the water from the bottle. He'd have to try and find her on the nickname alone, and that was no easy task.

"I can tell you that she doesn't live here. Any time Angus went off to see her, he always left the city heading east, and didn't come back for at least another month. So at least you don't have to ask around these parts much." comment the sheriff as she stood up straight and stretched. "Well, good to see you survived your first excursion. Keep it up and you might live long enough to make your mark on the wasteland." said the man as he handed the empty bottle back to John, then turned away and began walking up the catwalk.

The last sentence spoken by the man reminded the young gunman of something. Standing straight, he stopped the sheriff again. "By the way, Sheriff Simms!" he called out. The man turned and eyed him once more. "I've been meaning to ask...Billy said you had a house for sale. I was wondering how much you're charging for it. If it's still available, that is."

Lucas scratched his finely trimmed beard thoughtfully. "Hmmm...depends really. Normally I'd charge the regular going rate. We're doing pretty well here, but we could always use some new parts for the purifier, some new energy cells for the night lamps, or just plain medicine." said Lucas as he stepped towards the young man thoughtfully. "But seeing as you've been helping both Moira and Walter around town, and you happen to know your way around a weapon, I'd say that making you a future resident of the town should be on my priority list." he said, crossing his arms. "Keep up the good work around town, and I might just give you a discount on it."

John had a hopeful look in his eyes at the man's words. "That would be much appreciated. I was lucky enough to have some to spare when I came out of the vault. But even after emptying all the pockets of every raider I find, I still just barely break even at the saloon." he commented, his voice showing signs of relief..

Lucas gave an understanding nod. "I'll give it some thought and get back to you. Just keep your nose clean and keep doing what you've been doing, and you might just have you a permanent place here." the sheriff said, tipping his hat and heading towards the walkway to the upper level of the city.

Once Sheriff Simms was on his way, John immediately knew where he was going next. Stepping down the walkway, he opened the door to the first building on his right. The clinic...as it was called, was just as ramshackle and run down as the rest of town. No sterile equipment, no clean table operating table, and barely any light shining through the openings in the wall. John's eyes widened immensely at the state of the facility. "This is where people get treated?" he asked, horrified at the degraded state of everything.

"Yeah, it is. Got a problem with it and you can go stitch yourself back together." came the voice of a dark-skinned man that sat at a desk near the door.

John eyed the man curiously, before letting his ruck straps loose and letting the heavy pack fall to the floor. Finally, he stepped up to the desk. "Sorry, I just came out of the vault yesterday, so…"

"So you were surprised how unsanitary this place is. Well kid, you don't get to be choosy out here. Now, is there something you need, or can I get back to ignoring you?" asked the older man curiously.

The sharp tone nearly made the young man recoil, but he stood his ground. "I was hoping you could help me dig the metal out of my shoulder before it heals up around it." he said, lifting the duster and showing the doctor the gauze covered wound.

The doctor just sighed and stood up. "Good, just what Megaton needed. Another damn troublemaker." he said as he walked over and examined the entry wound. The doctor was silent for a long moment, then eyed the young man. "Who cleaned and wrapped you up if you don't mind my asking."

John shook the duster off removed the chest armor entirely, then undid the top of the jumpsuit, allowing the doctor free access to his bare shoulder. "I did. Didn't have much choice, the only others around me were a dead man and a dying man." he said, wincing as the man gently pushed down on the edges of the hole.

The doctor looked up at the newcomer in surprise. "You have any medical history?"

John simply nodded, wincing as the dark-skinned figure pushed around the edges of his pale wound. "Father was a doctor in the vault. I was training to be one before he left...ahh!" he growled as the pain became too much.

Doc Church smirked at the young man. "Gotta say, this ain't bad work. A lot better than most of the idiots I get in here."

John chuckled lightly once the pain had passed. "You think people here are idiots? We had one guy who got a serious cut across his bicep, and thought he'd just throw some salt in it and put it back together with some metal grade adhesive." chuckled John as the doctor peeled away the gauze and used a small military flashlight to examine it.

The doctor looked at him in surprise. "Nooo…" he said, almost wincing.

"Yeah. He found out real quick that salt and sheet glue do not mix well. It practically burned a hole through his arm." finished John, making the older man laugh. At the very least, the ice had been taken out of his tone.

"I say that's God's way of weeding out the stupid." said Doc Church as he walked over to a table. "Alright, looks like a through and through. Nothing big broke off, so let's get the little pieces out and get you patched up." said the man as he dug out a pair of long needle-nosed pliers and a bottle of disinfectant. Knowing the pain that was coming, the young man took out another dose of Med-X and gave it to himself before moving over to the table and laying down, giving the doctor the access he needed. The doctor put on a pair of gloves, likely used for kitchen cleaning before the war, then clipped the flashlight onto his overalls before opening the wound and diving in.

It was an agonizing twenty minutes before the good doctor finally pulled the last piece of the 10mm metal slug out of his shoulder. By the end, John was sweating profusely, and on the verge of vomiting up the snack cakes he had taken a liking to. After releasing the last bullet fragment into a metal tray that was sitting off to the side, the doctor cleaned the damaged tissue and began sewing up the wound. When he finished, he placed another gauze pad over it and tied it on to secure it.

"I'd give you a week before doing anything strenuous. It should seal up a lot faster with a stimpak applied daily, if you can afford it. If not, I wouldn't test the limits. You should know that of course." he said waving his hand dismissively. "That'll be two hundred caps, and no you can't bring it back later." he finished as he sat back down at his table, gloves soaking in a sink of clear liquid.

John chuckled, dug out the doctor's money, then left it on the desk. Grabbing his pack over his good shoulder, he opened the door to the clinic and stepped out into the daylight again. It was about time he offloaded some of this stuff at Moira's shop. Turning back to the catwalk, he made his way up to the store and opened the door. The man with the sandy-colored hair eyed him again, but didn't make a move this time. John warily nodded to the man before turning to the bubbly woman behind the counter who was ecstatic to see him if her expression was any indicator.

She made her way around the counter and immediately assaulted him with questions, grabbed his arms in a painful grip with an excited smile on her face. "So!? How did it go? Did ya find any food? Did ya find any medicine? Do they still accept coupons?" she asked frantically.

John put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her off lightly. "Please, I'm not at top condition at the moment." he said, cringing at the pain she inflicted in his arms. Either his medication was wearing off faster than normal, or this woman had unmatched grip strength.

Moira straightened up, a caring look on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was it those bad ol' raiders?" she asked, crossing her arms with an angry look on her face. Reaching over, she grabbed a chair and set it in front of him.

"Yes, but don't worry, I took care of them." he said, sitting down in the seat gratefully. Her face immediately softened as she crouched down in her jumpsuit and patted his knee.

"That's good. Can't do to have raiders hangin' about in places where people might look for food!" she said matter of factly. "So, how'd it go? Did all this come from there?" she asked curiously, eying the bag that he had set in front of her.

He nodded. "Yeah, it still had plenty of food when I left too, but the majority of the food came from the raiders, not the store." he said, finally getting comfortable in the chair. "They were using it for a home base of sorts, so anything that was already there was picked clean. Luckily, I found a protectron inside that helped me clean the place out."

She grinned from ear to ear. "Oh marvelous! You even found a robot inside! That'll go great in the book." she said, scribbling notes down onto a clipboard. "So, what would be your assessment. Is it a good idea for people to check stores like that for food? Or are they best left avoided?" she asked eagerly.

He thought about it for a moment. "I wouldn't recommend it unless it's out of the way. Most of the non perishable food left would already be taken after two hundred years." he commented, then remembered the fortifications of the Super Duper Mart. "But if you find a store that's empty, they would make for good communities. From the looks of that store, most of them had pretty strong structures built in case of war. So they're easily defensible." he finished.

She nodded throughout his whole analysis, writing down his thoughts on her clipboard for transcription later. When she finished, she stood up with a smile. "Great! Looks like we got the first chapter set! All I have to do is write it." she said, giggling madly.

"First chapter huh? Does that mean you want my assistance with more chapters?" he asked, a curious smirk on his face as he watched her expression change from jubilant to nervous.

The young woman looked down at the floor and began to fidget with her fingers. "Well...ya were a great assistant. I was kinda sorta hopin' you'd be willing to keep helping me write the book." she said in a reserved tone as she looked up at him with something resembling 'puppy-face'.

He just laughed loudly and covered his eyes to prevent himself from looking at her. "Alright alright, fine. But from now on, I need medical supplies when I go out. If the store hadn't had any, I'd probably be out there right now squirming around in the dust in pain." he said. She squealed and nodded happily.

"Yeah! I'll go prepare the next chapter!" she said, then ran up the stairs of the store. John picked his pack back up, gave himself another dose of Med-X to counter the surgical pain, then left.

After what seemed like an eternity, he stepped into the saloon once more. Gob and Nova both smiled brightly at seeing him, but he just smiled back and made his way to his room. He didn't have much time for small talk at the moment, as the heavy ruck on his back was weighing him down immensely. Once he finally opened the door, he tossed the bag onto the bed and closed the door behind him. Quickly, he made his way over to the bed and flopped onto it heavily.

This bed, it sucked. It smelled funny, probably wasn't even clean, and the pillow was practically as flat as paper. But it was exactly what he needed right now. Looking down, he kicked the ruck off the bed to make more room for himself, then began the slow process of unbuckling his armor and throwing it into the corner. It took a full ten minutes before he was finally free of the confines of the leather nightmare. When all his armor was off, he laid back on the bed and remembered the armor he had to leave behind.

After burying Angus in his final resting place, he had tried to get himself into the suit of armor left behind by the Enclave soldier. Unfortunately, nothing he did would move the thing. If he'd stayed out another day to try and figure it out, he might have had a shot at bringing it back. But with his wounds, and the exhaustion he was already suffering, there was no possibility of that. Instead, he dragged the inert suit of armor inside one of the houses and laid a mattress on top of it. Perhaps one day, he could go back and try to tinker with it so that he could have a set of armor that actually blocked bullets. But for the moment, he had to stow it away in his memory for later.

One thing that popped out of his memory, however, was the drone. He'd heard from both Angus and Nathan that the buzzing drones around the wasteland belonged to the Enclave. Sitting up in the bed, he reached over and delicately grabbed the rounded orb. Before he'd set off for the market and before Nova had opened the door and flung herself at him, he'd worked on the small drone a bit. Now, where once there was a speaker, sat the small screen of the miniature television he had found in Springvale. He'd only done enough work to connect the new projection screen to the inside circuits, as well as a new pair of speakers. The new ones were smaller, of course. But they should work nonetheless. As he delicately set the machine down on the bed, he opened up the compartment to the core of the machine again, then reached into the pouch on his belt. In seconds, he procured the brain chip of the protectron that had saved him in Super Duper Mart.

However, before any more work could be done, the door opened and Nova stepped inside the room again. Seeing her, he set the chip inside the small drone's compartment, then set them off to the side once more.

She gave him and attractive, almost cat-like smile. "You look like you've had a long day sugar." she said as she strolled over the bed and sat next to him.

"Something like that." he said dryly, stretching himself out on the mattress like a tired feline. Nova smiled and straddled his lower body, leaning forward and pressing herself against his back as he laid face down in the mattress.

"Does someone need to relax?" she asked coyly, to which he nodded gratefully.

"Just be careful of the shoulder, it's still healing." he said as he reached back grabbed her legs gently, loving the feel of the smooth skin in his hands. She nodded, pulling the man free of both his jumpsuit and shirt, then proceeded to massage his tiredness away.

OoOoO

A few hours, and a few tumbles with Nova later, the young man found himself too awake to even take a nap. Whether it was the constant pain he'd been put through over the last few days, or just him adjusting to a new environment, he couldn't say. But even the falling of the sun didn't put him down. Instead, he got to his feet and decided to hang out in the bar of the saloon. He was paying for the room, so he might as well get to know more of the people he supposed.

While Nova was off taking a bath, or what estimated as a bath to the outside world, Gob was watching the counter. John sat at the bar and talked with Gob for a bit, before the got into the interesting topic of food, and whether ghouls could taste or not. As an experiment, John produced one of the boxes of Fancylad Snackcakes from his room for the bartender to try. While Gob stared suspiciously at one of the diamond-shaped cakes, John sat across the bar, smoking one of his clovers.

"You sure this is edible?" asked the ghoul warily.

"C'mon Gob, you saw me eat the other one." said John with a smile as he ashed cig in the nearby ashtray. "You've got to try at least one."

The ghoul sighed, then shrugged. "Ah, what the hell? Not like it can make me any uglier." he said, getting a chuckle from John before cramming the morsel into his decaying jaws. As he munched down on the sweetcake, John could see as a look of fascination began to dawn on the rad-ravaged man's face. He finished chewing it and swallowed deeply, then just sat there with a contemplative look on his face. All the sudden his face twisted into a mask of anger. "Goddammit!" he said, pounding his fist onto the bar.

John leaned back in shock. "You alright Gob? I didn't mean to piss you off." he asked warily, wondering what had set off the friendly ghoul.

"No, it's not you kid." he said, his angry face calming down slightly. "It's Moriarty. I asked the bastard one time what one of these tasted like. He said I wouldn't like it and ate it right in front of me. I just assumed it was an acquired taste." said the ghoul, his eyes flaring in irritation.

John rested his head on his hand as he looked at the bartender, his eyebrow raising curiously. "You know Gob, with the way you've painted Moriarty to me, I'm surprised you haven't gotten out of here. Why stick around?" he asked curiously before puffing at the clover one last time, then putting it out afterwards.

Gob just sighed and put his head in his hands. "Don't have much of a choice. I left Underworld, looking for fortune in the ruins of DC. It's said that the supermutants there don't bother with us ghouls. So I figured I'd hang around and dig through the stuff that people left behind. Turns out the supermutants don't scare off everyone." he said, shaking his head in a morose fashion.

"Another raider band?" asked John as he took a swallow of beer that he'd bought earlier.

Gob nodded. "Yeah, a slaver band. When they find humans in the ruins, they threaten them to either cooperate, or they get tossed to the big greens. For me, it was cooperation or a bullet. So I was taken into slavery and hauled around like a piece of furniture for about two weeks before they made their way out of the ruins and headed to a place north of here called Paradise Falls. Soon as they did, they ran into a few buyers. Moriarty was there, he bought me from the slavers and brought me here to work, and pay off the debt I owed him. Which is pretty hard to do when he also charges you room and board for staying in the saloon." he said, tapping his raw fingers on the counter. "Thanks to that, I haven't made a single bit of progress on my debt. Meaning I'm his lackey til he dies."

John looked at him, stunned into silence. After a minute or two, he finally shotgunned the rest of the beer and thudded the bottle onto the counter. Gob quickly grabbed it and began washing it out with a bit of sink water. "Haven't even met the guy and already I want to shove my gun barrel up his ass and fire."

Nova, who had come back into the saloon a minute prior was fiddling with the radio as they talked. The device was spitting out a lot of static, with only the occasional understandable word coming through. "Trust me sugar, a lot of people want to do that to him. Problem is that he technically isn't breaking any laws. Gob isn't actually a slave, he just has no other way to pay Moriarty back other than to work here. It's a scumbag thing to do, but you can't just kill someone for being an asshole. Otherwise, Jericho would have been dead years ago." she remarked playfully.

Jericho, who happened to be sitting at one of the few tables in the saloon, glared at the woman. Giving her the middle finger, he shouted drunkenly, "Fuck you whore!"

"You can't afford me hun." she said with a sly wink at the ex-raider.

John just smirked, then spun on the barstool he had. "I'll tell you what Gob. If and when I ever get my own place, you're free to come stay with me, so at least you can start working on paying off your debt. Moriarty might not like it, but he can't say shit about it without resorting to calling you property. And I don't think he wants Simms on his ass." he said as he stood and stretched his legs.

Gob looked at him bewildered. "You...you mean it?"

The young man nodded, looking at the ghoul solemnly. "No skin off my back...err...sorry." he said awkwardly, unsure if ghouls were offended by such expressions. "What I mean is, it wouldn't bother me to have you living there. And considering how often Moira wants me to go hunting for her, I won't be staying in it all the time. So there'll be plenty of room."

The ghoulish man just looked at the bar. "I...I don't know what to say..."

"No need to say anything. People like Moriarty thrive of using others for their own gain, even if it means you suffer for it. He doesn't deserve the hard work you give him." he said as he walked towards the door to his room in the saloon. "You can have the rest of that box of cakes by the way. Plenty more in here." he said as he opened the door. Gob just nodded dumbly as the door closed behind the young gunman.

After closing the door, John took off his shirt and tossed it on the bed. Using the caps from the weapons he had sold from his latest excursion, the new Megaton citizen had purchased more clothing from Moira, then some parts he needed for his drone hobby from a trading caravan run by an interesting character named Crazy Wolfgang. At the moment, his jumpsuit hung on the back of the door, awaiting for the next time he was going to don the armor given to him by the cheerful shopkeeper, leaving him in nothing but his shorts and socks.

His first order of business was the Enclave propaganda machine, which was perched on the chair next to the bed. Sitting comfortably on the mattress, he pulled the mess of parts into his lap, then opened his tool chest from Walter. He had borrowed a few more items from the older man just for this occasion, grabbing a small welding rod that ran off electron charge packs as well as a few rolls of copper wiring. Taking the welding rod, he gently opened up the faceplate of the robot once more, the reached in and pulled out a small blackbox similar to the one found in the protectron. Unlike the protectron one however, this one was encased entirely in the nearly impenetrable black metal.

It took about ten minutes of delicate tool work to pry open the blackbox and gain access to the chip, but he finally managed it. He delicately pulled out the old chip, then unhooked the blackbox entirely. When he was finished with it, the only thing was left were the circuit reader leads for the drone. Lastly, he took grabbed the new brain chip from the protectron and held it up to see. It was completely undamaged, but he was still unsure if the drone would even read the signals from the chip at all. Still, he was intent on trying. Suddenly, he looked up as the door opened, and Nova stepped inside. As usual, she closed the door behind her, giving him a playful look.

"Should I be jealous that you invited Gob to come live with you and not me?" she asked jokingly. He eyed her curiously, but just chuckled in good humor.

"You should be jealous. Me and Gob, we were made for each other!" he exclaimed, putting his hands over his heart. Nova burst into laughter and walked over to the bed, where she sat and eyed the mess of parts in his lap again.

"I keep seeing you tinkering with this thing. What are you doing to it?" she asked curiously as he delicately placed the flashy looking card inside the head and began to connect the wiring using the welding rod.

"I've been fascinated with robots since I was a kid. We only ever had one in the vault though, so I couldn't do much with him except make repairs." he remarked quietly as he finished attaching the wires. Within seconds, the leads were cemented in place on the new brain chip. "Now, I have robots all around me, and aside from the ones used by our good sheriff, I can experiment with them all I want!" he finished with an excited smile. "Besides, if it wasn't for this guy in Springvale, and the protectron in Super Duper Mart, I'd probably be dead. So I kinda feel like I owe it to them."

"So, you're putting two robots together?" she asked curiously.

He nodded as he closed the casing of the inner core, then began to reattach the faceplate with its new and improved screen. "In a sense, yes. I took the body of the Enclave drone from Springvale when I came here. Unfortunately, the front speaker was demolished, and its leads to the power source severed when one of the raiders shot it…" he said, looking up at her. As beautiful as the woman was, she couldn't hide the look of being utterly lost on her face. One of her red eyebrows was arched high while the other furrowed, exposing her immediately. He just chuckled and thought of an analogy. "It's like if you broke your spine one day. While you'd still be alive and thinking, your body wouldn't be able to move because the electrical signals weren't getting from your brain to the rest of the body."

"O-Oh! I see." she said smartly, somewhat understanding what he meant.

"Fortunately...or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, these parts in a robot can be replaced. In humans...not so much." he finished as he finally slid the screen into place and began to secure the outer plate over it to keep it from falling out. "And that's exactly what I did. I replaced the speaker with a screen, and replaced the brain, which was just the Enclave's RF interceptor, and replaced it with the brain chip from the protectron. The same brain chip which I spent hours last night customizing.

Nova nodded, watching with interest as he continued to repair the small bot. After another few minutes, he finally finished sealing the thing back up. Taking a long, thin rod, the young gunman poked it into one of the holes on the outer shell and slid it down until it hit some kind of reset button. The screen suddenly clicked on, making Nova gasp in surprise as John retracted the rod and tossed it aside.

 _"Running subroutines...hold please."_ said the voice in a pleasant, robotic tone of a normal protectron. Then the voice changed to a much deeper, more aggressive tone. _"Prime directive attained! What is this one's designation?"_ he asked, looking down at John with a red screen.

The young gunman eyed the robot curiously. The voice coming out of the speaker was the same voice used by the anti-communist protocol, simply known as Anticom. Thinking about it now, slapped himself in the head as he realized that the protectron was in its anticom state when it exploded last night. And in order to change it, he'd have to open the entire thing again, pull the chip out, then find a terminal and switch the anticom personality off. That was out of the question however. Instead, he turned the robot on its side.

"Uhhh...hold still. I need to run a few tests." he said as he pulled the cord off his pipboy and plugged it into the access port that he installed for the drone.

 _"Affirmative, red dog."_ said the robot as it began to filter letters, numbers, and symbols across its screen, testing the new addition. Once the screen test was finished, an oddly emoted face popped up on the tv. " **[ò_ó]** _Screen test successful."_ it chirped in its oddly brash voice.

Nova began cracking up as the robot continued to call John every variant of communist slur it could in response to its creator's questions. After a minute, she recovered from her fit and just sat cross legged on the bed, watching the young man at work.

He finally just shrugged and disconnected the pipboy. "Welp, nothing I can do about it now." he said as he reached forward and set the robot on the ground. Almost immediately, the jets underneath it whirred to life, and it lifted on the ground, turning to face them with a blank screen.

"What are you going to name him?" she asked curiously, surprisingly fascinated by the small machine.

John scratched his chin, thinking for a moment. "Guardian Unit #452, state your prime directive." he ordered as he stared at the hovering drone.

Immediately, an American flag began waving across the eyebots facial display, confirming that it did indeed work correctly. _"Prime directive 36:10:59:97. Destroy the red menace, and bring democracy and liberty to the world!"_ it said with a proud tinge to its voice. Once the directive was stated, the flag vanished, and was replaced by the emoted face once more.

Nova looked at him warily. "Are you sure he's safe?" she asked suspiciously.

John nodded. "I've reprogrammed his targeting parameters within the code itself. Anyone who attacks me, he targets. Nobody else. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off his anticom personality, so even though he doesn't consider you or I to be targets, he still calls us such." he said with an amused chuckle. To be honest, he was ecstatic that the robot worked at all.

Nova nodded, then thought for a moment, the prime directive running through her mind. "How about Liberty? It seems oddly fitting." she asked.

John smirked and looked at the robot. "It certainly does. Guardian Unit #452, you're new designation is Liberty. Confirm." commanded the gunman.

" **[ò_ó]** _Affirmative. Original nomenclature archived and replaced with Liberty. A good name for a patriot."_ he said, floating and looking at the pair. Both John and Nova could do nothing but chuckle, each of them actually liking the personality it now had.

OoOoO

A few hours after bringing the small drone online, John was again sitting at the bar and talking with friends. Gob was watching the bar again, but this time Billy decided to join them all. While he was talking, the young gunman had ordered a "Plate of Meat" as it was called from Gob. When he got it, he couldn't really tell what exactly he was eating. It was extremely chewy, and only the small addition of spices had given it any kind of flavor. He just forced it down, resigning himself to never asking what it was.

The new weapon he had brought in from the wastes was actually the current talking point. Billy had noticed it when he had come into town, but with Maggie in tow, he didn't have a moment to stop and ask. But now he was here, admiring the coiled rifle as it laid upon the counter for them all to see. "That's some wicked heat you're packing there." said Billy as he eyed the magnetic coils up and down the barrel of the weapon.

John nodded knowingly before reaching up and removing the slug magazine from the side. "Most powerful weapon I've ever seen...I mean, aside from the bomb outside…" he corrected as he chuckled darkly. Then the young man dropped his stick, now clean of meat, on the plate and lit himself a clover. "Can't say I'm happy about having it though. A good man died to give it to me." he said before puffing on the cigarette. "But yeah, good to have on a rainy day." he finished, taking a swig of a beer that he bought off Gob.

Billy nodded. "Yeah, always the way it works out here. Someone's always dying so that others can live." he said with a sigh.

John looked at him curiously. "Maggie?" he asked. Billy looked up at him surprised, then nodded. "Care to talk about it?" he asked curiously. From the man's previous explanation, he figured there was something about the girl that was off. But he didn't like to assume the worst about the only people in the wastes who hadn't tried to kill him yet.

Billy looked at him, examining him with his one eye before sighing again. "Alright. You've been good to me and Maggie, so I guess you deserve to know." he said, taking his own beer and slamming it, before continuing. "A while ago I was working as a caravan guard. Went from Rivet City, to here, to Canterbury Commons a lot. Sometimes stopping at smaller settlements along the way." he said, accepting a clover from John. After lighting it, he proceeded. "Our caravan came upon one small settlement that was being attacked by raiders though. The caravan itself decided to skip the fight and head off towards another village. But me, I couldn't just leave them there. So I attacked, and they attacked back. Unlucky for them, they were a bunch of morons swinging around melee weapons, and I had an assault rifle."

Gob, also interested in the story, let out a contemplative, "Hmmm..." as he listened thoughtfully.

"When I finished, checked the houses. Most everyone was already dead, but Maggie had been hiding under the bed in her house. She'd been there for almost an hour before we arrived, and her parents were killed right in front of her." said the man as his tone started to grow more angry. John eyed the man curiously, but let him continue. "She had to stare at the bodies of her parents the entire time they were there. So, I found her, I pulled her out of there, and quit my job as a caravan guard. After that, I brought her here and have been raising her ever since." After finishing the tale, Billy looked back up at John, only to find the young gunman staring at Gob irately.

"What is it?" asked John, his voice implying he wasn't about to tolerate nonsense.

Gob looked away. "Nothin'." he said, clearly hiding something from them.

"Tell me or I'm taking the snack cakes back." threatened the gunman as he reached for the box.

Gob's eyes widened, looking down at the precious box of sweets that the young man had given him. He grabbed them defensively before looking at John. "Fine...it's just that...well...Moriarty..."

"Goddammit. How did I know his name was going to be at the beginning of this?" asked John as he rubbed his forehead. "What does Moriarty have to say about Billy?" he asked sternly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Aside from saying he's a Nuka-Cola swilling asshole?" asked the ghoul, causing Billy to chuckle. "He thinks that Billy found Maggie and is...using her." said the gravelly voiced man as he looked down at the floor. "He also said that he thinks Billy had something to do with Mister Free dying."

All humor fled Billy's face at the comment. "What the fuck did he say!?" he asked threateningly. John placed a hand on the one-eyed man's shoulder, trying to calm him.

"Easy Billy, it's not Gob's words." said the young gunman. "Don't worry, I'll handle it." he said forcefully. Billy looked him in the eyes for a long moment, then nodded as his knuckles turned white from the clenched fist he made.

"Alright." he growled. Suddenly, the front door opened up behind them and a man walked in, making them all turn and look. The figure had a goatee, with matching shoulder length sandy blonde hair and a scowl that would peel the paint off a wall. Both Gob and Billy tensed immediately, letting the gunman know exactly who this individual was.

"Billy." John said, getting the man's attention. "Go get Sheriff Lucas. Now." he said with a smile. Billy nodded and walked out the door, glaring at Colin as he walked by him.

"The fuck is he eyeballin' me fer?" asked the man before he turned to John, who was now sitting and facing him with a dark look on his face. "I see we have a newcomer. Welcome to Moriarty's Saloon." said the man, his scowl vanishing, instantly being replaced by a fake smile if John had ever seen one. The young man just stood up and plastered a happy smile on his face.

"Careful kid, he's likely gonna try to scam you for the info." said Gob quietly enough so that only the gunman could hear. John just nodded without looking at the ghoul.

"Mr. Moriarty! I've been waiting to talk to you!" he said in the most sickeningly jovial voice he could muster. But as he stepped closer, he began to noticed that Moriarty was giving him a strange look of recognition. Finally, as if all had become clear, the bar owner spoke.

"Well holy shite, it's actually you!" said the man in his thick Irish accent.

His words stunned John into silence. "Me who?" he asked.

"Yer the kid what went into the Vault with your pa. Now he leaves, and here ya are. Persistent ya are kid. Then and now. It's been a long time, kid." he said, a small smirk settling on his face. John just took in his words in stoney silence, trying to process the information that he was just hit with. "I suppose you'll be lookin' fer yer pa then?"

Shaking his head, and completely thrown off his game, John halted the conversation. "Yes...I am. Wait, back up. What the hell do you mean "It's been a long time?" You and I have never met before..."

"Aye we have. You were but a babby at the time. You and yer pa fled into that vault nearly twenty years ago. Now here ya are again. Right back out and into hell. Welcome kiddo." he said with a broad smile.

John literally had to stop and process everything that had just been broken to him. His father and him had been to Megaton before, and entered the vault when he was just a baby. Considering it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility, he couldn't just discount it. But the Overseer's words rang in his head again, as they had many many times as a kid. "Nobody enters the vault, nobody leaves the vault. We are born here, we die here." Then again, the Overseer wasn't the standup honest guy that he'd like the think he is. So if that was a lie, then that means that the vault had been opened before, and that he wasn't born in the vault. Finally, he came to temporary terms with the claim, vowing to wring it out of his father later.

"I was actually wondering if you could tell me where my father went to." he said as a man in a pre-war business suit came in through the door and walked up to one of the tables. "It seems like you're the only one in this goddamned place that he talked to."

Moriarty smiled. "Ya seem like a nice kid, so I'll give it to ya straight. Yer dad was here, and now he's not. And yeah, I know where he went. But what you're asking me for is information. And information is a commodity." The Irish man's eyes shifted to the weapon that was currently laying across the counter. John could see a greedy smile etch itself across Moriarty's face. "I'll even cut ya a deal since yer fresh outta the vault. I'll trade ya that gun for the information."

John just smiled back as Gob's words scratched at his brain. "You want my gun in a trade for the information?" he asked in his former happy voice. Both Nova and Gob cringed at the sound. They had both come to know the wandering vault dweller intimately over the last week, on different levels of course. Yet they both knew that John was not as naive and innocent as he was when he left his former home. And hearing that clueless voice he used meant that something wasn't right.

"Aye, sounds like a fair trade to me." said Moriarty, a winning smile on his face as he held out his hands for the weapon.

John nodded and grabbed the weapon from the counter, then aimed it directly at the man's head. "Here you go. Take it." he said, the venom in his voice chilling the man to his core.

Moriarty raised his hands immediately, his smile gone as a wide-eyed look of annoyance crossed his features. "The fuck ya think yer doin' kid?" her asked, his tone unpleasant as well.

"I said take it." ordered the young man again in that lethal tone. When Moriarty refused to move, John lowered the weapon briefly, then kicked out with his booted foot, sending the man crashing into the wall next to the door. Any patrons nearby immediately scattered to the far corners of the room in horror. "I said take it Moriarty. Is something wrong with your ears?"

The bar owner held his gut as he caught his breath again, then looked up to find the barrel once again aimed directly at him. Suddenly, the young man's finger slid into the trigger. The Irishman looked up at the young gunman and saw that the illusion of a young, innocent youth was gone. Those eyes, while still inexperienced, had looked down sights before, and that finger had pulled a trigger before. Raising his hands once more, Colin spit off to the side and glared back. "I can see your pa didn't pass on many manners when ya were stuck down in that hellhole." he snarked, not daring to move. He didn't think the kid would do it, but he didn't take a chance with crazy.

"Oh, he taught me manners. But you and I both know that the wasteland has a way of scrubbing those away real quick. Don't we?" asked John, his icy forest green glare locked onto Moriarty's blue eyes. "Besides, I don't imagine many people would miss you if my finger were to slip right now."

"Howja figure that?" he asked, almost offended by the prospect. As if on cue, Sheriff Simms walked through the door of the saloon with Billy behind him.

"Sheriff Simms, Moriarty here thinks that if I were to blast him through the wall here, that someone in this town would miss him. What do you think?" asked John, knowing that Simms wasn't going to exactly love this situation.

"I think you should really settle this more peacefully. I just started to like you kid, I don't want to have to start all over not trusting you again." said the man, his arms crossing with a look of irritation on his face.

John smiled. "I'd like that, but see, Mr. Moriarty here offered to trade me my weapon here for information on my father. Now he's trying to back out on the deal." he said, never moving the barrel away from the Irishman's head.

"Sheriff Simms, if you don't mind me asking, if someone in the town starts spreading false rumors that could ruin another person's life, what would the penalty be?" asked Billy as he glared at Moriarty.

Lucas looked at him oddly. "Depends on the rumors I guess. If they're truly false, and could ruin someone then the perpetrator would get thrown out on their ass. Why?" he asked, curious as to where such a left field question had come from.

Colin Moriarty knew exactly where this was going. He looked up and glared at Gob, who was leaning on the counter with a blank look, eating one of the snack cakes that the new inn patron had given him. The man gritted his teeth at the sight.

"Our lovely saloon keeper here has apparently been spreading rumors that I apparently have alternative motives for adopting young Maggie." said the eye-patched man, his voice filled with daggers that were aimed directly at the bar owner.

Lucas looked at Billy for a moment, then his eyebrows shot up in surprise, his eyes widening at the claim. "You don't mean…?" he asked, almost not wanting to finish the sentence. Billy simply nodded, never taking his venomous stare away from Moriarty. Finally, the sheriff shook his head. "Colin, I always said your mouth would cash a check that you couldn't afford." said the dark-skinned man as he knelt down next to the Irishman. Giving him his own stony look, he said simply. "Now you get to clean this mess up on your own." Standing back up again, he looked at John. "Don't kill him. Whatever's left afterwards, can mop up the goddamn mess." said the man forcefully as he gave one last burning look to Moriarty, then turned and walked out the door.

The smile on Billy's face couldn't have been any wider. Moriarty was now sweating profusely with the absence of the sheriff, and the consent given to the gunman who literally had his life at the end of his rifle. "Look kid, a'right. I'll tell ya what ya want to know. Just point that thing somewhere else!" he said angrily.

John smiled wickedly at the bar owner, then pulled the trigger. Billy went wide eyed for a moment, and Moriarty nearly pissed himself as the microfusion cell charged the weapon. But it immediately died down with a loud click. Turning the weapon so that the wide eyed, snake-tongued man could see, John simply chuckled. "I took the ammo out before you ever arrived asshole. Now get the hell up before I take the sheriff's offer and make sure you never spread another rumor again!" came his voice in a loud, commanding roar.


	8. Dealing with Foreigners

OoO( 8 )OoO

He had made slow progress on his quest to find his father. Even if it was some progress, he couldn't help but be annoyed at the fact that it took him days just to move in the right direction. And once he had the information, he couldn't move, as his injuries were impairing him. So, all he could do was sit and enjoy his down time while he waited for them to heal.

That was why he was sitting on one of the pipes he had recently repaired, watching the congregation of the Children of Atom in the darkness of the night. Built into the upper walls above most of the catwalks, flood lights were shining down on the city, allowing for some visibility while moving around the city after sundown. They ran off the same power that the purifier did, which was the jet engine generator in the water plant building. Occasionally, the lights would flicker and go out for a few minutes. But if that's the worst that came from a two hundred year old nuclear slug then the citizens of Megaton should count themselves lucky.

Under the watchful gaze of the young gunman, Confessor Cromwell continued his sermon, advising the few who listened that the radiation that infected the pool surrounding the bomb was in fact a gift. He said that they should all give up the notion of purified water, and instead, drink it as it was given to them by the guiding light of Atom. John rolled his eyes as he stretched his arm out, testing the progress on his damaged shoulder. The stimpaks he had taken were definitely doing their work. But there was no doubt that every second he sat there, his father was inching away.

Finally, after so much stress about catching his father, he let it go. He'd find the man eventually. And if Moriarty was to be believed, then he already knew his way around the wasteland a lot better than John had initially thought. While finding the man was important, he couldn't just run off into the wild wastes without a plan. He had to set himself up first, make sure that no matter what happened, he had a place to go. Because as it stood, the vault was no longer an option. So Megaton was it, his new home. He felt like he knew its citizens better than he knew the people from the vault now. Then again, most of the people in the vault, he didn't much care for.

So this was going to be his home, the place he came back to when he finished business. Once things were set up here, then he could go running off after the man who had abandoned him to his fate in the vault. The thought of his father's actions had annoyed him so much that he actually missed Cromwell's big climax about eventually meeting their god after taking in enough radiation. Finally, he snorted from his nostrils and jumped off the pipe, walking away from the yammering deacon.

Trying to get himself out of a foul mood, he cycled back to the moment after Moriarty had given him the information about his father. Apparently, the older doctor had visited the town's saloon, asking where he could get a lay of the land, or find someone with current information about the ruins of D.C. After receiving his payment, the Irishman had directed him to GNR, a radio station in the downtown ruins. After the proverbial beans were spilled, the bar owner, with a sour look on his face, thought he'd take his ire out on Gob by snatching the cakes from the bar. But the man got the shock of his life, and John nearly doubled over laughing when Gob threatened the removal of Colin's fingers if he dared touch them. Even Nova had a look of impressed awe on her face at the threat, before she had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

But it had been two days since that conversation, and two days since the healing process of his shoulder had started. Each day, he applied a stimpak to the region, accelerating his metabolic healing process. It was painful, but luckily he had meds to counter that as well. And soon, it had begun to scab over and weave itself back together. The unfortunate part about stimpak healing though is that it burned your body's energy reserves fast. Someone who used a stimpak to heal small wounds would probably be low energy for the rest of the day. Someone who used it to heal major wounds would likely fall asleep for at least ten hours from the exhaustion. The worse the damage, the more energy required. Which meant that he couldn't go gallivanting after his father until it was healed, or he would suffer from exhaustion in unknown territory.

As he walked past the clinic, however, his thoughts were interrupted as Doc Church opened the door and spotted him. Turning to the silver-haired doctor, he nodded. "Doc?" he asked curiously, wondering why the man was coming out of his clinic so late.

"John, can I borrow you for a second?" asked the short, dark-skinned doctor. The young man nodded slowly, then turned towards the door and stepped inside.

"Need help moving something old man?" he asked with a sarcastic smile.

The old man chuckled. "I'm about to move my cane upside that smartass head of yours." he threatened as he hobbled inside the house. John's smile faded, however, as he saw a still form laying on the doctor's table, the same table where the good doctor had removed the bullet from his shoulder. "We found this poor soul out on the outskirts. 'Bout halfway between here and the Super Duper Mart. He was beaten senseless and shot in the back." said Doc Church as he handed the army flashlight to the younger man.

John turned it on, then flinched as he looked down at the sight. Whoever the man was, his face was swollen beyond recognition. His lips were split open, both eyes were forced shut by the swelling. As John continued to examine the unfortunate soul, he saw that the shot in his back had lodged into a shoulder blade, doing much less damage than the original shooter intended no doubt. And he was skinny, looking like he had suffered malnutrition, possibly due to his injuries. "He's dehydrated and extremely malnourished. How long had he been out there?" asked John as he looked up from the sad figure.

The doctor shrugged. "Can't say for sure. In the wasteland, dehydration is a common occurrence. I was actually hoping you could tell me a bit more that my tired old eyes are missing." said the old man as he sat down on the table and propped both hands up on his cane.

John simply nodded, then shined the flashlight closer as he began a more thorough examination of the figure, remembering the old tricks he had learned from his favorite comic book hero. First, he examined the lesions on his face, then went to the man's hands and studied them closely as well.

Doc Church eyed the young figure curiously as he proceeded to look in odd places for answers, going from the hands to the scalp, where ran a bare hand through the unconscious figure's hair. After another moment of thought, John finally handed the doctor the flashlight, and Church moved over to the comatose form curiously. "Find something?" asked the older man as he began following the path of the younger doctor present.

"Nothing concrete, but if I'm right, then he's been out there for a few days at least." he said as he pointed directed the older man's hand towards the unlucky figure's face. "We can probably surmise that his bruises, swelling, and gunshot wound were the reason he was out there in the first place. If that holds true, then the green coloration around the edges of his bruises tell us that he's had at least a day or two for the hemoglobin in his blood to release biliverdin to heal the wounds." he started, getting an impressed look from the doctor.

"Good attention to detail. But the process of healing is different for each person. It's not a set standard, or else we'd know the exact time of death of every person on the planet." said the older man.

"Which is why I looked at his hands." remarked John, redirecting the flashlight once more. Doc Church held up the man's hand as he examined it closely. "You can tell by his fingernails that he was pretty vain. Always kept himself clean, took time to trim his nails, and even used actual shampoo in his hair. But despite how immaculately trimmed his nails were, they're extremely damaged from him crawling from where he was attacked." The doctor simply nodded as he continued. "Again, that doesn't give us time, but presumably he had crawled quite a ways if the only place nearby was Super Duper Mart. So it had to be at least a few days for him to get anywhere solid to where he was."

"Unless he was shot away from any civilized area." countered Doc Church as he eyed the young man. John glared back at him, and the doctor just smirked knowingly, as if challenging him. "Got anything else?"

"Both hair and facial hair." said John sternly, this time letting the older man move the light himself. "A man crawling around in the wastes wouldn't exactly have time to shave. He's gone well past missing a shave and already has a beard starting to grow on his chin."

"And the hair?" asked the silver-haired man, unable to counter the logic of the last one.

"Like I mentioned, he uses shampoo. Lord knows where he finds it, but he definitely uses it. You can tell by the texture of his hair." said John as he aimed the light towards the man's scalp. "It takes at least a few days before new hair growing out of the head is noticeable to the eye. You see it pretty frequently with people who dye their hair. After a couple days, the roots start showing their natural color again." he remarked, getting a nod from the doctor as he examined the roots of the hair. John then nodded towards the man. "His roots haven't been shampooed."

After a few minutes of silence, the doctor finally shut the light off. "Well, I'll be goddamned, went above and beyond with that one didn't you?" he asked as he sat back down behind the desk. John just chuckled as he sat across from the man. "Well, I'm going to keep him here until he can at least communicate. Once the swelling goes down some, I'll attempt to sew up his bullet wound. In the meantime, he's pretty much on his own. I've given him enough Med-X to take the pain away without doping him stupid. If you happen to run into anything cold in your travels, please let me know. Shit like this would be a lot easier of ice wasn't so scarce nowadays." he said as he tucked away the flashlight in his drawer.

"If I find anything, I'll bring it by. Did you need anything else?" asked John as he finally headed for the door again.

"That's it. Get the hell out of my clinic." ordered the old man as he headed off towards his room in the back.

John just chuckled as he exited the small shack then closed the door behind him. Suddenly, he stopped and thought about the doctor's request for a moment. "You've got a funny look in your eye." came the deep voice of the sheriff. John turned and eyed him curiously.

"Doc Church just gave me an idea. Is that bomb's core still inside?" he asked, earning him a cautious look from the older man.

Not entirely sure. I know it hasn't really been touched since it fell. Nobody is stupid enough to go digging around in it, and I hope that includes you." said the sheriff in a no nonsense tone.

John smirked at the sheriff, leaning against the rail on his arm that wasn't trying to heal. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kick the side off and start hammering away inside. Besides, without an electric charge, it can't go off. And after two hundred years, the circuitry in there probably can't even conduct electricity anymore." he said waving the sheriff off.

Lucas sighed in slight relief, relaxing slightly at the idea that the bomb couldn't go off at all. "What kinda idea you got then?" he asked, curious about what was running through the young gunman's mind.

"The generator powering this place, do you know what it runs off of?" he asked curiously, his gaze locked onto the bomb.

Simms simply shook his head. "Son, I'm the last person you should be asking that. You probably want to get ahold of Walter. He's the machinist around here."

John nodded, then turned and started walking up the ramp towards the saloon. "I'll ask tomorrow. If I try now, I'll probably end up with a wrench shaped dent in my head."

Simms chuckled to himself as he waved the young man off. "Don't go blowing us up kid. It's bad for our health." All he could do was laugh as John responded by giving him the middle finger.

After a minute or so, he was back in front of the bar, and opened the door to a comical scene. A wastelander was cowering beneath a chair as Liberty flew circles around it with his battle face on. For a small amount of non-lethal defense, John had installed a small tesla coil into the eyebot's bottom side, allowing him to shoot small stunning bolts at potential enemies rather than outright killing them with his lasers.

And at the moment, he was circling around the chair, taunting the man as he fired the new weapon at any extremities that the man accidentally exposed from beneath his shelter.

" **[◣_◢]** _Show yourself communist scum! You dare set foot on American soil and expect mercy!? Feel the power of democracy!"_ the robot taunted as it shot another bolt at the man, scoring a direct shot at the perpetrator's behind, making him go rigid in pain.

"Liberty, disengage." said John as he approached. The robot's screen changed from the red cross hairs to its normal face.

 _"_ **[ò_ó]** _Affirmative."_ responded the robot as it hovered began hovering over John's shoulder. The back door of the store opened and Moriarty came out with a pistol and anger in his eyes as he looked around the bar.

"I'd be careful with that thing. Liberty here has a faster draw." said John with a smug sense of irritation as he walked over to the man who was now cowering face down on the ground. The Irishman glared at John after his comment, but made no move to raise the weapon. "Now you, you're going to tell me exactly why you were in my room." said the young vault dweller as he kicked the man over onto his back.

"W-What do you mean?" asked the cowardly man as he tried to move away. But John quickly pulled out a pistol of his own, smiling down at the intruder.

"Liberty here was guarding my room. There are only three people that he's been told to allow in. One is her…" he said, pointing to Nova. Despite the obviousness of it, she still felt herself blush at the claim. "Another is Sheriff Simms, and the last one is me." said John as he knelt down and stared into the man's practically watering eyes with his own forest green. The cowardly intruder was already wide eyed, but he managed to go even wider as Liberty peeked out from behind his creator's head with a glare. "So, since he's attacking you, that means you went into my room."

"That's not true!" shouted the man defensively.

"So I'm a liar?" asked John curiously, the gun held nonchalantly in his right hand as he stayed knelt next to the man.

"I didn't…" started the man, but suddenly, the young gunman put a finger up to the man's lips, silencing him, before aiming the gun directly at his leg.

"Shhhh...no more lies." said John in a deadly tone.

"I'mma have to ask you to stop pointin' weapons at my customers." growled Moriarty threateningly.

"Liberty, make sure he doesn't point that weapon at me." ordered John, who didn't move from his spot next to the man.

The small drone spun around and eyed the Irishman threateningly. " **[=_=]** _Draw if you dare, Maoist swine."_ The bar owner glared at the robot angrily, gritting his teeth at knowing he would never draw faster than the robot.

"Last chance before my finger slips. Who told you to go into my room?" said the gunman in his icy tone. The wastelander looked up at John in terror, then over to Moriarty, a pleading tone in his eyes. The young man smirked, then stood to his feet. "Thank you. You're free to go." he said, lifting his foot from the chair. "Liberty, escort the intruder to the door."

 _"_ **[ò_ó]** _Directive confirmed. On your feet, enemy of democracy!"_ shouted the robot. Immediately, the man was on his feet and running towards the door to the saloon with Liberty firing the tesla weapon at his rear end.

John walked over to the bar with a small grin on his face, looking directly at Moriarty across from him, who was now sporting a large bruise on both of his eyes, no doubt courtesy of Billy. "Hey Colin. What do you tell a man who has two black eyes?" asked the young man as he ran a hand through his spiked brown hair.

The Irishman glared at him. "What's that?" he asked with a smug tone.

"Nothing. He's already been told twice." he said with a glare. "Next time, I'll set Liberty on lethal. Then we'll see how eager you are to send people into my room." he said. Moriarty scoffed, then entered the back, saying nothing else. "One whiskey Gob." said John as he turned to Gob, never losing the grin.

The ghoulish man just gaped at him, pouring his drink into a moderately sized glass as Moriarty kicked his back room door in and excited the main tavern. "You got it kid." John took the glass and sat at a table in the far corner of the tavern. Liberty had returned to the gunman's room after 'escorting' the sneaky wastelander away from the building. It was only after everything had settled down that John, after taking a few sips of his whiskey, felt as if he were being watched. He looked around the tavern as the eerie feeling dug at his senses, making him take another drink from the fiery liquid. Finally, he found the source of his paranoia, a man sitting in the opposite corner who was staring directly at him through a pair of shaded glasses.

John eyed the figure, wondering who he was, and what the hell he wanted. He looked like a damn car salesman with his pre-war pinstriped suit and pompous fedora sitting on his head. But despite his almost laughably sinister look, the most eerie thing about him were his eyes, sitting behind the tinted glasses that sat perfectly on his pointed nose.

After seeing that he'd been noticed, the man stood up and walked over to John's table. "Would you mind if I took a seat?" he asked politely. John saw that even the small details were immaculately polished, from his cufflinks to the buttons on his breast. All of the metal shined, even in the low light from the pub's single battery-powered lamp. Despite the well dressed appearance, even having the figure this close made John want a shower.

But, ever the polite one, the young man merely nodded as he lit a clover. Taking his cue, the spotless man sat in the chair across from him and stared eagerly. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked, taking another sip of the strong whisky.

The man nodded. "Perhaps, but first I must say that you are most interesting." he said in an oily smooth voice. John just eyed him curiously as he leaned back in his chair. "I've been in this town for quite some time now, and I thought I'd seen all it had to offer. But here you are, proving me wrong."

"Interesting how?" asked John as he cocked an eyebrow at the stranger. "What makes me different than any one of them?" he asked as he nodded towards the rest of the tavern.

The man flashed an unnerving grin as he set his briefcase aside. "Why, my boy, you're smart! You have a brain!" he said, his voice quieting as he grew more animated. "You repaired and reprogrammed an Enclave droid to be your guard dog after moving from an environment of nonviolence to the wasteland. You've integrated yourself, adapted yourself, in days time. That's what makes you different." he said, leaning back as he pulled a silver cigar case from his breast pocket. Opening up the case, he pulled out a Montecristo and lit it, letting the aromatic smoke drift around him before returning the now closed case to its pocket.

"Alright, I'll give you that." said John, just a bit flattered by the man's pandering. "But a lot of people have the ability to adapt. I don't think anyone would be alive today if they weren't capable of adapting." he said as he took another sip of his whiskey.

The man snorted, his expression turning sour as he turned a despising eye on the other patrons. "That's not adapting. That's surviving." he said, shaking his head. "Let me tell you the difference between the two. Look at you, then look at the other citizens of this wretched town. The followers of that nonsense Church of the Atom, thinking that radiation poisoning will get them into heaven. Or the siblings running the diner in town. One is a drug addict, stealing money from their own store to dope himself into oblivion, and the other two just turn the other way. The raving idiot who is so devoted to a government that left him behind years ago! A con artist that runs the inn with his slave ghoul! A twit of a girl running a shop that sends helpless travellers out to their doom! They aren't adapting, they're surviving! They're frozen in time as the world moves around them, taking from the world but never giving back! They are disgusting!" he snapped angrily.

John just stared at him with an eyebrow cocked, the clover hanging from his mouth. The man, realizing he had just gone on a bit of a tirade, straightened his back and began to adjust his tie. "Is that all?" asked the young man, slightly amused by the outrage in the man's expression.

After composing himself, the man smiled again. "Apologies, I do get passionate about the subject." he said, puffing on his cigar once more. "But, on the subject, since you are as smart as I think you are, I have a proposition for you." he said as he pulled the briefcase into his lap again.

The young gunman grabbed his glass, but decided not to drink any more just yet. He didn't know what the man wanted yet, but he didn't want such a proposition decided by drunken decision making. "And what would that be, Mr...?" he asked as he leaned forward and puffed on the black clover.

"Burke, you can call me Mr. Burke." said the man as he cracked open his case. "The task I have in mind has numerous rewards. In my possession, I have two thousands caps as a monetary reward for this simple task. As well as a contract, signed by Mr. Allistair Tenpenny himself that gives the signer free housing in his own domain, the famous Tenpenny Tower." he said, showing John both the contract and the stash of caps that he had in the case. "A tower which has...more desirable company, I promise you." he finished, looking at the ghoul and the young prostitute with disgust.

John eyed the man, trying to find his angle. Given the enormous reward for such an act, it either had to be near suicide, or something nobody else would do for specific reasons. "You still haven't told me what I'm supposed to do." he mentioned as he put the stub out in the ashtray.

Mr. Burke, with a look of shock on his face, nodded. "I apologize. I was getting a bit ahead of myself." he said as he straightened his tie once more, something that seemed to be a nervous tick of his. Reaching into the case, the sly looking man pulled out a small round disc that had a display reading on it. "This here is a pulse charge. It's a machine solely made for one purpose..."

"To send a burst of energy into a device, activating it briefly. They're only usually used for..." he said, then stopped as his conversation with Simms earlier slammed into his head. The realization of what the man was asking suddenly dawned on him. "Bombs."

"Precisely." said the man as he wove his fingers together in front of himself, making him look even more sinister. "Given your level of intelligence, I don't think we need to go into further detail about what the task is." he said, a sly grin on his face.

"You want me to wire this to the bomb at the center of Megaton, and set it off." stated John. Not a question, no, he knew this was what was being asked. The young gunman's thoughts began running a mile a minute through his head as he stared down at the small disc. It only took a small amount of time before the wandering vault dweller looked back up at the man. "Alright. I'll do it." he said firmly, a dead serious look in his eyes.

Burke's eyes lit up at the words. "Excellent! I knew you were the right choice." he said, sliding the small disc over to John. The young man took the disc, slid it into his pocket, then stood up, leaving the rest of his glass of whisky sitting on the table.

"If I'm going to do it, I'll do it soon." he said coldly as he looked the man dead in the eyes.

Burke nodded, then stood up as well. "Set the charge to remote detonation. Then find me to the southwest of here at Tenpenny Tower. Believe me, you can't miss it on the horizon. It's the tallest building for miles. We'll detonate it from there, with plenty of space to admire the view." he said as he stood up, holding out his hand. John smiled, and shook the man's hand. "I'll be staying one last night before I head out." he finished, tipping his hat to the young man. John nodded, then headed to his own room.

He waited a moment until Burke was inside his room with the door closed behind him before doing anything. Once he was out of sight, John looked around the room. "Liberty, follow me." he ordered. The robot's face lit up, exposing his position in the corner before he flew to his creator's shoulder. Together, the two walked out of the saloon into the night air. "Liberty, did you see the man in the bar with the suit and hat?" he asked, looking up at the drone curiously.

 _"_ **[ò_ó]** _I saw the filthy russet. Orders?"_ Liberty asked, staring at John with his odd emoted eyes.

"Watch this door, from out of sight. If you see him leave this door tonight, come tell me without alerting him, then find him again and make sure he doesn't leave the city. Understood?" he asked in a serious tone, though he doubted his inflections mattered to the small bot. It took everything he said literally.

 _"Acknowledged. Watchdog directive active."_ said the robot as it flew up above the door and hovered in place, watching the area below like a hawk.

John turned back towards the town and looked around. "Simms, hope you're awake." he said, before setting off into the darkness of the city's catwalks.


	9. Boomtown

OoO( 9 )OoO

John didn't exactly know the sheriff's schedule. Of all the people he enjoyed the company of in Megaton, the stalwart lawbringer was the one he had gotten to know the least. So he didn't know where the man went after his shift was over, or even when his shift ended. Considering he'd only ever seen the one man patrolling the town, there was a chance that he was never technically off duty. But he had to sleep sometime, so that's what he was looking for.

Unfortunately, he had little luck figuring out which house belonged to the law man. He started to get antsy as he took another walk around the catwalks, when Nova spotted him as she leaned over the railing, blowing smoke into the night air. Smiling brightly, she stood straight and wiggled her hips at him. "Ready to wind down for the night hotshot?" she asked playfully. But her affectionate demeanor was dashed when she saw the serious look on his face. "What's the matter sugar?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where Sheriff Simms lives, do you?" he asked, his voice rigid with urgency. It was so rigid that it almost sounded like desperation.

She nodded and pointed to the house closest to the front gate of Megaton. It sat dug into the side of the sloping hill of the crater, propped up on metal beams that were wedged into the ground. He nodded, then headed off towards the house. Nova, too curious not to see what was happening, followed him as she tossed her cigarette over the side of the catwalk.

When he finally reached the home, the young man immediately went up to the door and knocked lightly. He wasn't exactly sure if the man lived alone or not, but he didn't want to startle anyone. He stood, tapping his foot impatiently as he listened for something from the inside. But after almost a full minute, he heard footsteps. The door opened in front of him, a tired-eyed Simms staring at him through the crack of the door.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked the disgruntled man as he eyed the young vault dweller curiously.

"Sorry to bug you this late Sheriff, but there's a situation you definitely need to know about." said John in an urgent voice.

"Who is it?" asked a young figure behind the man. Opening the door, the tall, dark-skinned law man ruffled the hair of his son.

"Don't worry about it. Get yourself back to bed." he said as he patted the young boy on the back. With a disappointed look on his face, the boy obeyed and headed back to his own room. Once he was out of earshot, the sheriff turned back to John and crossed his arms. "Not that I mind your presence, but I do hope this situation is important." complained the immaculately bald man as he reached up and scratched his beard.

Still standing in the doorway, John reached into his pocket and pulled out the small pulse charge that had been given to him by Burke. The sheriff eyed the small device for a moment, and his expression changed from confusion, to a dark glare. "It is."

"I certainly hope there's a damn good reason you have one of those." said the sheriff, whose relaxed posture immediately switched to a much more aggressive one, with his arms down next to his side, and his fists clenched.

"You know who Mr. Burke is?" asked the young man, and immediately Simms turned around in anger, running a hand over his smooth head.

"I fucking knew he was trouble." said Lucas as he grabbed his coat off a nearby rack.

"He tried to get me to detonate the bomb in exchange for caps and a free room at someplace called Tenpenny Tower." said the young man as Simms threw his jacket on and grabbed his assault rifle. "What are you going to do with him?" asked John curiously as the man exited the house and closed the door behind him. As he turned towards the tavern, both him and the young man stopped dead when they spotted Nova standing just beyond the house with her eyes wide. "Shit…"

"He was going to blow up the city?" she asked, her voice wavering.

But immediately, John stepped forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Nova, I want you to calm down, alright?" he asked, staring into her brown eyes seriously. But she either wasn't listening, or didn't hear him. Finally, he grabbed her by the cheeks and forced her to stare at him. "Are you with me?"

She slowly nodded, then reached up and placed her hands over his. "I...I am."

"Good. Nothing is going to happen to the city, or you. Do you understand?" he asked, still holding her face in place. She nodded again, letting out a comforted sigh. "Good. Me and Simms are going to take care of the issue right now, so there's no need to worry." he finished, finally letting go of her.

"Have you told anyone else?" asked Simms as he eyed the young man. John simply shook his head. "Good, let's keep it that way. We don't need any panic in the streets while we're taking care of business."

"You never answered my question." said John as they both began heading for the tavern once more.

"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm gonna lock his ass away." snapped Lucas as they turned the bend in the catwalk and headed towards the saloon.

"You can't just imprison him!" growled John in agitation.

"The hell are you talking about kid?" asked the man as he stopped and stared at the new Megatonian with bewilderment.

"Look, in comic books, the good guys never kill the bad guys. As a result, they always come back to cause more trouble. The difference is, the kind of trouble that Burke is stirring up results in an even bigger crater and dozens of people dead." complained the gunman. He crossed his arms as he stared at Simms. "One of the many lessons I've learned since coming out here is you don't give someone a second chance to kill you." he finished, his thoughts returning to the Enclave soldier who had put a bullet in his shoulder the first chance he got.

"I'm not just going to burst into the saloon and unload on his ass!" snapped the sheriff in agitation. "If he attacks me, then I'll aim for the kill."

"And what if you do imprison him, and someone else thinks that an easy life in that tower is worth this place turning to dust?" responded John angrily. "How are you going to stop every wastelander that comes into town from taking him up on his offer while he rots in jail?" He uncrossed his arms and took a step closer, eyeing the sheriff from only a foot away. "You don't want people knowing about Burke's offer because you don't want them to panic. Well, what if he has you and me both killed? Then it's just a matter of time before someone wastes this place."

"What the hell am I supposed to do!? I'm not going to fire on an unarmed prisoner!" growled the sheriff, knowing the new kid was right.

"When you have someone as dangerous as Burke hanging around in your town, you don't wait until they've done acted until you take them out." said John as his anger died down.

"Y-You may not have to…" came the meek voice of Nova from behind them. Both men turned and looked at her curiously.

OoOoO

It had only been a few hours since he had fallen asleep again. His giddy excitement at having finally found a tool amidst the cesspool of Megaton had nearly made it so that he wasn't able to sleep. But he had known that the road back to Tenpenny Tower was going to be a long one. In the end, when his shaded glasses reflected the light from that glorious explosion, it would all be worth it. The man's dreams were filled with the lights of explosions, both nuclear and incendiary. Bombs dropping from the planes of old like he had seen in the vids. Each bomb landing with a powerful impact. _Boom! Boom! Boom!_

The explosive sounds suddenly became louder, startling him awake. Her jerked himself upright tiredly, staring at the door as whoever the hell was knocking on it did so again, nearly banging the door off its hinges. Groggily, he stumbled out of bed and pulled his pants on. "This had better be important, or someone is getting a bullet in the ass!" he said as he reached for his pistol. But, a sudden crash from the door startled him, and made him turn to see who had invaded his room.

"Now now, let's not get too hasty. Why don't you just leave that gun where it's at and step outside so we can have a talk?" said the deep voice of Sheriff Simms. Eyeing the man, he could clearly see the silhouette of the man's assault rifle already in his hands. So reaching for the gun would only get him killed.

Mr. Burke glared at the man in the duster as he turned and faced him. "Is there something I can help you with sheriff?" asked the man, his mood very dark after having his sleep interrupted.

The sheriff just smiled as he stepped backwards out of the doorway. "Yeah, you can step outside here and talk to me for a minute. I wouldn't advise making any sudden moves either." said the man as he tapped the stock of his assault rifle with his hand. "I'm a bit paranoid at the moment. Don't want any accidents." he said with an icy tone. Burke knew that the man was being serious, and didn't see many options available to him.

He slowly walked forward, still in his nightshirt and pants as he glared at the sheriff. The low light in the tavern made him squint. Seeing the world through a pair of dark, shaded glasses 90% of the time had to have done its damage to his light sensitivity. As soon as he walked out the door, he looked over and saw John, leaning against the wall next to the door, with an overly smug smile on his face. Immediately, he saw his plans crumbling before him.

John chuckled as Burke's face turned sour. "And here people thought I was gullible. You really took me at my word." said the younger man as he leaned against the wall lazily.

Burke just glared at him, poison dripping from his words. "A man's word is everything."

"Don't patronize me Burke. The day I lose the trust of a man who funds mass murder isn't a day I'll lose much sleep." said the wanderer as he stood straight. "Now, we've got a long night ahead of us, so how about we put aside the witty banter and get this over with?" he asked as he began walking towards the door.

Sheriff Simms nodded after John. "I'm gonna need you to follow me Burke. I've got a few questions for you." he said as he turned for the door. Burke's eyes scanned his surroundings quickly, for anything that would help him get out of this situation. Finally, as John turned and opened the door, Burke spotted the firearm at the former vault dweller's side.

The man just smiled to himself as he started walking behind the pair, picking up the pace to get himself closer to the naive younger man. Once they were outside the building and on the narrow walkway, he spoke. "So what kind of questions are you going to ask? Smashing teeth in? Pulling nails? Cutting and fire ant nectar?" he asked, trying to keep the pair's attention on something else.

They both glanced at him with an expression of distaste. "You have a fucked up way of asking people questions, you know that?" asked Simms as he turned and began walking again. John just shook his head and turned his back on Burke in order to continue behind the sheriff. Looking down, the pistol was still there, calling to him. Now was the time. Reaching forward, he pulled the gun loose from its harness and smashed into John with his shoulder.

The gunman was sent sprawling onto the metal walkway before he rolled onto his back and glared at the attacker. But, Burke now had the pistol aimed directly at the sheriff, who still hand his assault rifle aimed low.

Lucas turned when John had fallen, and up at the man to see the barrel of a 10mm pistol pointed at his head. "Give me the gun." said Burke, his no nonsense voice now taking over.

Simms smiled darkly as he clenched the assault rifle. "That's not going to happen." said the sheriff, holding his ground. "You might as well just shoot me and take it from my hands."

Burke smiled at the words, then shrugged nonchalantly. "If you insist." he said, then squeezed the trigger. The sound was almost masked by John chuckling as he stood back to his feet, almost. _Click!_ The empty click of the weapon's hammer resonated through Burke's body, as if he was a bell struck with a large mallet. He felt a cold chill go down his spine as he looked between the pair. The sinking feeling that he felt at the realization that he had been set up was numbing. |

But he shoved the sick feeling aside as he spun around as a new sound approached from the tavern. Burke turned and stared at the eyebot, which now had a the same face from earlier on its display screen. _"_ **[** ◣ **_** ◢ **]** _Taste the hot kiss of Liberty, communist filth."_ said the robot, right before it unleashed a torrent of laser fire on the man.

Both John and Lucas went wide eyed as one of the lasers, apparently overcharged, ended up vaporizing the man, turning his entire form to ash on the walkway. The empty gun fell and clattered on the metal catwalk as the clothes flash fried away into nothing. Lucas looked at the robot apprehensively. "That's not exactly how I saw this going down." he said, a bit disturbed by what he had just witnessed.

John looked up at the floating bot, unnerved by the sight as well. "Liberty, tone down the kill factor just a bit. That was a little...over the top." he ordered as the face changed on the monitor.

 _"_ **[ò_ó]** _Acknowledged. Democracy per second output decreased."_ finished the drone, before floating up into the air again to hover like a sentinel over the tavern.

The two men looked at each other. "Remind me not to piss you off." said the sheriff as he wiped the sweat from his forehead as he watched the circular wind within the cone-shaped walls start to blow the remains of the man away. "Now, we need to talk about this whole bomb situation." he started, getting John's attention. "You've got the technical know how to make sure that thing never detonates. I want you to use it." said Simms as he reached into his pocket. "I've been giving this a lot of thought. And since you came to me with the whole Burke issue..." said the sheriff as he looked down at the quickly vanishing ash pile. "You deserve the house. But, in return, I want you to disarm that damn bomb so that this shit never happens again." he finished as he pulled out a key on a large ring and tossed it to the young man.

John caught the key, his eyes wide as he looked down at it. "Uhhh...thanks..." he said, shellshocked at being given the home for free. Then, he shook his head and looked back to the sheriff. "Speaking of which, I think know exactly what to do with the bomb. But, I'll need some help. From you, Walter, and possibly a few others if you can manage to find them."

"Sure, I'll have them ready in the morning." Lucas responded as he slung the assault rifle over his shoulder.

But John shook his head. "It has to be tonight, and it has to be very late night or early morning. Otherwise, there will be outrage." said the wanderer as he nodded towards the small enclosure devoted to the Children of Atom.

"Ooohh, I get it now." said Lucas as he looked around town. "I'll try and find you a few helpers. But I don't know how happy Walter is gonna be with being woken up at this time of night." remarked the sheriff as he turned to the catwalks and headed back up the platform.

"I think one night of skipped sleep is worth making his job a hell of a lot easier." he said waving the taller man away.

OoOoO

It had taken about an hour to gather everyone he needed to assist with the project. They all stood around the center of town, with John in the middle of them as they all glared daggers at him for having them out so late. But he stood in front of them with a smile on his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, today you participate in a renovation of Megaton that will forever change the face of this great city. I need your assistance in order to not only protect the city from future threats, but also to give you, and everyone else a better quality of life."

"I believe it." said Billy as he stretched his arms out. "Don't know why this couldn't wait til morning though."

"I believe I'm tired as hell, and wonderin' what the hell I'm doin' out here." said Walter as he tried to stifle a yawn.

"Oh quiet down you ol' stick in the mud, this'll be fun!" Moira snapped playfully at Walter. The odd shopkeeper was standing next to Jenny Stahl, who also had an unamused look on her face.

"Kid, I gotta hand it to you. I didn't think even you were brave enough to come and wake me up at night." said Jenny as she rubbed her eyes. "I owe you a kick in the ass later."

John just smirked at them all. "We'll see how irate you all are after we're done." he said animatedly, holding his arms out as of making a presentation. Then his mood suddenly shifted to a darker tone as he began scratching his chin thoughtfully. "If this works that is..." he said, not having thought of that. "But...well, let's get to work. Walter what does the generator in the water processing plant run on?" he asked right off the bat.

Surprised by the question, Walter scratched his head. "Well, it's running off a nuclear slug, uranium I think. The one that was powering the plane that made this crater in the first place." he responded.

John ran the numbers in his head as he stared down at the dusty ground. "Is there a casing on the slug? Like a gunmetal grey ring?"

Walter just shook his head. "It doesn't have a casing. The jet's engine draws power directly from the slug without any kind of protection, which is why we have a lead shield over it to keep radiation from flooding the building." said the older man. He stepped forward and squinted at the young man suspiciously. "Where exactly is all this going?"

"Walter, you are with me in the generator room once I get the new core up there. Moira, you, and Jenny are in charge of wiring. I'll assist where I can. Lucas, Billy, Lucy, you three are in charge of running these..." he said, motioning to a pile of heavy cables he had laid next to the bomb. "from the generator to the houses."

Jenny raised her hand, her grumbling tone gone now as she genuinely took interest in what they were doing. "What exactly will we be wiring?" asked the older woman with a look of hopeful wonder. John dragged a bag that looked enormously heavy over to them, then let go and shook his hands from the strain. Moira picked it up with one hand, startling the young man as she opened it. But everyone's attention was on the contents. "These are all...outlets?" she Jenny in surprise. "Are we getting electricity to the town?" she asked, looking up at the young man with shock on her face.

John nodded hopefully at her question. "That's the idea anyway. The slug left from the engine compartment is old, and was likely only big enough to power the purification plant. And because of the lack of a protective casing, it has degraded and is losing power. With the new core planted in the generator with its plutonium casing, it should last a hell of a lot longer. Not to mention provide more power."

"Wait wait wait...timeout. Where the hell are you getting a bigger nuclear core than one from a bomber plane? All we have around town are tiny nuclear cells that'll be gone in minutes." asked Walter irately. John just chuckled, then stepped aside, showing the group the bomb with its side wide open, the nuclear core inside exposed. "Oh..." said the older man. John chuckled, taking a giant pair of tongs in his hand, usually used for moving superheated parts from a furnace into a cooling tank. "I don't think the Church is going to like this..." said Walter.

John nodded eagerly. "A few steps ahead of you. Don't worry, I don't think they'll mind when I'm finished." he said stroking his chin. "Alright, so let's get to work. Cable team start running the cables from the back of the generator building to the houses. If more than one is required, just use another one and I or the wiring team will put in a repeater where necessary. Wiring team, start connecting outlets to the cabling anywhere there's a house. For the moment, they get one outlet. If this works out, we might add more." he said, then turned to Walter.

With a new air of excitement, the small group of people began working. Lucy, Lucas, and Billy all hauled the cables scavenged from the few remaining power poles in Springvale from their resting site over to the generator house, where they began sorting from longest to shortest, which would go to what house. Moira and Jenny began dropping outlets outside of the houses where the wires would intersect them so that they could install them once the cables were hooked together.

John, along with Walter, both wearing lead aprons and lead lined gloves, worked to free the bomb of its center mass. After letting the core loose, John pried the explosive plates away from the fluorescent green uranium ball. Once loose, he set them aside carefully for later. After finally extracting the core from the center of the giant bomb, both of the men used the tongs to pick the large green orb up and carry it up the hill. When they arrived inside the building, the pair slowly placed the core inside one of the spare lead boxes that Walter kept around for any tools he had to use on the generator.

With it safely stored away, the two of them opened the old core compartment on the generator, but had to almost immediately close the box again as the wave of radiation made their skin itch. "That's not going to work anymore...we have to dispose of it." said Walter as he stepped outside to breath. John sat and thought for a moment.

"It looks like I'm going to have to take the casing from the bomb as well. I was hoping to leave that for the...lovely people of the church." he said as he structured a new plan in his head. Finally, he sighed and headed for the fat man bomb again. "Alright, might as well get this over with.

After an hour or so, everything seemed to be winding down. Lucas had even gotten his son and let him come out to see their project unfolding. Finally, all the cables were laid, the outlets were wired to the main cables, and the previous slug was removed from the large warehouse. Walter felt his eye twitch as he heard the water filtration system power down, but just shook it off. It would only be down for a few minutes anyway.

John had finally disconnected the internal casing for the core from the fatman bomb and brought it inside the generator room. It took him another hour or so to hook both sides of the capsule up so that the generator could draw power from it, then another half of an hour for the pair to set up a relatively safe encasing for the capsule that wouldn't allow radiation from the core to flood the room. Once everything was finally set up, everyone gathered around the generator at a safe distance as John and Walter removed the core from its housing and placed it gently within the capsule.

As soon as it sat in the casing, the older man immediately slammed down the lever that closed the capsule over the core, locking it into place and causing several meters on the generator to start spiking. Before long, the soft hum of the water filtration system began to rise again around the room. Everyone smiled and Moira began clapping happily as the power readings climbed higher and higher. Walter closed the protective cover for the core, then turned to John. "I believe my work is done for the night. Wake me up when you finish." said the old man as he walked back towards the door to the plant.

John and a few others chuckled, then turned to the two women present. "You two ready to hook us up some power?" he asked hopefully, receiving happy nods as he knelt down and began wiring a heavy transmission cable from the generator to the power distribution box on the inside. Moira and Jenny both went to the outside, and began doing the same on their end, but with the distribution cables. Finally, one more hour passed and they all gathered around as the wanderer approached the outlet nearest to Jenny's diner, the Brass Lantern. The woman took the plugin that was hanging uselessly from the neon LED sign from which her restaurant got its name. The characters on the tubular sign were two Chinese symbols, according to Jenny, with made up the words Brass Lantern.

Taking the cord, she plugged it into the outlet that her and Moira had wired to the distribution cable. Almost as soon as the three pronged plug sank into the matching outlet, all of the onlookers looked up at the sign expectantly. But the accompanying light that was supposed to be there didn't turn on. There were a lot of disappointed sighs from the audience until Jenny looked switch on the bottom. "Huh..." she said, then reached up and flicked it in the opposite direction. All the sudden, the sign lit up like a beacon, surprising everyone present.

A round of cheering went around as the onlookers began to celebrate, but everyone was hushed immediately by the sheriff. "We need to keep it quiet. If you want to go ahead and put your installations in tonight, go ahead. But keep it down." he said as he looked back at the wanderer, who was now sitting in front of the bomb, looking at it like an artist would look at a canvas. "He still needs to fix the bomb up so that the Children of Atom don't lose their marbles over the core being stolen." The crowd finally dispersed, most of them returning home to install the outlets next to their home into the walls inside their houses.

Lucas walked up to John, a smile on his face as his son walked up behind him. "You know, if you're expecting more than the house for all this, you've got another thing coming." said the sheriff, getting a chuckle from John as he continued to eye the bomb.

"No, the house is fine." said the young man. Suddenly, he turned and eyed the sheriff. "So, are we good now?" he asked curiously.

Lucas returned the curious look, but knew what he was referring to. Ever since the young vault dweller had entered the city, he'd had questions about everything. His ability to take out raiders, his return with the coat and the gun, and his approach with the pulse charge that Burke had given him. He had no reason to mistrust the young man, but he also didn't want to trust someone who showed good intentions so freely, as it oftentimes ended with a bullet in one's back. But as he stared at the young man with the question echoing in his head, he nodded. "Yeah, we're good." said the sheriff with a smile. "That doesn't mean you get to break the law around here, but I'll stop breathing down your neck."

"Whatever you say Calamity Jane." said the gunman sarcastically, getting a true laugh out of Lucas.

"Kiss my ass road warrior. Get your ass fixing that damn thing before we have a riot on our hands." said the dark-skinned lawbringer as he turned away from John and headed back to his home.

OoOoO

Confessor Cromwell, ever the punctual vicar of Atom's word, woke up in the morning, feeling as sore and worn out as usual. His usual morning sermon took place with him standing in front of the bomb for about two hours before the people began to go their own way. And while that wasn't as long as he used to stand there preaching, his body wasn't what it used to be either.

He got out of bed to find his wife had already prepared a small breakfast of the Blamco Mac & Cheese with Cram in it. He quickly shoveled it down and pushed the dishes aside, before taking his bottle of water and walking out the door. As he walked past the wastelanders that usually inhabited the town, most of them seemed to be excited for some reason or another. Each couple of people he walked past were tittering back and forth animatedly about something that happened last night. He had no mind for it though. He just continued past them, brushing any nonsense aside.

But as he approached his usual spot, he noticed the crowd was bigger than usual. He wasn't sure what the occasion was, but it put a smile on his face as he walked up and parted the crowd with a few hands on shoulders. When he finally reached the front, the sight before him made him eyes widen immensely. The side panel of the bomb was now unsecured and almost hanging off its rivets, and out of the open space from inside the bomb could be seen a glowing, white light.

Terrified of what was happening to the bomb, the confessor crawled forward through the pond before standing and staring into the crevice in the side of the bomb. But when he did, he immediately looked away. "How long has it been doing this?" he asked bewildered.

"Started just last night. Saw it myself." came a comment from behind him. Spinning around, the old man eyed the youth, who wore a sleeveless duster over leather armor, and sported a head of spiked back brown hair.

After staring at him a moment longer, Cromwell smiled widely. "My children!" shouted the confessor as he stood in the water and faced the pulsing light. "We must pray to Atom, and thank him for this gift!" he finished as he crouched down in front of the bomb, his head touching the water. The followers around him, and even a few wastelanders did the same, all of them kneeling in prayer to the holy light of Atom.

Lucas just chuckled as he watched the display from the walkway above. As John started walking up towards him, he turned to the young man and smiled in amusement. "How'd you pull that off?"

John shrugged with a sly smile on his face. "Stole Moriarty's lamp from the room I was staying in." Lucas let out a choked laugh at the claim and the gunman put up his arms as if to start boxing. "Gonna arrest me for it?"

"He can deal without his lamp, and we can now deal without that bomb." he said as he patted the new Megaton on his armored back. "You know kid, you're alright."

"You're tolerable." responded John, who got another laugh from the sheriff as the pair walked away from the new sermon that had popped up immediately after Cromwell's prayer.


	10. Stepping Stones

OoO( 10 )OoO

It had been a week since the small settlement of Megaton had gotten power. It was the talk of the town, from the cold beer and nuka cola, to each citizen finally having lights within their home, all powered by the very heart of the city itself, the core of the fat man bomb that the town had gotten its name from. Though nobody really knew who was responsible, it didn't take much snooping to guess that the new citizen of Megaton had something to do with it. Which was why whenever he passed someone on the walkways they nodded with a smile. Or when he stopped by the outdoor restaurant, he was offered free cold beer.

Which was why it was a real shame he had to die. The mercenary had gotten word about the new resident shortly after the disappearance of his benefactor Mister Burke, and was ordered by his boss's boss, the big fat cat himself to check out the situation. And after arriving, it took pitifully little prodding to get the whole story. Burke was taken from the inn by the sheriff and this new little pipsqueak, then vanishes from the town and wastes altogether. Afterwards, Burke's plan to blow the place backfires, and now the city has power. Not to mention that the water purifier now purred like a kitten instead of sputtering like an old school beat up pickup truck. The timeline was pretty easy to read.

Which was why he was face down on a hot metal plate, sipping a cold brew, and staring down the scope of his sniper rifle. Setting the cold bottle aside, he stared through the lens once more at the door of the lucky new homeowner. He'd been waiting there for a while. He couldn't move freely anywhere, as the sniper up on the wall would spot him almost immediately. It took decisive movements to avoid his detection just to get in this location without him seeing, so here he stayed until his job was done. Unfortunately, the asshole he was targeting was apparently a shut in who rarely came to his door, and today was a scorcher. Not only was the metal roof he was laying on starting to heat up, but he had to piss like a damn brahmin from all the beers. Whoever this little fucker was, he'd better hurry his ass up.

He growled as he tried to refrain from taking another drink of the warming beer that sat next to him. "Cummon you little shit. Show your face." he ordered, continuing to stare down the scope. But all thoughts flew out of the mercenary's head as his eyes locked onto the lovely sight of a young woman walking up to the man's door. She was blonde with sun-darkened skin and the figure of a scrawny teenager. That didn't stop the scope from drifted down to her rear end. A slimy smile split open on his face as he imagined what he'd do to the young woman. But he immediately pulled his focus back to the task at hand as he heard her knock on the door from a distance. The girl had knocked on the door a few times and waited. The mercenary waited as well, his finger already on the trigger and ready to fire as soon as that face showed up in the doorway. A second knock, and more waiting. But there was nothing. He could see her disappointment as no answer came. "Where the fuck is this guy?" he asked his knuckles white as he gripped his rifle in fury.

But his rage vanished like dust in the wind as he felt white hot pain hit his backside, causing his body to to go rigid. Too stunned from the blow to stop himself, he rolled forward off the roof and landed with a loud thud onto the catwalk below, all the while holding his hind quarters in pain. "I hear he has an aversion to being shot in the head. Especially at a distance." said an icy voice next to the mercenary. The man looked up immediately, and sighed, banging his head gently off the catwalk floor.

His target was sitting in front of him in a small folding chair with a bottle of water in one hand and a pistol in the other. It didn't help that the little shit had a smug grin on his bratty face. "Caught me with my pants down..." said the man as he sat up, his sniper still on the roof above, and no way to grab his close quarters SMG.

The gunman just smiled wide at the words. "Not yet." he remarked casually as he set the water down on the catwalk. Before the mercenary could ask him what the hell he meant by the comment, a command was issued. "Stand up." Placing his hands firmly in front of him, he lifted himself to his feet, keeping his hands away from the side that held his automatic weapon. "Who sent you?"

The man just crossed his arms and shook his head. "Kid, you're pretty naive if you think I'm gonna be telling you anything." he said firmly. He wasn't about to buckle to some new blood who thought he owned the place.

The gunman just chuckled, unnerving the mercenary. "Yeah, I figured. This is where the fun part comes. Liberty, front and center!" he shouted almost merrily. From the roof above, a small Enclave eyebot floated down and began hovering in front of the mercenary with a cartoonish face on what looked like a tv screen. "I'll ask you one more time. After that, you'll answer when you snap out of shock. Now, who sent you?" he asked in a threatening tone that indicated that games were over.

He looked at the young man, and noticed that the grin was gone. That stupid, naive kid was no longer here, and instead was the man who likely executed Burke. The sheriff didn't have the spine to do it himself, and was always hiding behind his code of justice as his excuse. But this one, his forest green eyes had seen some shit. From the look of that deadly gaze, he'd already gotten bitten by the wasteland, and ended up biting back just as hard. Then he looked up at the drone that was staring at him oddly. He knew the Enclave eyebots floating around the DC area, and he knew what their weapon was. One shot with their laser could mean death, but death out here was a mercy, not a punishment. Then there was that odd screen...face thing. Did he find it like that? Or did he build that into it? And if he could do that, what else did he install?

Not really giving the kid the benefit of the doubt, he simply shook his head. "I have no promise you won't kill me anyway after I answer." said the mercenary matter of factly as he looked back at the new young citizen of the city.

"And you will get no promise. You seem to be under the impression that this is a negotiation." said the sitting figure as he rubbed his temple gently. There were signs of slight pain on his face, making the mercenary wonder if he was suffering from a headache of some kind, or if he was doing it because he was getting pissed off. "The rules state that if you answer my questions, you are spared from having to answer them under duress. You haven't done that, so now we begin phase two." he growled, looking up at him with those deadly eyes again. John just smiled again. "Liberty, initiate information extraction protocol. Male organic variable present." he ordered as he leaned back in his chair again, the pistol still trained on the mercenary.

" **[ò_ó]** _Affirmative!"_ The robot's display flipped away from its normal face and instead switched to one that was definitely more aggressive. " **[◣_◢]** _Prepare yourself communist dog."_ it warned in its rumbling robotic voice.

"What the fuck?" was all the mercenary could get out before he saw a small compartment on the bottom of the drone open up. Like lightning, a lancing pain shot through his whole body and sent him to the ground again, this time in such writing agony that he could barely see straight. The small bot continued to glare at him with that heated battle stare as the mercenary rolled around on the ground holding his testicles as if they had just been shot off, his mouth locked open in a silent scream of pain.

 _"Still loyal to the chairman red swine?"_ it asked, before unleashing another one aimed at exactly the same spot. When he opened his eyes again, the mercenary felt like he had been asleep for eternity. But he was still in the same spot, with the same fiery ache in his groin, staring at the same gunman he'd been hired to kill.

As the man got his bearings, the gunman leaned his head onto one hand which rested on the arm of the chair and looked down at him boredly. "You'd think with how hardass you were acting earlier, you'd have been able to take a bit more than that."

"F-Fuck you!" growled the man who felt nauseous enough to vomit right onto the catwalk.

"What do you think Liberty? Third time's the charm?" he asked the robot as a bit of his smirk returned.

"N...N...Noooo..." gasped the man as he continued clutching himself on the ground. "Please! Not again!"

"The nausea should wear off in a minute or so, then you should be able to talk without throwing up. Thus, you have one minute to rest before he reengages. Liberty, start a timer." he ordered, getting a shocked look from the mercenary. The man glared at the drone, one hand slightly reaching for the SMG. But the gunman's voice stopped him again. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'm a medical doctor and technician, and I know exactly where to aim to keep you alive." he said in an icy tone as he nodded towards the pistol. "Liberty?" The vault boy image vanished, replaced by a timer counting down from sixty. The small drone's face vanished and in its place was a sixty second timer.

" **[00:60]** _Order confirmed."_ it stated with its tesla defenses still aimed directly at the man.

The mercenary finally rolled onto his knees and held up the arm that wasn't covering his family jewels from attack. "W-Wait! I'll talk!" he shouted desperately, his voice much more pronounced, but still shaky from the trauma to his manhood. Despite his words, the counter continued. "Alright! It was Talon Company!"

The young man cocked an eyebrow as he eyed the attacker curiously. "Why?"

The man just shrugged as his voice started to slowly come back to him. "Fuck...I don't know man. They paid me to take you out. It's in my job description not to ask questions." he lied slightly, not wanting to implicate his boss directly. He continued to stare at the timer ticking down on the small robot's face nervously. "You gonna stop that thing?" he asked fearfully, covering his package once more.

John just leaned back, scratching his chin thoughtfully as he stared at the sniper. The seconds ticked down, and the man began to buckle in on himself to stop the deadly warbot from hitting in the same spot. "Liberty, pause the count." ordered the gunman. The drone followed the order immediately.

" **[00:09]** _Order confirmed."_ said the floating ball of death, but it held the timer on its screen rather than changing back to its face.

With the timer stopped, the gunman had the mercenary's attention once more. "Sounds like you need a new job."

The man, his dirty black shoulder length hair now swaying around his shoulders, shook his head. "Fuckin' tellin' me." he groaned, hoping that the answer was satisfactory.

"Good, then find a new one. Because I'm not for sale. If any of your merry band of jackasses tries to come after me again, then they'll get a hell of a lot worse than what you just got. Understood?" he asked sharply in that tone again. The man nodded vigorously, knowing that the message would never get back to the boss. If he returned in failure, he might as well just bury himself out in the sand. "And you..." continued the gunman, getting a nervous look from the mercenary. "If you ever show your face to me, or come to this city again, then I won't stop at two. I won't stop until the sound of my voice causes you physical torture, do you understand me?"

The man's eyes widened at the threat, wondering if such a thing was possible. Whoever the fuck this kid was, he was serious business, and not the business he was looking for anymore. Fuck that, fuck Tenpenny, fuck Burke, and fuck Talon Company. If there was even the slightest chance that what he said could happen, then he'd start swimming for Red China by sundown. "I...I...I got it!" he said resolutely, his hands raised in the air in case the psychotic new citizen decided not to let him go.

"Good. Now for your going away party." he said as his deadly gaze softened into an amused smirk.

OoOoO

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" shouted the mercenary as he backed away from the large gates of the city, his hands now covering his manhood so as not to expose it to the sun. His armor, weapons, and even underclothes had been stripped from him before he was freed from the grasp of that madman. The only thing he had in his hand was a bag holding a small amount of food, water, and a gun with all of the bullets removed from the magazine. He'd apparently done that so that the city gates would be long closed before he was able to arm up.

John stood, smiling in amusement as he leaned against one of the gates of Megaton. "Sheriff, be polite and wave goodbye to the nice man." said the gunman as he raised his own arm and waved at the man mockingly.

Lucas, with an amused chuckle, raised his right hand and waved at the man. "Lovely parting gift he left us too." he said clutching the new sniper rifle in his left hand proudly. He laughed more as the mercenary in the distance made an extremely rude gesture involving telling them to kiss his posterior. Simms brought the rifle up to bear and aimed through the scope. "I think he needs some assistance in moving faster." he said, followed by the sound of the rifle roaring.

John laughed as the man immediately started sprinting away from the city when the fired shot hit between his legs. "Hey, it worked." he said, getting a nod from the sheriff. Before long, the man was out of sight and gates were closing behind him.

John turned around with a grin still on his face, until he saw that Nova was standing behind them. "What are you two up to?" asked the ginger woman curiously

The sheriff turned and smiled at her politely. "Cleaning up Megaton. If you'll excuse me..." he said, tipping his hat to her. Then he was off to his patrols again among the people of Megaton.

Nova watched the lawman go before turning back to John, who now had a mask of stone on his face. The woman looked at the ground awkwardly as she stood in front of him. The two of them had an encounter the other day that all but ended their fun and flirty relationship. "Look kid...I'm sorry."

"Nova, if I was still a kid, you'd be in a world of trouble with the sheriff." bit back John coldly as he lit a clover and eyed her in annoyance. "Now, is there something you need? Or is business slow so you're looking for a customer again?"

From anyone else in the world, that statement would have gotten an eye roll, if it even warranted a response. But when the words came from his mouth, he might as well have belted her directly in the stomach with as painful as they were. She stood silently, still raw from the comment as she stared at the ground. "L-Lucy stopped by the saloon asking about you. She said she had a favor to ask." said the fiery-haired woman. She was older than John by a few years.

"Fine. Tell her to come by again, I'll be there this time. Don't wanna keep you off the clock too long." he commented in a frosty tone as he went to walk past her.

Again, the berating he was giving her felt like near physical pain. Not simply because she had come to see him as a friend over the last few weeks, but also because they'd practically been bedmates. He shared his first time with her, his first smoke, his first time getting drunk. Almost everything he had a first for was shared with her. He had practically become a best friend to her since he'd arrived through the gates of the city. So when he walked past, she felt she had to reach out and grab his arm, resting her forehead on his shoulder. When she spoke, her tone was sad and broken. "Please John...I don't want us to be like this forever. I'm sorry I hurt you..." she pleaded desperately. He simply stood still and kept his eyes aimed ahead with a thousand yard stare. Stepping in front of him, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry for leading you on, I'm sorry for everything. Please…?"

He stood still for a moment longer before finally cracking. Sighing to himself, he reached down and embraced her back lightly. He knew he was being entirely overdramatic with her decision, and had to admit that his request was slightly unreasonable, even if she refused to tell him why the answer was no. "Sorry, this is my first actual encounter with rejection. I apparently don't take it well…" he groaned as his head throbbed in pain. "Once things settle down and I get it out of my system, we can still be good friends, alright?" She looked up at him with hope in her eyes as he smiled at her. "Now, go ahead and tell Lucy I'm home." he finished.

She nodded, then reached up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "You got it stud." she said, then made her way towards the ramp leading to the saloon with a seemingly new spring in her step. He just sighed as the pain of that day replayed in his head.

OoOoO

The day after Megaton had received power, they had finally gotten the last of the outlets scavenged from Springvale hooked to the houses. After the triumph, there was one last place that had yet to receive the treatment, and he took the job of wiring Moriarty's to the saloon. Not really because he felt he owed the man anything, but if he was going to be living in the same town as the Irish asshole, he might as well make peace with him. The addition of the outlet would save the man a good amount of caps on power cells to run his generator. The generator itself was already a nuisance because of how often it malfunctioned, which meant that customers didn't have lights, the radio was down, and they had to walk around in darkness. So when he offered the hook the man up to the new grid, he got a smile and pat on the back from the bar owner.

"Do it and you can consider us right as rain." said the smiling man.

John just hooked up the saloon's inside wiring to the distribution cable laying outside, but kept the generator hooked up for emergencies. After finishing the job, Moriarty offered him a free beer, which he declined. He wanted peace with the man, not to be buddies with him. Besides, he had other business to take care of. Elbowing Nova in the arm gently, he nodded towards the door to his room with a sly grin.

The woman smiled back and jammed her clover out into the ashtray before following him into the now fairly well lit room, closing the door behind her. When she turned back to her consistent bunkmate, she smiled playfully. "Is there anything you can't do?" she asked teasingly as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. But her question went unanswered as he wrapped his own arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground, causing her to yelp in surprise. Despite the jarring act of being suddenly hauled from the ground, the biggest shock came when he kissed her full on the lips. After pulling away with his giant grin again, he set her down. She reached up and touched her lips gently, as if she had never felt anything like it before. "W-What was that about?" she asked, staring up at him bewildered.

"Didn't like it?" he asked, giving her a mock offended face. "I was always told I was a really good kisser." he joked, his cheer not even dented by the prospect of being bad at something.

She had always steered away from kissing clients. In a sort of twisted way, it was more intimate to her than even sex, going beyond just fulfilling the body's cravings, or pleasing a customer. To her, it meant something on another level. Something she'd never really shared with anyone. Ever since she had left her home up north, she had pretty much been on her own. Then she found herself in Megaton, and a few days stay turned into years working for a man who became her ball and chain, keeping her from going anywhere else. In all that time, she had never kissed someone straight out. There was the occasional affectionate kiss on the cheek for customers she actually liked, but never once had she been kissed like that. Her eyes searched his own smiling face in search of answers.

Ever since he had arrived, he'd never tried to kiss her like that. Whether out of enjoyment of her taking charge, or from also believing in the intimacy of kissing, she wasn't sure. But it was a simple fact that even as they spent all night as physically close to each other as two humans could get, he never went to kiss her. So why now? Did he do it for a reason? "It's not that, it's just…?" she started, but stopped as she brushed aside her own thoughts to acknowledge the fact that he was practically bouncing in his boots. She cocked a curious eyebrow at him. "Are you high?" she asked, almost amused at the thought of the fresh wasteland jobber getting high at the first time.

The young man reached into his duster and pulled out a small iron ring with a key on it. She eyed it with the same curiosity"Wanna guess what this is?" he asked, shaking the key back and forth on the metal ring. But before she could even fathom a guess, he blurted out, "Simms gave me my own house here in Megaton. So, guess what that means." he said, staring at her with his forest green eyes.

Him giving her that look made it feel as if every lancing light that broke through the cracks in the wall had turned onto her like some kind of spotlight. Unfortunately, she knew what it meant, and despite having slept with the young man in front of her, felt more naked now than ever before. "You...won't be staying here anymore?" she asked as she felt a sinking feeling within her gut at what was about to happen.

"And neither will you." he said, his charming smirk returning to his face in place of the beaming smile. She clenched her eyes shut in pain as she leaned her head down and rested it on his chest. John reached up and gently ran his hand through her short, red hair affectionately as he looked down at her in confusion. "What's the matter? I thought you'd jump at the chance to get away from Moriarty."

Despite the safeguards she usually took with her clients, it seemed like her heart was rebelling against the words that were coming out of her mouth. "Listen kid, I appreciate the offer, but I can't just up and move in with you." she said, trying to keep her voice from wavering. "We had fun, and if you want, we can keep having fun in your new home. But…" she stopped when she felt him tense up. Looking up, his face was a mask of confused outrage.

"You've been in my bed since I got out of the vault, and all I am is still a customer to you?" he asked, desperate anger dripping in his voice. "I didn't ask you to move in with me for free sex Nova, I was asking you to leave here permanently. No more needing clients, no more Moriarty watching you sleep, no more none of that! I can now make that happen!" he spoke, trying not to yell in case the slimy bar owner was outside the door.

She couldn't say what exactly made her words so painful to say. Probably because he had been different from her normal clients. He hadn't looked at her like a piece of meat, to be chewed up and spit out like the others typically did. Hell, he didn't even make a move on her the first night. She had to open him up like some delicate flower that had been locked in eternity in the vault, before he finally gained the confidence to start making playful demands. Maybe it was that, and maybe it was the fact that instead of doing his business and fucking off to dreamland, he actually worked to make sure she enjoying their activities as much as he was. Nobody since she started here had worked as hard as him to please her. But regardless of how good he had been, the words poured out anyway, her insides wilting like a flower in winter as she spoke them. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Why?" he asked firmly. If he was going to be rejected again, he was going to have a reason this time. Last time, he didn't have the luxury of time to stop and ask Amata. But now, he had the time, and he crossed his arms, his green eyes glaring at her with the force of a laser weapon.

She was about to speak, but then stopped herself immediately. She knew the reason why, but telling him would only cause trouble. Not just for her, but for him as well. She could feasibly grab him and have him take her as far away as possible. But after watching the madman Colin Moriarty work for long enough, she realized that there was nowhere she could go to get away from him. He would find her, and she would have to pay eventually. It was sad watching him blossom into the confident lady killer under her care, but always knowing she would never benefit from it. "Because that's just the way the world works." she said finally.

His eyes were sharp, and the features on his face just shaping him into the handsome figure he was. When those same features expressed that look of pain, she could have sworn that her own stomach had decided to implode in protest. But the pain was gone in almost an instant, replaced by a serene mask of indifference. "I see. Was it always like this?" he asked, still keeping his face impassive as he stared at the door instead of at her.

She hesitated, then nodded. "That's the only way it could ever be. I'm afraid this is where I belong." she said lifting her arms up and shrugging as if there was nothing she could do about it.

Having apparently finished talking, John walked over to the bed and began packing his stuff back into the rucksack that he had come here with. She stood and watched him, the silence between them deafening as he jammed his clothing and gear into the back angrily. When he finally finished, he strapped it to his back and grabbed the long, exotic rifle from the covers before heading to the door. But before he left, he stopped one last time. "I'm leaving now. Don't stay too long, don't want to keep the customers waiting." he said, the words biting her hard. Opening the door, he left the room to see Moriarty sitting at the bar, fiddling with the static-filled radio. It was clear he had been listening when he gave the young man a knowing look. But John just snorted angrily and left the tavern to head to his new home.

Nova left the room and watched him go, then looked over at the Irishman with a glare in her own eyes as he just chuckled to himself. Ignoring the asshole, she went back into the room and thumped her head in frustration. "What the hell is wrong with me? I should have known better." she said, thinking like her usual self. But deep down, she felt her heart hurt for a moment, knowing that she had hurt him, something she never wanted to do.

OoOoO

After the exile of the mercenary, and his meeting with Nova in front of the town, it only took a few moments to navigate the walkways to his home. He had already arranged the house to his liking when he got it a few days prior, and was pleased to find there was actually a defunct Mr. Handy robot lying on the floor. He hadn't had the parts to fix it before, but after visiting the now ecstatic Walter at the water plant, the man happily gave him the pieces he desired.

Tossing his gun aside, he stopped in the light of a lamp. He'd had a headache for a while now, but hadn't thought anything of it until he put the gun down and saw his hand shaking slightly. He just grimaced, and pushed it aside, wiping the sweat from his forehead from the hot day. He'd get checked out by the doctor later, but he had a toy to tinker with at the moment. Reaching down, he pulled his shirt off to allow himself to cool down a bit, then tossed it aside before grabbing the small bag of goods that Walter had given him. Plopping down next to the curious robot, he slowly opened the cranial structure before digging inside the complicated machine.

Suddenly, he stopped and looked up as he heard a light knocking on the metal door. "It's open!" he shouted, reaching over and grabbing his weapon just in case. But as he saw the familiar face of a young blonde girl come through the door, he relaxed, and went back to examining the robot's internal structure. Lucy was an odd character around Megaton. She, unlike many who drifted in here out of necessity, chose to move here of her own choice. Why that was was anyone's guess, but she had always given him a polite smile when he passed her in the saloon. So he had no reason not return the favor. Currently, she wore a pair of stained, green overalls with a battered white shirt underneath. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought she was a machinist like him. Despite the grease monkey look however, she had bright blonde hair that was always tied back into the perfect ponytail.

"Hello…" she said nervously as she closed the door behind her. Turning to the gunman, she was surprised to see him shirtless, and averted her eyes politely. But her eyes darted to the stairs as a small Enclave drone peeked out from the floor above.

" **[ò_ó]** _Stop right there criminal scum!"_ shouted the robot in its aggressive, anti-communist voice.

Lucy took a step back in fear, but John held up a hand. "Liberty, it's fine, she's allowed in here for now." he ordered loudly.

The robot looked to its creator, then back to Lucy, before slowly drifting backwards up the stairs and giving her a suspicious stare. " **[=_=]** _I've got my eyes on you…"_ he stated as he disappeared up to the second level again.

Feeling her heart beat rapidly, she looked down at John wide eyed. "W-What was that?" she asked incredulously.

He chuckled lightly without looking up from his current project. "Just a helper, and guard dog of sorts. He watches after me to make sure nobody in town draws a gun at my back." he stated as he looked up at the workbench. "Can you hand me those pliers?" he asked, giving her a small smile. The young woman nodded, then grabbed them and handed them to him before taking a step back again, not wanting to get in his light as he worked. "So, Nova tells me you've been looking for me?" he asked curiously.

"O-Oh, yeah! I was wondering if you could do me a favor of sorts." she said, slowly stepping around him to see what he was doing inside the brain of the odd robot.

"Well, that depends on the favor." he remarked, before yelping in pain as he jerked his hand away from an electric shock. She squeaked in surprise, her heart already beating quickly due to her encounter with the curious drone. But she began to calm again as he shook the pain from his hand and continued working.

After recovering, she began to fidget with her hands. "I...was hoping you could visit my family." she said, getting an amused curious look from John. She felt her face start to redden as the shirtless gunman stared at her. "W-What?" she asked nervously.

"Not even going to invite me to dinner first?" he asked jokingly as he set the pliers aside and just sat, elbows on his knees as she spoke.

"I didn't...I mean..." she said, flustered at the misunderstanding. Finally, she composed herself again and explained. "When I moved here, my family would write me every week. I'd send letters back, and the next week, they'd send one to me. It's been this way for almost a year. But...they've recently stopped writing." she corrected as she stared at him.

John noticed the worry in her eyes when she spoke about the situation, and decided to brush the playful joking aside. "And you think something may have happened to them?" he asked curiously, trying to get as much information as possible.

She nodded as the worry from her face now leaked into her voice. "It's been three weeks. Even if they were busy, they'd find the time to write, and at least tell me that their letters would be delayed." she said looking down at him. Despite her worry, she let herself examine Megaton's new citizen. Most of the wastelanders in Megaton, or out in the world in general were lean, but not built like he was. She had no recollection of ever seeing muscles like his, but her instincts drew her eyes to them regardless.

Finally, he closed the hatch on the robot, then stood up and stretched himself out, only making her look away again in embarrassment. Grabbing his clovers, he lit one before leaning against the workbench and staring down at the robot. "Activate." he ordered, getting a curious look from the girl. Suddenly, the robot on the floor twitched once, then its arms folded up underneath it. Lifting itself off the ground, it triggered its hovering mechanism and began to cycle air through the bottom jets. Once stable, it let go of the ground and turned to face its new master.

The robots optics zoomed, then retracted as it focused on John's face. _"Good evening sah! Command?"_ it asked in a cheerful british accent.

"Give me your designation." he commanded as he let a cloud of smoke out into the air.

The robot's optics narrowed and turned red. _"I'm afraid I can't do that Dave..."_ John narrowed his at the robot, wondering if he was about to hear Daisy Bell. But the red optics reverted back to their normal glossy black as the assistant chuckled. _"Apologies master. My humor emitter array had that one saved up for years. My designation is Wadsworth."_ it said responded in a cheery English accent.

"Ha..haha..." said John in a mocking laugh. "I think you need to work on your jokes Wadsworth. In the meantime, run diagnostics to see if I missed anything in the repairs." he ordered, then he turned back to Lucy. "So, about your family, where am I going and who am I looking for?" he asked, putting the cigarette he held out in an ashtray he had stolen from Moriarty.

She looked at him, confused for a moment before finally processing his words. When it finally clicked in her head, she smiled and hugged him tightly. "You mean you'll go? Thank you!" she asked happily. It took her a moment to realize what she had just done, then she immediately pulled herself away with a face red from embarrassment. "Ummm...sorry." she said, her face redder than it had been ever before.

He just chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "No worries. So?"

She smiled at him and nodded. "It's a small settlement called Arefu. It's on an overpass to the northwest, pretty easy to spot from a distance. But be careful going up the ramp." she warned, the cheer on her face changing to slight agitation.

He cocked an eyebrow at her as he sat on one of the stairs leading up further in the house. "Is it slippery?" he asked facetiously, another joking smile on his face.

But she giggled at the joke, shaking her head in response. "No, nothing like that. But the guy that guards the overpass can get a bit trigger happy sometimes. His name is Evan King. Just tell him I sent you and he should let you into the city." she said, her excitement bubbling up inside her.

He nodded, an appreciative grin on his face at her bright personality. "Alright."

She looked back at him, then felt her excitement sinking. "Oh...ummm...I can't pay you unfortunately. Most of my caps went towards my new house..." she said, looking at the ground as her nervous fidgeting returned with a vengeance. "I...don't expect you to do this for free...so if you want..."

His eyes widened slightly as he easily saw where the conversation was going. "You can help me out." he interjected quickly, not letting her finish. Lucy looked up at him in surprise, her nervousness vanishing immediately. "Due to various reasons, I'm going to be leaving town multiple times, each time taking longer than before in all reality. So I'll be gone for a while. While I'm gone, you can contact me through that radio..." he said, nodding to his room upstairs. "If anything happens that you think I should know about, anything important, I want you to let me know."

Her golden eyebrows shot up curiously. "But...how will you receive the transmissions if you're gone?" she asked, oddly fascinated at the idea of being a town watchman. He simply raised his arm up and showed her the small, green computer on his wrist. "What is that?" she asked with an almost childlike wonder.

"It's a pipboy. They are personal computers given to citizens of our vault, and they can act as radio communicators as well as long as you have the right channel. So anything you say on my specific frequency will reach me, with exception to times when I'm in a place that blocks radio signals." he explained as he showed her the radio band menu on the small device. Currently, there were only two signals present, neither of which were labeled.

"And...what is your frequency?" she asked, so fascinated with the device and her new job that she didn't realize she was awkwardly close to the man. Her certainly did notice however.

"Frequency 216." he responded, the numbers memorized in his head. "You can contact me any time on that band unless for some reason I've deactivated the radio function for discretion purposes, or as I mentioned, I'm in a place that can't pick up radio signals." he said as he went back to the home menu and lowered the device. "In the meantime, if you want to, you can feel free to make this place your home. Given that you'll be helping me, there might be a chance that you could be targeted by someone trying to get to me, so the extra protection from these two would keep you safe while I'm not here. I'll also order them to protect you and follow you if requested."

"But...why would you do all this for me when I can't pay you back?" she asked, her cheeks already tinted with red again as she looked at the ground nervously. "You're already doing so much…" she started, but was cut off when the gunman lifted her chin delicately. She locked up as she stared deep into his green eyes, immediately blushing brightly at the action.

"Don't worry about it. They stay here anyway while I'm out, and this place has too many rooms as it is." he said, waving his arms at the house. She looked from him, to the stairs which lead to a couple more rooms above, then finally nodded.

"A-Alright. If you're sure." she said, her timid smile returning. "Thank you." she said simply.

He just smiled softly. "It's no problem at all." he said, then turned to the floating robot. "Wadsworth!"

As if it were surprised by the sudden mention of its name, the robot spun and looked at John. _"Yes sah!"_ he said, saluting with his buzzsaw arm, making Lucy giggle.

"Are you ready to receive Prime Directive number two?" he asked as if he were a drill instructor.

The robot seemed to tighten itself up, as if it were an army recruit. _"Ready and waiting sah!"_

John then softened his tone. "Wadsworth, your second directive is to protect Lucy West with your life. This morning, a mercenary tried to assassinate me, and I don't want her getting caught in the crossfire. Do you acknowledge this directive?"

The robot dropped the salute and looked at Lucy, as if scanning her, then turned to John. _"Absolutely master John. She will be safe so long as the spark of life resides in this body."_ he said in a more serious tone.

"Good. Same goes for you Liberty!" he said, then turned to Wadsworth as if he forgot something. "Oh, and also, try to get along with Liberty. He's staying here while I'm out." said the man as he grabbed his shirt again and pulled it over his head.

 _"And who is...?"_ asked Wadsworth, but before he got his words out, the eyebot dropped in front of him.

 _"_ **[ò_ó]** _Liberty is the destruction of the red menace. Objections?"_ asked the small drone as it eyed Wadsworth menacingly.

 _"Oh my..."_ was all Wadsworth could say as his optics shrunk back towards his head.


	11. Fangs in the Darkness

OoO( 11 )OoO

Early in the morning, John had left Megaton in an awkward state. With his shaky footing with his former 'teacher' in the ways of being a man, Nova, still in question, Gob arranging his room in the house for the fifth time, and Lucy sitting awkwardly on the couch while two robots hovered near or around her, he chuckled and left at the exhausting situation.

It had taken hours and hours of walking, using the small landmarks that Lucy had pointed out to him before he finally encountered the settlement on the overpass. On the trip, he'd encountered several radscorpions, a small raiding party, and a random molerat that had been painted blue.

The raiding party had probably been the funniest of the entire lot. In the burned out husk of a house, the wanderer had sought shade, and ended up finding the Boo Brothers, as they called themselves. It consisted of two lackeys, who wore sheets over themselves to appear as ghosts, and the leader who made all the sound effects from the house with the use of a pressure cooker, a lot of flatware, and a wooden spoon.

The two henchmen had run out to greet him with loud noises crashing in the background, but stopped when John started laughing. The gunman could barely breath as he saw the eyeholes cut into the sheets so that the pair could see. This didn't go over well, as they attacked in anger, only to be cut down shortly after with his assault rifle. Once he had gotten his rest, he had continued until he saw something odd through the scope of his rifle. A molerat, for some reason completely painted blue, was bolting across the desert wasteland. At first, he thought he was seeing things. But when the poor creature crashed into the side of a burned out car, he had to shake his head.

To its credit, it got back up and started running again. John just wiped the sweat from his head and drank deeply from an open water bottle. "I need to drink more. I think the sun is getting to me." he said, before walking again. It was evening by the time he actually made it to the overpass. And as he made it, he immediately pulled his rifle off his back and looked through the scope. At first, he scanned the house at the bottom of the ramp. It looked deserted, and the pens out on the side of the house had nothing but brahmin corpses littering its dirt floor. "The hell?"

His scope then moved up the broken road until it rested on a figure, sitting in a lawn chair behind a pile of sandbags. He seemed to be enjoying some kind of beverage as he watched down the road. Behind him, several people were sitting down at a table and looked to be arguing about something. Finally, he decided it was time to approach. He slid the energy weapon across his back again and headed down to the ramp.

He felt a small pain in his head, and immediately pulled out a Med-X and injected it into himself, clearing the pain almost immediately. Then he held his hands up and began to walk up the ramp to the small settlement. About half way up the off-ramp, he heard a commotion coming from the top. The scuffle was shortly followed by the sound of clinking near him. His eyes moved down and locked onto a small cylindrical object that had been thrown. It now rolled down the ramp, just as John dove over the blackened shell of a car. When the explosion went off, it rattled the gunmans teeth, causing him to hold his head to relieve the pain.

Growling, he got to his feet and swung the energy weapon forward. "Son of a bitch!" shouted John as he pulled the trigger after aiming briefly. The superheated round flew and easily blasted through the sandbags, scattering sand and dirt into the attackers face. Jumping up onto the car, the wanderer dashed forward until his stood face to face with the man, who had been caught off guard by the sandy explosion and was still clearing the muck out of his eyes.

But the man stood straight as he looked down the long glowing barrel of the rifle. Immediately the mans knees began to shake. "Now son, don't do anything hasty." said the older man. John immediately glared and pulled back one fist, then blasted the man in the jaw with a right hook.

"I walked up the ramp with my hands up to show I was peaceful, and you throw a damn grenade down my throat. Then you have the gall to tell me not to do anything hasty!?" he shouted, now shaking his hand to expel the soreness that came with punching. "Get on your feet quickdraw." he said, his voice still laced with anger.

The man stood up, then spit out a tooth on the ground before looking up at the intimidating gunman. The armor and jumpsuit beneath said armor were both black, as well as the mans boots. But he wore over his shoulders and arms a long duster coat that moved like water around him. The coat was a contrast to the black, making him look like the gates of hell, with the duster acting as the door, and the black within being oblivion. "I...I'm sorry. I'm very jumpy nowadays because of the Family, I thought you were one of them!" he said.

John snorted, then lowered the rifle. He spied the assault rifle on the mans back. "Next time, if they have their hands up, allow them to approach at gunpoint. A grenade does way too much damage for you to use in paranoia." said the gunman as he lit a clover to calm himself. "Now, what the hell is the Family and why the hell did they almost get me blown up?" he asked seriously.

The old man just sat down in his lawn chair and exhaled deeply. John scanned him for a moment, noticing the mans DC Dazzle ballcap, a baseball team that had not survived the bombs falling. He was definitely weathered, having been exposed to the wastes for a lot longer than John had. He had dark reddish hair that was now streaked with grey, and a mustache and beard combination to match. His skin was worn and leathery, and he had a look in his eyes that begged the question 'Why get up in the morning?'. But here he was, sitting in a chair, guarding an overpass from outsiders.

"They're a raider group that come from around here. Almost every day they come out here in the after noon before sunset and harass us. They shoot at us, shoot at our houses, and shoot at our cattle." said the older man as he nodded towards the pen of dead brahmin at the bottom of the ramp. "I don't know why, they never take nothin', they never stick around for more than an hour. They just seem to enjoy tormenting us." he said with a heavy sigh.

"Have they ever tried coming up the ramp?" asked John as he finished his clover and tossed it over the edge of the overpass.

The man shook his head. "Not really, they just run by, hoopin' and hollerin' and firin' away at us. Then, they're gone."

John rubbed his forehead in irritation. "So, when one traveler comes up the ramp with his hands up, you automatically assume that the Family has changed tactics?" he asked. The man looked up at him, hearing the anger still in his voice.

"I'm sorry son. It's like I said, the damn Family has got me so paranoid that anything that moves has my trigger finger itching." said the man. "By the way, the names Evan King."

"John Ronas." said the gunman as he sat on the remaining sandbags. "So, here's the situation. I'm here because Lucy West asked me to visit her family and check up on them. Are they around?" he asked.

At hearing Lucy's name, the man immediately perked up. "Ah, Lucy. Good to hear she's doin' alright." he said, a sigh of relief escaping him as he relaxed in his chair. "I was worried about her leaving here, didn't know if she'd make it all the way to Megaton." he said.

John nodded. "She did, she's fine. Can you point me to her parents?" he asked.

Evan nodded and pointed back to one of the ramshackle houses lining the former highway. "At the far back, on the left side. But try not to disturb them too much, they closed themselves off awhile back sayin' their son was ill." he said. Then snapped his head around. "Oh, by the way, can you do me a favor?"

John turned back to him, looking at him curiously. "Depends on the favor I suppose?" he said.

"Can you check on the others, and make sure they have everything they need? When you came up the road, the Ewers and Miss Schenzy all took off in a hurry to get inside." he said. John nodded, then turned back to the houses. "Thanks!"

As John approached the first door, he reached up and knocked on the wooden barrier. "Hello?" came a dreamy voice from the other side. "Is that the mailman with my seasonal catalogue?"

John stood for a moment, stunned at the question. "Uhhh...no. Evan King sent me to make sure you all are alright." he said.

"Oh, Evan! What a sweetheart!" said the voice before it was abruptly cut off. From the sound of the scuffle on the other side of the door, the woman who answered was being pulled away from the door. After a moment, a mans voice came through the wood.

"What the fuck do you want?" he asked.

"Evan sent me to check on you. Everything alright in there?" asked the wanderer, slightly amused at the mans rude tone, a contrast to the womans.

"Yeah, we're fucking fine. All safe with our thumbs up our asses. Now get lost." said the man.

John just chuckled and walked away from the door. "Stay safe!" he said, then tried the next door. He knocked on the wood, and was rewarded with the sound of a surprised woman.

"Hello? Evan?" asked the female, who, no surprise, did not open the door immediately.

"Not Evan, but he sent me to check on you. See if you're alright." said John as he lit another clover.

The woman at the door sounded skeptical. "How do I know that you're not actually a raider that's lying to me?" she asked.

John chuckled. "If I was, would I have knocked?" he asked.

"Maybe you're a polite raider." she said, just making him laugh louder.

"Miss Schenzy, I have a high powered energy weapon on my back right now. If I wanted to get you, I'd already have you right now." he said. Apparently the reality of the situation clicked in her head, because the door opened slowly, with the eye of a small woman peaking out of the crack. Despite the small amount of visual he had, he still managed to see that the woman had dirty blonde hair that was unkempt and ruffled, likely done in the rush for her house. She looked up and saw him, smiling and staring down at her.

"Oh..." was all she said. The tone she said it in peaked John's curiosity as well. It didn't sound like she just realized something, nor did it sound like she recognized him either. Lost in his curiosity, he missed when she closed the door. When it opened again, it was wide this time. He looked up and saw her, startled by her appearance. Her disheveled hair was gone, replaced by a recently brushed, flat, wave of dirty blonde. The outfit she wore, while pretty commonplace in the wasteland, was recently modified so that the collar of the shirt sunk lower, exposing a small amount of cleavage. He eyed her curiously.

In contrast to her former appearance, she was no longer the timid, fearful woman that she had been on the other side of the door. Now, she was confident, and eying him oddly. "Ma'am?" he asked.

"So, mister not-a-raider. Care to come inside?" she asked. He just nodded dumbly and walked into the small dwelling. It wasn't very bright inside, but it was light enough for his jaw to nearly hit the floor when he walked in. All around the walls were weapons of all kinds. From long-barreled rifles, to pistols, to shotguns, the axes, to an entire table full of grenades, to a chainsaw sitting at the foot of her bed. She walked in front of him as he gawked at all of the equipment. "Like something you see cowboy?" she asked.

He looked down at her, and saw her in a whole new light. No longer was she the suspicious mousy figure that was hiding behind a door. The sudden realization that his previous comment, about having her after blasting the door, had been way off. Had he really busted her door in, he wasn't sure that there would be much left of him afterwards. He just smiled down at her nervously. "Nice collection." he said.

She smirked, and walked off, mock pouting. "Not exactly what I was talking about...but thanks." she said as she sat down on the bed. She patted the mattress next to her, and the gunman walked over and slowly sat down, now suspicious of her.

"Evan sent me to check on you. He wanted to make sure that you were alright, and that you had everything you needed." he said, noticing as she scooted over closer to him.

She gave a very cat-like smile. "Oh, I do now..." she said.

OoOoO

Half an hour after entering the house, the gunman stumbled out of it, his usually uncontrollably spiked hair was now disheveled. Turning around, he looked at the woman now standing in the doorway once more, the smile of a tigress on her face.

"Wow, that was...unexpected." he said.

She nodded. "Enjoyable as well I hope." she said.

He just chuckled. "The unexpected part made it more enjoyable." he said, lighting himself a clover. She immediately stole the last one from the box, then turned and went back into the house.

"Good. Check in on me again sometime mister not-a-raider." she said, then closed the door behind her. He shook his head, almost not believing that the whole occurrence had happened. There were only two more houses. One, he knew was the Wests from what Evan had told him. And the other, he assumed belonged to Mr. King himself. He walked up to the door of the Wests and knocked.

"Hello? Mister West? Misses West?" he shouted through the door. There was no response. He walked over to the side of the highway and looked over the edge, where there was a square window, open to the daylight. He didn't see any movement inside, but saw a curious set of rebar spokes sticking out of the concrete below the house. He returned to the door and pounded on it this time. "Hello!" he shouted, getting impatient. When he determined that no response was forthcoming, he pushed on the door, but it didn't budge. Taking the handle, he slammed his shoulder into it, causing it to move slightly. Pulling back, he threw himself fully at the door. When his shoulder impacted, there was a loud crash from the inside, but the door finally, though reluctantly, swung open as it pushed a large shelf out of the way, knocking whatever was on it onto the floor.

Immediately, the smell assaulted him. The odor of decay slammed into his senses like a sledgehammer, making him immediately turn away from the house. He walked over and leaned over the road guard, just in case he ended up losing his measly lunch of cram. When his gag reflex calmed down, he approached the door again, this time smiling widely.

When he was younger, his dad had allowed him to stand in on an autopsy of an older vault dweller. The old man had passed in his sleep, and as such, hadn't been visited for a good while. When they finally found him, the smell of death had set in, almost choking John when he first saw the body. His father just smiled and ruffled his already spiking hair. "Smile kiddo." he said, in that smooth voice of his.

John just looked up at him bewildered. "Why would I smile?" he asked.

James just smiled down at his fourteen year old son. "Because, when you smile, your gag reflex is suppressed, making it so you don't choke as much." said the doctor as he smiled widely. John looked up at him oddly, then tried it himself. And while the smell, and the sight still repulsed him, it did keep him from gagging.

Now, many years older, and in much different circumstances than with old man Willis, he walked back into the house, a giant grin on his face. He looked around the small apartment. There were two bodies, one female on the bed, and one male on the ground. Both had been horribly mutilated in the throat and facial area. The woman had her arms hanging off the side of the bed, revealing bad bruising on the insides of her arms. Likely, she had tried to defend herself against whatever had done this to them. He walked over carefully, stepping over the body of Lucy's father, then picked up her hand. Examining it carefully using his pipboy light, he confirmed that there were no animal hairs underneath her fingers.

"Humans..." he said as he saw the skin beneath her nails. Letting her hand go, he began to examine the room a little more. Immediately, two things about the scene didn't add up. Ian, Lucy's brother was not among the bodies. He was nowhere to be found. Traces of him could be seen around the room, the old sports magazines next to a pair of bunk beds, a smaller shirt than either the mother or father could wear. But he was nowhere to be seen.

The second thing that clicked in John's head was the lack of blood. The parents throats had been torn out practically, meaning that the jugular would have sent arterial blood spray soaring across the room, painting walls, beds, and furniture with the rich red fluid of life. But there was barely any. Beneath the bodies, there was a small pool here and there, or some drops nearby where the arms had been nicked in the scuffle.

Finally, having all the information he needed from the room, he left, and closed the door again. He just stood there for a moment, the rest of his clover burning out as he stared at the ground, his smile now gone. He tossed the butt of the carcinogenic stick over the edge and began walking with a purpose, straight to where Evan King sat in his chair.

As he approached, Evan went to stand, but John waved him off. "How are they doing?" he asked curiously.

"The Ewers are...interesting, but fine. Miss Schenzy is...more than fine. And the Wests are dead." he said. Evan nodded knowingly, then froze when the words registered in his brain.

"Dead?" he asked. John nodded. "Dead dead?"

"As dead as dead can be. Both of the parents had their throats torn out by someone. As for Ian, he's nowhere to be found." he said, his stomach churning at the implication.

Evan just slumped in his chair. "How? How could this have happened? Nobody got past me..." he said as if questioning his own existence.

"There's a window on the side of the house that lines up with one of the columns holding up the overpass. Whatever did this likely went up that way, climbed through the window, and took Ian the same way. I didn't see his body at the bottom, so I doubt they just threw him out just to kill him. Whoever did it tried to block the doorway so nobody could get inside." said the wanderer as he reached for his clovers. He patted his pockets, then remembered the wild woman stealing his last one.

Evan looked up at him with desperation. "It...it had to be the Family. They had to have done this! Who else could it be?" he asked. "Please, you have to find them and get Ian back. There's no telling what they could do to him." said the older man, who grabbed John's arm desperately.

John sighed and nodded. He didn't like the idea of throwing himself willingly at yet another raider group, but he did seem to have a talent for ending them. "Fine, but I'm going to need a few things before I do. I'm not going to take on an entire group called "The Family" without some assurance that I'm going in well armed." he said.

Evan nodded. "Karen has some weapons, she should be able to help you out." said the old man, who looked at him oddly as the wanderer chuckled. "Why are you laughing?"

"We'll see..." was all the gunman said as he walked back to the single woman's house.

OoOoO

When he had finished 'negotiating' with Miss Schenzy about borrowing some of her weapons, the vault dweller had found himself at the bottom of the column where the rebar spokes started. Looking at the dirt, it was apparent that there were several sets of footprints leading to the northeast. Using his pipboy light sparingly to keep from being seen in the darkness, he kept track of the footprints as he traveled. In his mouth, he now had a cigarette different from his clovers.

The pack that Karen had given to him said 'Yacht Club', and they happened to be smoother, but didn't last nearly as long. Across his back, next to his energy weapon was a short barreled grenade launcher, which she had happily given him ammo for as well. When he finally tracked the prints to their final destination, he found himself at the Northwest Seneca Station. Looking away from the sign, he just walked up to the door inside the concrete like bunker and walked inside. As he walked in, he immediately regretted not being more careful.

He had unknowingly stepped on a tripwire, which sent a small, but compact metal beam crashing into his chest like a battering ram. He flew out of the station, gasping for air and clutching at his ribs, which he swore were at least a few were fractured now. Getting back to his feet, he pulled out another Med-X and dosed himself so that the pain went away. Then he stood again, his breathing still labored, and began to walk down the tunnels that sunk into the earth. He took his time, knowing that more traps were incoming.

He managed to avoid the slew of mines, beartraps, more battering rams, a rigged shotgun, and even a baseball machine as he made his way through the tunnels. He wended his way around train after train that had been derailed due to the bombs, his ears perking as he neared an area of the tunnel that was actually lit. As he approached, he heard the sound of a rocking chair squeaking loudly as its pilot rocked in it.

John peeked around the corner and noticed that the man had his head leaned back against the rest, his eyes closed as he hummed a tune that the wanderer was sure had been on the radio a few days ago. Not missing his chance, the gunman stepped out into the lit entrance area and walked up to the man with his assault weapon forward. The guard, having heard a small noise opened his eyes, expecting to find a radroach skittering around. Instead, he inhaled sharply in surprise as the gun barrel of an assault rifle was shoved into his mouth.

Looking up, he saw the gunman staring down at him darkly. "I'm going to pull this out of your mouth very slowly. When I do, you're going to answer some questions. If you scream, or move wrong, or call out an alarm, you're going to be eating bullets. Nod if you understand me." said the young man. The older man nodded slowly. "Are you going to alert the rest of them if I pull this out?" he asked. The man shook his head. "Good." he said as he slowly pulled the gun barrel out of the mans mouth.

The man gently massaged his jaw before piping up. "Just to let you know, if you intend to hurt the Family, then you might as well kill me now. Because I will try to stop you." he said.

John cocked an eyebrow at the response. "That's not the typical talk I hear from raiders..." he said, slightly amused.

The man sighed and rubbed his head. "That's because we're not raiders..." he said.

John sat on the table, pulling out another Yacht Club. He offered the man one, who turned the offer down. "That's a far cry different than what I've been hearing from Arefu." he said.

The man just shook his head, his dark hair waving with each turn. "I can't speak about Arefu. That's only for Vance to do." he said.

"Is Vance in there?" John asked as he nodded towards the tunnel again.

"He is. He is our leader, and he will speak with you about what happens with Arefu." said the man.

John, Yacht Club cigarette still in his mouth, nodded, then nodded towards the tunnel. "Alright. Let's go." he said, then reached back and pulled the grenade launcher off his back. "I trust you know that if I'm walking into an ambush, a lot of the Family are going to die?" asked the wanderer. The man said nothing, and began walking, John following behind him warily with both his assault rifle and grenade launcher at the ready.

When the pair walked into the cavernous metro station, John immediately began to regret his decision. Around them both were about twenty-five people, all of them armed. If he had to fight his way out, he wasn't going to do so without a few scratches at least. "Lord Vance! We have a visitor!" shouted the man. Everybody in the room froze and turned to look at the pair. John's hope of getting out alive slipped more and more.

"Now now, there is no need for violence in this sanctum." said a man as he approached the pair. He stopped short of the pair with his hands raised, showing that he wasn't reaching for his weapon. "Please lower your weapons. This is a place of peace." he said, his voice both smooth as silk, and as sharp as a dagger.

John looked over at the man. "And what's to stop you from drawing when I let him go?" he asked, his Yacht Club falling from his mouth, now burned out. He spied the man, and felt a chill go down his spine as he did. The man wore black armor with a duster over it, just as he did. However the duster he wore was just as black as the armor, and the straight curtain of hair that fell to his shoulders. His eyes were sharp, and had the deep down look of somebody who would kill ruthlessly if the need arose. His skin was pale, and his friendly smile showed pointed teeth, more than his, and more than any human he had ever known. To top off his dark, creepy aura, he had a black cloak swirling around him as he moved.

The dark figure just smiled and lowered his head respectfully. "If we were such barbarians, then what would the life of one man matter?" said the cloaked man, gesturing to the door guard. "If we were so ruthless, we would not care for his welfare, and would have killed you without remorse." he finished.

A chill went down the gunmans spine at the words, but he knew the man was correct. If he had taken a raider hostage, the other raiders probably would have gunned them both down. One less share of the loot. So, with reluctance, he lowered both of the weapons. A collective sigh resonated in the room as the gunman slung the grenade launcher back over his shoulder, and lowered the assault rifle. "Alright. If you are not raiders, then I would like to speak with Lord Vance." he said.

The dark man grinned and bowed lightly. "And to whom do I owe the pleasure?" he asked. John just looked at him, then mentally slapped himself. He should have known that the leader was standing right in front of him.

The vault dweller just nodded at the figure. "John Ronas." he said. "I came to talk to you about Arefu." As soon as the town name escaped his lips, the dark mans smile vanished.

"As you wish. Follow me please." he said, walking up one of the decommissioned escalators that led to the mezzanine above. The wanderer followed him, knowing that every eye in the room was now firmly on him. Once they were in a small office, Vance closed the door and sat at a desk, staring at the wanderer expectantly. "So, your questions?" he asked.

"Ian West was taken from Arefu following the death of his parents. I'd like to know what, if anything, you had to do with that." said John as he sat in front of the desk and leaned back, trying to relax.

Vance immediately leaned forward. "You are an outsider, but I have heard great things about you." said the man. When John gave him a questioning glance, he continued. "Taking out raider bands, giving clean power to Megaton, and you've fought your way out of more than one frying pan. Given this knowledge, I will choose to trust you with our secret." he said.

"Alright..." was all John had to say. He lit himself another yacht, expecting the information he was about to receive to have a lasting effect.

"To clear the air once and for all, we didn't attack Arefu. We have never attacked Arefu. The raider band that consistently harasses them is a small band living out of Hamilton's Hideaway called the Speed Runners. I don't really know their game, but they might just hit and run to make a name for themselves. Regardless, they are the ones who are shooting their brahmin and houses." he said.

"Alright. And Ian West?" he asked.

"That's another story. Me and my people here are here for a reason. So that we are away from the 'normal people' of society. My people are a people that have been shunned since their dawning, and have been hunted for all of their existence by religious zealots and self-made purveyors of justice." he said.

Immediately, John's mind flew back to the small house. The throats were torn out, and there was no blood pooled on the floor. His brain immediately clicked. "Renfields?" he said quietly.

But the dark leaders ears perked and his face soured. "Don't mock me John. We both know that Renfield's Syndrome is a mental illness, not a physical one." he said, anger lining his voice. "I do not believe I can turn into mist, I don't think that I can fly in the night, nor do I believe that I will live for eternity."

John immediately corrected himself. "Alright, so it is physical?" he asked, puffing heavily on the yacht.

The man stood up, then pulled off the armor that was strapped to his chest. Setting it on the desk, he reached down and lifted his entire shirt off. "Tell me great wanderer, do I look malnourished to you?" he asked. John examined him in awe. The man was muscular beyond what he had accomplished twice over. His arms were corded and cut, and his chest might as well have been carved from stone, from his rock solid pecs down to the eight pack abs that ended at his belted pants. "For ten years now, I have fed off nothing but the water of life, human blood. And it has nourished my body, as was God's intent when he created me."

John just stared in awe at the man before him. If someone else had told him that he would be meeting a living...so to speak...vampire in his lifetime, he'd have brushed them off as being out of their mind. Now, he just sat, staring up at the man. "If that's so, does that mean the Wests have you to thank for their facial reconstruction?" he asked. Despite the word, the tone had no bite behind it.

Vance sat down again, not bothering to recloth himself. "That's where the other half of the story comes into play. As a group, all of the people here have the same craving that I do. We all drink blood to sustain ourselves, and as such, our home is a sanctuary to any who do. Keep in mind, I despise cannibalism, and have ended more than one group of such despicable creatures myself."

John gave him an odd look. "How is cannibalism any different than what you do?" he asked.

Vance shook his head. "I did not choose this." he said, motioning to himself. "It was chosen for me. Brahmin, molerat, mirelurk, even radroach meat gives all the same nutrients as human flesh does, but these people choose to kill and eat their human prey despite this. What I have is something I must live with. I cannot eat regular proteins and glucose, I require blood in order to survive, so I do so. I do not attack innocents and kill them for their blood. The majority of our stores come from raiders who decide that this station is a good home base. The rest is all animal blood." he said, a note of finality in his voice.

John thought for a moment, then nodded. "I see. Your body rejects regular food, but accepts blood as a replacement, gaining nutrients from it instead?" he asked, getting a nod from the man. "Do you suppose that's a mutation of some kind?" he asked.

Vance shrugged. "If it is, it's a very specific one. I don't claim to know myself, but I doubt a mutation that allowed me to drink blood would have also made my canines grow." he said, lifting his lip and a crooked smile and showing his left canine, which was at least a half an inch longer than human standards, and very pointed. "Regardless, we are what we are now. And that's where we come to Ian West." he said, sitting down. "I, even among my kind, am unique, in that I have a talent for sensing our own kind. When we were scouting near Arefu, I had such a feeling."

John's eyes widened. "Ian?" he asked, and the dark man nodded.

"I managed to talk to him a few times when he came down from the city. That was before the Runners showed up and threw dirt on our reputation. But he had mentioned when he was a boy, he had attacked a pet dog they had once and killed it. His sister covered for the boy and buried the dog, and they never spoke of it again. The night that the Wests died, I had the feeling stronger than ever. I knew I had to act, and act quickly if I was to save their lives. Unfortunately, the man...King...wouldn't let me speak to Ian. He wouldn't even let me up the bridge."

The wanderer rubbed his head in frustration. "In trying to protect Ian, he killed the boys parents." he said.

Vance nodded. "Indeed. Using an old trick a friend from bygone days taught me, I managed to sneak up to the house using the side of the highway itself. But by the time I had gotten to the house, it was much too late. They were dead, and he was covered in their blood." he said. His hair swayed mystically as he sighed and shook his head. "I took him then and there so that he would be safe from retribution for his acts."

Finally having the final piece of the puzzle, John nodded. "So he is here, and he's alright?" he asked, more of a rhetorical question. "May I see him?"

Vance sat up straight in his chair. "While I do applaud your open-mindedness and willingness to put violence aside, I'm afraid Ian is at a very critical point in his life right now. He has to make a decision, one that will affect him for the rest of his life. The last thing he needs at the moment is a distraction."

Immediately, John straightened up as well. "And I'm here at the request of the only living family he has left. If a life altering decision is to be made, he should be given every perspective possible so as to make the best decision possible." said the wanderer. Vance looked down at the desk for a few moments, before looking back up at John with his piercing black eyes.

"You are correct. It would be devious for me to not include his sister as a variable." he said, then stood and walked to the door, leaving his shirt and armor where they lay. "Follow me, I'll take you to him." he said.

John stood and followed the man to a closed off room at the back of the metro station. The door had been sealed, and was only accessible once Vance had entered a keycode into the pad next to the door. It popped open in front of him, and Vance grabbed the door and swung it wide for the wanderer.

"Please, visit me again before you leave." said the man. John nodded in acknowledgement and entered the room. He walked through one more door before finding a young boy, maybe fifteen years old sitting on the bed, just staring at his hands. When John entered, the boy immediately looked up, then shot to the rear of the bed, placing his back against the wall.

"Who are you?" he asked, a look of terror on his face. The boy wore peasants clothes at the moment, nothing but ratty shorts, sandals, and what might pass as a potato sack for a shirt. But the most worn down looking feature on him were his eyes. He looked at John with pure fear, his eyes telling the story itself. Everything Vance had said was true, and now the boy thought that his punishment had come in the form of the gunman.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you." he said. The boy eased slightly, but still looked at him suspiciously.

"Then why are you here?" he asked, eying the mans guns.

Trying to smile, and ease the boys tensions, John lifted his hands. "I was sent by Lucy to check on you." he said. The boy visible relaxed, then warped his face in anger.

"Lucy should hate me. Everyone should hate me." he said angrily, hitting the wall with one hand. "I killed them. I'm a monster." he said, burying his head in his knees as tears started to flow again.

"Shut up." said the gunman. The boy almost immediately snapped his head up at the wanderer, surprise covering his face.

"What?" asked the boy, his voice showing the shock.

"Most of my life I've had it easy. I lived in a vault until I was nineteen. The first thing I encountered when I left was a group of people who wanted to cut pieces of me off to hang up for display as a decoration." he said as he took a step closer. "I've been inside a supermarket where more than twenty people banded together to rip out my insides, just so they could hang me on a hook. I've talked with a man who, for a few bottlecaps, wanted me to detonate a nuclear device inside a city of innocent people who want nothing more than to live a simple life. So don't start the whole 'I'm a monster' crap with me. There's a lot of sick people in the wasteland who wouldn't think twice about skinning you or your sister for any other reason than entertainment. You may have fucked up kid, but it wasn't your choice. It wasn't something you decided to do." said the gunman as he crouched down onto his haunches.

"But...I..." was all Ian could get out before John interrupted him.

"You're different. You aren't the same as regular people. But what makes someone a monster is their choices, not shit that they can't control." he said, giving the young man a piercing stare with his green eyes.

Ian stayed silent for a long moment, then nodded. "I...don't really know what to say."

After lighting another yacht, the wanderer blew out a ring of smoke. "I can't tell you not to feel guilty for your parents. But you can't change what happened. All you can do is vow to never let it happen again." he said as he inhaled more smoke. "And if Vance taught you everything he taught me today, then you know how to prevent that in the future, don't you?" he asked.

Ian nodded, a dutiful look now on his face. "I do. He said to prevent the hunger from getting out of control, you have to feed it. So, I have to drink blood. As long as I sustain that, I should be fine." he said.

John just smiled. "And now, you've made the first step toward a new life. Here..." he said, reaching into his duster. He pulled out a small envelope and passed it to the blonde boy. "It's from your sister." he finished, then stood up and walked out of the room. After the visit to Lucy's brother, and getting a hungry eye from a woman wearing rather skimpy skirt and blouse, he made his way back to Vance's office. The man greeted him with a nod.

"Welcome back. How did your conversation go?" he asked.

John just shrugged. "We'll know when he makes a decision." he said. "Now, I wanted to ask, do you have any doctors here?" Vance cocked an eyebrow at him. "Just humor me." he said.

"We do have a former physician that now handles our stores of blood. Why do you ask?" the dark man asked curiously.

"There may be a way you can continue to not have to hunt. How often do you need to feed?" he asked.

"Once every couple of days is fine. We almost never feed daily, unless injury calls for it." he finished. "What's ticking in that brain of yours mister Ronas?" he asked.

"The people of Arefu are attacked constantly, and while it is a fortified position, they really only have two defenders of the town should anyone attack. For it to be a viable settlement, it needs defenders." he said.

"I see...and in return they give us blood?" he asked, catching onto the plan. "Will they accept our help?" he asked curiously.

John nodded. "Once I tell them who's been really terrorizing them, probably. I'm pretty convincing with one of the town members, and the other, as long as Ian is safe, should be fine with it." he said. "Besides, your assistance is going to help Arefu thrive, I believe." said the wanderer.

"Oh?" asked Vance, the ideas of the treaty working through his head at high speeds.

John nodded. "Tell me, in a wasteland full of raiders, thugs, and people who are just outright rude, who wouldn't want to go to a town protected by vampires?" he asked, smiling wolfishly. Vance began to chuckle at the wanderers words. "The more people seeking safety, the more blood gets donated, the less you have to hunt."

"I see your point." said Vance as he began thinking. Finally he looked up and nodded. "If mister King will accept us, then we will happily assist them in the protection of their town." he said. Suddenly, both of them were alerted by someone opening the door to the office. "Ian?" asked Vance as he stood up. "I take it this means you have made your decision?" asked the Family leader.

The blone boy nodded. "I have." he said, then looked up at Vance. "I've decided that I'd like to continue my life in Arefu." he said. Vance let out a disappointed sigh, but nodded.

"As you wish. You know where we are if you ever change your mind." said the dark figure.

Ian nodded. "On top of that, I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me. Everything you've taught me, how to control my hunger, and much more. Thank you. I am eternally grateful." he said, bowing his head respectfully.

Vance smiled, showing one of his large pointed canines. "If our mutual friends master plan works, then we are going to to be seeing a lot more of each other than we initially thought." said the man.

Ian nodded, then turned to John. "And thank you for putting me in perspective. I can move on and truly live now. I'm eternally grateful to you both.

OoOoO

Ian now stood on the overpass to Arefu, overlooking the northeast landscape as the sun sank behind the horizon. All around him stood the other citizens of the small settlement, each of them looking nervous and slightly agitated, aside from Miss Schenzy, who was leaning onto the guard rail with a bored expression.

"Are you sure about this Ian?" asked Evan King as he too watched the landscape.

The young boy nodded with a smile. "Just keep watching." he said as the group of people who had been running towards their overpass got closer. When the leader of the group saw the citizens peeking over the rail, he yelled a battle cry and began to fire into the air. His group mimicked him, all of them increasing their charge speed as they drew closer to fire on the people.

Evan and Kenneth Ewers both backed away from the rail, their fear getting the better of them. Brailee Ewers on the other hand leaned further over. "Oh! Look at them! They must be celebrating something! I bet they have fireworks too!" she said happily. Everyone looked at her oddly, then turned back to the scene.

Soon, the sun sank below the horizon, and darkness covered the sky. As the raiders drew closer, their gunfire masked the noise of a camoflauged blanket flying off. John reached out and grabbed one of the dashing bandits and gripped him in a chokehold as the rest of the men and women of the band continued on, not realizing their comrade had been halted. "What the f-" shouted the man, but a squeeze on his neck shut him up.

The gunman ripped the pistol from his hand and just held him still. "Shhhh...consider yourself fortunate. You get to watch." said the gunman with a smile. Though the sun had set, there was still enough light cascading the sky to illuminate the scene before them. Dark figure stepped out from behind the pillars of the overpass, each one of them shadowed with the tapetum lucidum lighting their eyes like demons. The raiders stopped in their tracks, their speed running halted by the unnerving sight.

Vance stood ahead of the others, his armor and weapons making him practically blend in with the shadows around him. His smile was wide now as he saw the bandits hesitate. "Go my family, and feed." he said. The shadowy silhouettes around him dashed forward with incredible speed and clashed with the bandit group.

Evan watched from above with his eyes wide. "That, is the true Family mister King." said Ian next to him, a proud smile on his face as they watched the raiders fall one by one to the mysterious shadows. Calling it a bloodbath would have been incorrect, because there was very little blood spilled. But the sheer power of the group was a sight to behold.

Evan King looked over at the boy. "And...they agreed to protect us if we donate blood?" he asked, his voice showing both fear and relief. Ian nodded, looking down at the group. Karen gazed down at the slaughter, her boredom apparently sated.

"My my...they are a very lively group aren't they?" she asked curiously.

Meanwhile, the one raider that John held watched the horror of his former comrades getting literally torn apart by the small number of shadowy figures. John leaned down and whispered to the man again. "Now, you're going to tell everyone about this. You're going to share the story of how your entire group was eaten alive by the creatures of the night." said the gunman. Then, John let the man go. After wetting himself thoroughly, the man got back to his feet and ran faster than he ever had with the Speed Runners.

OoOoO

It was a few days later when the gunman finally returned to Megaton. He entered the gate and was immediately greeted by Sheriff Simms, toting his new sniper rifle proudly. The dark skinned man tipped his hat in greeting as the young man walked up to him. But the sheriffs smile didn't last when he saw the look on the vault dwellers face.

"Didn't go as well as you hoped?" asked Lucas. John just sighed and shook his head.

"Her parents are dead. Her little brother Ian is alright. He's safe...but...I don't know." he said, reaching up and lifting the goggles from his eyes long enough to rub them in frustration. "I just don't know how to tell her." he said, his voice exasperated.

Sheriff Simms put a hand on John's shoulder and squeezed. "Don't worry. She's strong." he said, his deep tone conveying his sympathy.

The wanderer just shook his head. "I hope so Lucas. I really do." It wasn't long before he'd find out either. Lucy had been shopping earlier in the day, and as the wanderer returned from the wastes, she spotted him talking to the sheriff. She smiled and waved at him excitedly, holding the small bag of goods she had in one arm. John sighed and bit the bullet, walking over to the blonde girl.

Lucas watched with a heavy heart as the smile slowly disappeared from the girls face as the two talked. He couldn't hear what was being said, but he could quickly see the mood disintegrating. He just shook his head as he saw Lucy fall to her knees with tears pouring down her face, followed by John who began to comfort her. "God damn this hell..." he simply said, then walked on.


	12. Toxicity

OoO( 12 )OoO

For the next few days, John and Lucy had practically shared a room. Every time the gunman left her side, the young blonde felt herself slipping once again, the emotions inside of her flooding out through crying and sobbing. So in order to sleep, whenever the wanderer laid down in his bed, she would sneak in and curl up into his form. He didn't understand why he was the catalyst that seemed to neutralize her gush of emotion, but if it helped her, he didn't mind.

On one such morning, John woke up to her laying with her head on his chest and one arm over his bare stomach. He just let his head fall back and rubbed his eyes gently. He was usually a bit of an active sleeper, always turning and moving in his sleep. With her anchoring him, his body felt a bit sore.

Deciding that it was time to get up, he gently moved himself out of her grasp and slid onto the floor. As he turned to walk out of the room, he was stopped by her voice. "I never did say thank you." she said, her voice shaky.

He just sighed and turned back to her, sitting on the bed. She quickly laid her head in his lap, allowing him to stroke his fingers through her blonde hair. "You'll never have to." he said as he smiled down at her lightly.

"I'm sorry I'm such a burden right now. When I sent you out there, I thought maybe they had gotten sick. I never dreamed that they had died..." she said as fresh tears began welling up in her eyes. He quickly reached back and began to rub her neck to try and soothe her.

Immediately all thoughts of sadness escaped Lucy's head. "Oh god...what is that?" she asked, her eyes closed as his fingers released years of tension from her neck.

John looked at her oddly. "A neckrub? You've never had one before?" he asked incredulously. She shook her head and he chuckled.

She pouted and smacked his leg. "I haven't let a guy touch me since I was old enough to defend myself." she said, letting out a soft moan as his finger pushed into the flesh again.

He smiled, then cracked his knuckles. Hopping onto the bed, he patted his lap. "Sit here, and prepare yourself."

She looked at him oddly as she sat on his bed. "W-What are you going to do?" she asked, unconsciously cover her chest with her arms.

He just chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing inappropriate. I promise that nothing but my hands will touch you, and they will go nowhere you consider private. Deal?" he asked.

She looked like she was giving it some thought, then nodded. Crawling over to him, she sat down in front of him. His hand reached up, guiding her ponytail over her shoulder to keep it out of the way, then sliding up the back of her shirt. She squeaked, but didn't move. Finally, when he found her shoulders, he just smiled.

OoOoO

Gob, with a room next to John now, basked in the glory of his new domicile. The desk was missing a drawer, but it was still more than he had ever had in Moriarty's place. On his desk he had six boxes of the snack cakes stacked into a pyramid, a few Vault-Tec bobble heads that he had managed to get from random caravans over the years, and a lamp. He'd never had a lamp before. His room back in the saloon was dark and dingy. Now, he had his own room with an actual bed instead of a bit of cardboard thrown onto the floor in the corner.

He also had his own desk, with drawers! He could keep stuff in them. Stuff that nobody in the settlement was stupid enough to try and steal. Stuff like...well...he had his extra shirts in there for the moment. But eventually, he would find stuff to put in them.

This morning, he was just lying on his new mattress, eating a snack cake, when he was startled by a loud cry from the next room. He got to his feet and walked into the hallway. Hearing the noise now come from John's door, he walked over and knocked. "You alright in there?" he asked.

"Yes Gob, go away!" shouted Lucy from inside the room, followed by another loud moan.

"Oh...my bad." he said, then went on about his business.

When finally the noises stopped, the door to the room opened and Lucy walked out, a smile that would have lit the room had it not already had adequate lighting plastered across her face. "Sorry about earlier." she said apologetically to the ghoul.

Gob just waved her off. "No big deal. When you live next to Nova for over a year, you tend to get used to the noises." he said. Lucy blushed brightly.

"Oh...we weren't...I mean..." she said, covering her face with her hands. "He just gave me my first back rub." she said.

Gob chuckled, something Lucy had never heard before from a ghoul. "That must have been nice. I remember what they used to feel like." he said with a sigh.

Lucy looked at him curiously. "You haven't had one in a while?" she asked.

The ghoulish man just shook his head. "Who'd wanna touch a ghoul to give them a back rub? Assuming that the person doesn't get a random piece of skin that peals off, there's also the fact that no smoothskin in existence would want to touch a ghoul."

Lucy walked up behind the couch and placed her hands on the ghouls shoulders, then began to rub gently. Immediately, Gob went rigid at the feeling of being touched, but slowly began to relax, his eyes closing. "As long as it's through a shirt, none of the skin should come off. So I don't mind rubbing your back for you." she said, smiling at the soothing effect she was having on the ghoul.

About ten minutes had passed before John came out of his room and looked down from the top of the stairs to see Lucy giving the ghoul a shoulder rub. He just chuckled as he descended. "My god...the epidemic is spreading." he said jokingly. Lucy threw him a dirty look, and Gob just continued laying his head back on the couch with a blissful gaze on his face. "Come on Lucy, I'm going to teach you a few things while I'm still in town. Things that can help you a lot." he said as he walked over and sat in front of the workbench.

The girl stopped her first attempt at a shoulder rub and bowed her head. "Sorry Gob." she said.

The ghoul just shook his head. "You're an angel Lucy." he just said and sighed happily.

Once she sat next to him, John pulled up his old hunting rifle, the one that had been bent sideways during his encounter with the armored soldier. "So, I'm going to teach you about weapons." he said, now setting his 10mm pistol onto the flat surface. "How they work, how to repair them, how they are cleaned, all of it."

Her eyes widened. "R-Really? That's a lot to learn!" she said, a bit overwhelmed. But he just waved her off.

"It's not hard. Once you learn the basics of it, the rest is pretty much just memorizing the weapons. The same principles go into cleaning all weapons, the same as repairs." he said. Starting with the pistol, she smiled at him admiringly, letting her eyes drift down his strong arms.

Since she had first approached him, his attitude, his jovial nature, his smile, everything had startled her. Rarely had she met someone as genuinely caring as him. Sheriff Simms and a few of the townsfolk were nice people, but they had their own lives to live and didn't have much time for her company. But when he came back into town and broke the bad news to her, not only did he try to comfort her, he went to great lengths and probably huge amounts of tolerance in putting up with her mood swings. She just smiled to herself as he deconstructed the weapon, giving her a few small moments to let herself look his muscular form over again.

Suddenly, her thought process halted with a screech. Her eyes, though not as good in the dark as in the bright sun, managed to see a bunch of small track marks along the inside of his arm. She looked up at his tired eyes, then back down at his arm, seeing the bruises lead in a small dotted line up and down the inside of his arm.

"Alright..." he said, finally having disassembled the weapon. She jumped in surprise, then looked over at the workbench, looking ashamed. He just eyed her oddly, then went on about the tutorial. It had taken the greater part of the day to teach her about the pistol, all of its parts, cleaning methods, and part replacement. By the end, she felt comfortable enough with a wide range of pistols, from 10mm, to magnums, to the Chinese made Shanxi Type 17 that John had picked up from a merchant for a hefty price.

After the lesson, she could disassemble any of them at a comfortably slow pace, and clean them. She looked over the newly constructed pistol that she herself had put together. A few of the inside bits had needed to be replaced before it would fire again, but once she had cleaned it all and put the right parts in place, John took the gun from her and loaded it with a tracer round. "Wadsworth, Liberty!" he shouted. Both robots turned towards him. "Deactivate defense protocol for fifteen seconds." he commanded.

"As you wish sah." said Wadsworth as he disabled his reactionary defenses.

"Acknowledged." said Liberty, who now displayed a fifteen second timer.

He now handed her the gun. "Go ahead. Give it a shot." he said with a smile. She looked at him bewildered, her expression questioning. "Better hurry, times running out." he said, pointing to the two robots. She looked over, then panicked and fired the weapon straight up. The tracer round burst from the barrel and bounced off the metal roof, ricocheting around the room several times before Liberty locked sights on it and blasted it to dust with his laser.

When she put her arms down, she realized they were shaking, and her breathing was a lot heavier than it had been. "What's wrong with me?" she asked, examining herself.

"Nothing. That's the first time you've fired a gun isn't it?" he asked. She just looked at him and nodded. "Your system was shocked by the sudden impact, not to mention the noise, and your brain telling you that you're firing a gun. All of it added together causes your body to release adrenaline, which makes you run faster and fight harder. Eventually, you get used to the adrenaline, and can make it work for you. But at first, your body shakes, you're skittish, even paranoid, and your breathing picks up making you take in more oxygen." he said. "I was the same way when I had to shoot my way out of the vault." he said as he cleaned up the spare parts on the workbench.

"Wow...it's...exhilarating!" she said, now feeling the adrenaline pumping through her. He chuckled and patted her on the shoulder.

"Nobody should be allowed to sell or repair weapons without having fired one. So now you have. Tomorrow, we can start on rifles before I head out for GNR." he said, stretching his form. She once again let her eyes drift to admire his muscular self. Finally, she just leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. He was a bit surprised, but just smiled and put an arm around her.

OoOoO

"So wait...you want me to what?" asked John as he stared at Moira questioningly.

The shopkeeper just smiled. "I need ya to get some radiation poisoning. We need to study the effects of radiation on the average human!"

"I'm already irradiated! We both are! Why do I need to poison myself for the study?" he asked incredulously.

She just shrugged. "It's only a little bit of poisoning." she said, pouting slightly. John just sighed and rubbed his forehead, wiping the sweat from it. His head had started hurting again and he was currently out of Med-X to help take the edge off.

"I'll...see what I can do. But without literally bathing in the Potomac for a full day I'm not exactly sure what you expect me to do. I can't exactly take a mini-nuke to the face and just absorb it into myself. Plus, if I were to go out and get radiation poisoning for you, who's to say that I could make it back?" he asked.

"You're a tough guy, you can make it just fine." she said, her smile never wavering and showing her undeniable confidence in the wastelander.

John just smacked his palm to his face and sighed. "You said that you can at least get rid of it for me right?" he asked.

The shopkeeper nodded happily. "I can do it myself! Once I get enough samples off you of course.I have a bit of history in working with DNA repair." she said happily.

John eyed her, his irritation now far surpassed by the horror of this woman tinkering around in someones genetics. The gunman just agreed, then walked out of the shop with an exasperated sigh. As he left the establishment, he bumped into Nova, who had just come from the diner. "Oh...hey." he said as he smiled at her.

"Hey stud. Things good?" she asked curiously, her usual cat-like smile playing across her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said, rubbing his head again, even more sweat wiping off.

Nova gave him an examining look. "You don't look alright...it's almost sunset and you're sweating like crazy." she said as she stepped up and felt his forehead.

"I'm fine!" he snapped. She immediately back off, a stunned look on her face. John sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Sorry about that. I've just got this really bad pain in my head." he said. "I think I need to see the doctor..."

She stepped closer to him again. "Wait..." she said. She felt the cold sweat on his skin, then raised her hand and opened his eye wide. "You're dilating! John, what the hell? Are you pumping?" she asked.

His breathing picked up even more as he looked down at her confused. "What the hell does pumping mean?" he asked. Then his mind started spinning. "I think I need to sit down..." he said, then suddenly fell over, the lights of the small settlement swirling all around him as he faded out quickly.

OoOoO

When John woke up, his eyes were wide open. He couldn't move his arms and legs, nor his head. But all around him he saw fire. It covered the earth in all directions, a raging inferno that swallowed the very air he was breathing. Suddenly, as if it noticed that he was awake, the fire slowly started crawling across the ground towards him. He tried yelling, but that only spurned the fire on.

But his eyes widened in horror when he saw that the flame wasn't just a wildfire that had been set loose. It was a group of creatures. He looked at the fire all around him and saw it. Eight legs, huge abdomens, grinding teeth. He was looking at an army of millions of spiders, all of them with their numerous horrifying eyes shining as the flames danced around their bodies. He tried to move, struggling against the invisible forces that held him down, but they swarmed his body. He yelled for his life, but that only made it worse as they swarmed into his mouth and down his throat.

Lucy, Gob, Nova, Lucas, and Doc Church all sat in John's room as they watched in both horror and fascination. John, at the behest of Doc Church, had been secured to his bed using several leather belts, making sure that he couldn't hurt himself or anyone else.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Lucy, who had a terrified look on her face.

Lucas shook his head. "Too much shit in the wasteland. People get hurt. To stop the pain, you take Med-X." he said.

Nova continued where he left off. "Despite his build, he was pretty soft coming out of the vault. He didn't grow up out here after all." said the woman as she continued to watch.

Lucy looked between them both. "The Med-X is killing him?" she asked.

Doc Church shook his head and responded. "He used too much Med-X in too short a time. His body began to rely on it. The brain is a fucked up thing when you think about it, because if he stopped taking the stuff, his body began to put him through the works until he used it again. Now, he's been about forty eight hours without any. His body is in pain without the drug, and because of that he's hallucinating." he said.

"GET THEM OFF!" shouted John as he heaved against the restraints again. "PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP!" he cried, then fell back to the bed and continued the horrifying screams as his worst nightmares appeared before his very eyes and began to consume him.

"What's he hallucinating about?" Lucy asked. She knew her father had had addiction problems back in Arefu. He was a Jet fiend though. His biggest troubles were that he couldn't sleep, and the occasional money problem, which was why Lucy was in Megaton in the first place.

"Most junkies on their first exit from the lifestyle end up with spiders. Millions and millions of spiders, crawling all over you." said the doctor as he continued watching.

"Please! Can't we help him?" she asked desperately as she looked from one person to another. But they all just shrugged.

"The best thing we can do for him is let him sweat this out of his system. Once it passes, he'll be better." finished the doctor.

Lucy just glared at them all, then pushed past them. Lucas reached out to grab her, but she shrugged him off. "Lucy, don't! He could kill you!" said the man.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, giving him a deadly glare. Simms immediately backed off. She turned back to John who had tear streaks down the sides of his face, burn marks on his arms where he strained against the bed, and was now covered in sweat. She got onto the bed with him and straddled him gently, resting her hands on his chest, before leaning forward and laying her head over his rapidly beating heart.

She began to hum a tune as she laid there, while John still bucked and jerked at the restraints. But everyone in the room did start to notice the young wanderers breathing slow. After a few minutes of the soothing therapy, the young man just lay there, cringing with his eyes closed. When he stopped flailing, Lucy spread herself out over his form, her humming now evolving into a soft song.

"Shine...bright morning light,  
Now in the air the spring is calling.  
Sweet, blowing wind.  
Singing down the hills and valleys."

She continued to sing to him, his expression changing from a tortured soul to a slightly agitated one. The others in the room just looked on in awe. "Well, I'll be goddamned." said Doc Church as he stood up with the assistance of his cane.

"It actually worked..." said Nova, unbelieving.

Doc Church leaned down and whispered to Lucy. "Make sure when he wakes up, he gets some water. He's sweated a lot out of his system and he'll need to stay hydrated in order to beat this."

She just nodded, and continued her low singing.

"Keep, your eyes on me,  
now we're on the edge of hell.  
Dear my love, sweet morning light.  
Wait for me, you've gone much farther. Too far."

She continued to sing him back from his hell as the sun sank behind the horizon and the darkness swallowed the world once more.

OoOoO

When the nightmares finally ended, John opened his eyes slowly. The dim light of the lamp in his room stinging his eyes, despite its low wattage. He felt tired, drained, as if he was an empty husk of a human that was lost in limbo. The first thing he noticed was that his throat was extremely dry. Coughing gently, he looked around for where he usually kept a spare bottle of water. There were several now sitting on the small table next to him.

He tried to reach up and grab one, but his arm wouldn't move. As a matter of fact, he couldn't even feel his arms. Looking down, he was surprised to see the young blonde girl laying on top of him, snoring gently. He peeked around her to find that his arms were secured to the metal frame of the bed with thick leather belts.

"What the fuck?" he asked, letting his head fall against the mattress again.

Lucy must have heard the comment, because she immediately woke up and looked up at him. Lifting herself off of his form, as if reading his mind, she reached out and grabbed one of the bottles of water and cracked it open. He quickly leaned up as much as he could, allowing her to pour some of the sweet, somewhat cool, life-giving liquid into his mouth. He gulped it down quickly, almost choking, before the woman rubbed his back gently, calming him down.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, his voice still showing his exhaustion.

She reached down, unbuckling both of his arms from the bed, then began rubbing the feeling back into them. "They said it was Med-X. You used too much, too fast, so your body got too used to it. And when you stopped taking it after getting back, your body craved it, and started suffering without it." she said, her fingers avoiding the track marks on his arm as she continued rubbing the circulation through his limbs again.

John just stared at the ceiling. "I...was addicted?" he asked. She nodded, and his mind drifted a bit, remembering each and every time he'd had a pain in his head, he pulled out another Med-X. After hearing her words, he realized that the head pain itself might have been caused by the addiction, telling him to feed himself more and more of the drug. "What the fuck...?" he asked, less of a question and more of a statement of exasperation.

She looked down at him, her own tired eyes now smiling. "You were having nightmares. The doctor said that usually, the first time someone breaks a habit like this, they dream about spiders swarming all over them." she said. He just nodded. She chuckled, which got her an odd look from the gunman. "I probably would have died from fright right there. Spiders terrify me." she finished.

He chuckled at the girls childish fear, then reached up and pulled her down so that she was laying on him again. "Thank you Lucy, for being here..." he said with a sigh.

"The doc said that as soon as you're awake, you should come see him. He said he had something that could help with the withdrawal effects." she said, looking up at him.

He nodded. "Guess I better go find him then. Thanks again." he said, before leaning down and kissing her forehead, making her giggle.

OoOoO

When John finally stumbled into the doctors clinic, he saw Doc Church sitting on the desk, with his cane in his hands as usual, and another man sitting on the surgical table. Both of the figures looked over at the gunman as he approached the white haired doctor.

"Ah, there he is. Good to see you moving again." said the old man as he walked over and pointed to a chair. "Sit." he commanded. John walked over, sitting and allowing the doctor to hook up an IV to his arm. The gunman quickly realized that he was being eyed by the man sitting on the table.

"Haven't seen you around here. Just come to Megaton?" asked the wanderer.

The doctor chuckled. "Actually, you two have met before. But the last time you saw him he looked like a tomato that had been used as a soccer ball."

Recognition finally dawned on John as he looked at the man again. The swelling had mostly vanished from the mans face, though he still had a cut here and there. But now that he had a clear view of the mans features, his memory kicked in, causing him to recognize the figure immediately.

"Yeah...I was pretty messed up when I came in. If it wasn't for the doctor here and a few volunteers, I'd probably be radscorpion food by now." said the man as he looked at the ground. John eyed the man, wishing he had brought any firearm with him.

"So, what's your name?" asked the vault dweller.

The man thought for a moment before answering. "Michael. My name is Michael." he said, his now shorter hair having been cut since his surgery.

John cocked an eyebrow at him. "You hesitated for a second." he pointed out.

The man nodded. "I...want to be honest with everyone. I used to be a raider, and used to go by the name Dozer." he said. John nodded, and the man continued. "It was given to me by the gang for how easily I could..." he said, then stopped.

John chuckled. "Plow?" he asked, knowing the innuendo for what it was.

The man nodded slightly. "I was very popular among the women. But..." he said and released a heavy sigh. "I'm no longer that person. I have been reborn in the light of the Archangel. As such, I will no longer need such a filthy name." he said.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Archangel?" asked John as he felt the cool liquid from the IV finally start to pump into his system.

Michael nodded. "I was at Super Duper Mart with the gang that made its home there. The...Chainspikes...Spikechains...whatever. As I was there, I heard a loud explosion from inside the store while I was...bulldozing." he said, looking away in shame. "When I went to check on it, the entire store was consumed in fire, and everyone was dead. They were taken apart by a single figure bearing a sword of fire in one hand and a rifle in the other." he said, his voice upping in scale as if he were preaching from a pulpit.

John stared at him in shock. "A sword of fire?" he asked.

Michael nodded with a smile. "A blade of fire. He had fire in his eyes as well." he said, tapping his temple. "Even when my...err...partner came out and tried to kill him, he destroyed her before she could fire off a round. It was the single most glorious, and terrifying thing I have ever seen. For some reason, the Archangel let me go. He didn't kill me, despite my sinful ways. So, as terrified as I was, I ran. I ran until I ran into the rest of the Spikechains... or Chainspikes...or whatever. They found me and grabbed me. I tried to tell them that they would die if they were to go back, but they went anyway. I told them he'd kill them and they didn't believe me! Why didn't they believe me!?" the man cried out in frustration.

John just looked away awkwardly. He was there, doing the job for Moira, and trying to save his own ass, while making his own job easier. He didn't expect from that one explosion he'd get a reputation as a holy figure. But he turned back to the man and continued his questions. "What happened after you told them?"

"They beat me senseless. Then my former leader put a bullet in my back after calling me a coward." he said sighing, then cleared his throat. "Not to be vain or petty, but I heard from the good doctor here..." at this, John snorted, which got him a middle finger from Doc Church. Michael looked between them both, then continued. "The doctor told me that the gang had indeed been wiped out, down to the last man. So I guess they now have judgement in the Lord's eyes awaiting them." he said.

Doc Church just started chuckling in his deep voice. Both of the men in the clinic looked at him as he stood up with his cane and walked over to John. "You know the procedure when you're finished here. You aren't allowed to go anywhere until I see that this shit is out of your system for good." he told the man. John looked outraged as the doctor turned to Michael. "You're free to go when you like." he said, then walked to the door, still laughing loudly at the situation.

"He's a very strange man." said Michael as his eyes lingered on the door. Then he turned to John, a curious look in his eyes. "So...how about you? What do you do here?" he asked.

John looked at him with surprise. "I...don't really know. I...get things done for people I guess." he said, scratching his hair. He had never really thought about what he did, or what title it would hold. He just strove to make the wasteland better.

The mans curiosity perked. "So, if I were to ask you if you could find something for me, you'd do it?" he asked. John shrugged.

"It depends really. If you want a vintage brandy of the 1900's, or a working car, then I'm afraid I don't really have the time or resources to put into a search like that. But, if you need something that you know the location of, or that I can easily find in my travels, then I'll definitely keep an eye out for it and bring it back." he finished.

The man set his chin in his hand and nodded, thinking to himself. Then, he looked up at John. "I would like you to find me a Bible." said Michael.

John cocked an eyebrow, then thought about it for a moment. "I don't think that's too tall of an ask. I'll keep an eye out for one." said John, looking up at the mans now grateful expression.

"Thank you! It would mean much to me." he said bowing his head respectfully.

"So, what do you plan to do now that your raiding days are over?" asked the wanderer as he lit the last yacht club in the pack.

"I'm...not sure. I'd like to get by just telling my story. But I'm not sure if that'll go over well here, what with the Children of Atom." he said. "I'd really like to stay here. Just thinking about going into the wastes again haunts me, but I'd prefer to be somewhere where I can spread the word." he said, his tone a bit disappointed.

John nodded. "This is a free city. Though you may have some verbal scuffles with the Children of Atom, you are just as free to preach here as they are. And if they have an issue with it, then they can have a word with me." said the wanderer.

The man looked at him, then smiled and bowed his head. "Thank you...I didn't expect such kindness from someone here, especially since I used to be a raider." he said. "Perhaps you can also find me a place where I may conduct my preaching?" he asked, his expression showing he was hopeful, but not expecting a miracle.

John chuckled lightly. "If I were you, I'd take some time to look around town. Confessor Cromwell stands at the bomb because he was called to it. You may have a similar experience." he finished. He looked up and saw the last of the fluids from the IV drain into him. Sitting up, he pressed a cloth to the puncture site and slid the needle out of his skin. Once he was free from the tubing, he stood up and cleaned the site, before wrapping the cloth around it. "So...have you seen this Archangel since the Super Duper Mart?"

Michael looked at him oddly. "I...don't know what you mean." he said, a confused expression masking his face.

"You know that it was likely a real person right?" John asked.

The man shook his head defiantly. "No, I saw fire in his eyes, quite literally. And I know when I've seen a shishcabob...or whatever those damn things are called. This was no machine. It was a blade, and it was made of flames." he said.

John shrugged and headed for the door. "Just thought I'd ask." he said. "In any case, find me around when you find a place to stay. That way I know where to bring your book to." he said, getting a nod from the man. When John left the clinic, he just chuckled and shook his head. "Who am I to shatter his dreams?" he asked nobody in particular.

When he made it back to his house, he plopped down on the couch and just leaned back with a sigh. "How'd it go?" asked a female voice from above. John opened his eyes and looked at the girl, who's hair now draped down around her face instead of being tied into a ponytail. His eyes widened slightly, never having seen her hair down before.

"He just gave me some fluids to flush everything out. I'm probably going to be going to the bathroom quite a bit over the next week." he said with a chuckle. "Ended up meeting a curious ex-raider too. He said that the Archangel of God scared him out of Super Duper Mart last week."

Lucy came down the stairs and eyed him curiously. "Isn't that where you went last week?" she asked. He just nodded. "So...he thinks you're some kind of angel of death?" John nodded once again. Lucy chuckled sat next to him on the couch with his hunting rifle. "If only he knew you were actually a giant teddy bear." she said, nudging him with her elbow.

He chuckled and nuzzled into her shoulder, looking down at the rifle in her hands. "Going hunting?" he asked.

She flapped her hand at him. "No no, I took it apart while you were gone to see the differences. So far it looks like the only thing that needs replaced is the barrel. Everything else looks like it's in good condition." she said. He pulled away and cocked an eyebrow.

"A case of the student surpassing the master huh?" he asked jokingly. She eyed him sternly.

"Oh please. You could probably do this blindfolded. Not to mention there are still many parts in here that I have no clue as to what they do." she said, leaning the bent rifle against the couch. "So, what's in the day planner?" she asked as she now held his energy weapon, cleaning the dirt and grime from the wasteland from its outside.

"Hungry...you hungry?" he asked, his head turning towards her as it leaned back on the top of the couch.

"I could eat." she said simply, a small flush starting to creep over her face. He looked at her curiously as she turned away. "I...I've never had a guy ask me out to dinner before." she said simply.

He tried, but he failed. He knew from experience with Amata that laughing when a girl revealed something about herself to a guy she trusted was never a good thing. In fact, in the list of all the bad things you could verbally do to a girl you liked, that was among the worst. It had gotten him mean look and not being talked to for a week back when he was twelve. But this time, he got his toes smashed by the butt of his large energy weapon.

His foot flew up onto the couch, where he clamped his hands around the throbbing appendages, his face squished in a mask of pain. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! What was that for!?" he asked incredulously.

She just glared at him. "We both know what that was for." she said, laying the large weapon in her lap and continuing to clean it again. After a long awkward silence, she looked over as he chuckled again.

"My bad. Sometimes I'm a bit thick when it comes to sharing." he said, rubbing the soreness out of his toes. "I've been stuck in a vault my entire life, where everybody knows everything about everybody. Secrets are rarely kept quiet for long." he said. She nodded, chuckling herself.

"No worries. So, are you going to take me out, or not?" she asked.

"Depends on if I can walk." he said, avoiding another glare sent his way. He stood and wiggled the digits, then grabbed his shirt and pulled it on over his head. Reaching down, he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Well, let's go then." he said, leading her out the door.

A couple minutes later, and both of them were sitting at a stool in front of the small bar at the Brass Lantern. Jenny Stahl was currently cooking some meat for them on her small improvised grill that she had put together. "So kid, heard you had a rough night last night." said the older woman as she turned to the pair.

John nodded, a bit uncomfortable about everyone in the town knowing about his episode. "Yeah...hopefully that will be the last time." he said.

"I hope so. It's a tough thing to fight." she said, her face revealing that she had some experience in that kind of situation. But her face softened again as she slapped the meat onto a pair of plates. "Either way, I'm glad to see you back on your feet. And I hope that this kind of hurdle doesn't stop the Archangel from doing his good deeds in the wasteland." she said with an amused smirk.

John looked up at her, an expression of shock on his face. He stared at her for a long moment before sighing and burying his face in his hands. "How many?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "How many what?" she asked.

"How many other people know about the whole Archangel thing?" he questioned, his voice grumbling, which sent Lucy into a fit of giggling. His glare only made her giggle more.

"Oh, I'd say about...somewhere around...the whole city." said Jenny. She reached back into her now cooling refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of something, then spread it over the meat in front of them. "Funny thing is, the poor guy genuinely believes he saw an angel. No matter how many people tell him that what he saw was you, he refuses to believe it." she said, pushing the plates towards them.

He just sighed and looked at her between his fingers. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Bad, because he's now delusional, or good, because he doesn't think I'm some kind of divine being." he said as he set in to eating his plate of meat.

"So mister Archangel, care to pay for my dinner." asked Lucy, an innocent, dreamy look on her face.

"Keep making fun of me and I'll kick that adorable tush back to the house." he said, sending both women into laughter. When the meal was finished, they both sat at the counter drinking a cold beer and chitchatting with Ms. Stahl and Maggie, who had come by for dinner.

But the talking stopped when Sheriff Simms approached them. "Hey John, I've got something on the radio that you need to hear." said the man as he nudged the wanderer with his elbow.

John turned and looked at him curiously. "What is it? Did this president Eden guy have a kid or something?" he asked cheerfully. But his face turned serious when he saw that Lucas was far from kidding. "What is it?" he asked.

"You should listen to it yourself. It's broadcasting now, so you should be able to pull it up on your pipboy." he said. John nodded, then started to scan through the frequencies on his pipboys radio. Almost immediately, he found the signal, and it started playing again.

 _"I repeat, this is Defender Morrill with the Outcasts, reporting from an outpost in Bailey's Crossroads. We are looking for anyone in the Capital Wasteland who may have a specific piece of Vault-Tec equipment called a Personal Information Processor. If you happen to have one of these devices, meet us at the Bailey's Crossroads. And if you manage to catch one of the live broadcasts, hail us back on this frequency."_

After the broadcast ended, it started at the beginning again. John shut the radio off and looked up at Simms. "Do you know when they broadcast live?" he asked.

"The last broadcast before that one was live. It sounds like they do it about every hour or so. If you keep an ear on it, you can probably listen for them. But..." he said, a look of concern on his face. "Are you going to go to them?"

John looked the sheriff over curiously. "You seem concerned. Is there something I should know about these Outcasts?" he asked.

Lucas shrugged. "They've never crossed my path before. But I've heard from a few friends of mine that they're not that great of people. They have a mission, and if their mission leads to saving you, they'll do it. But if it goes through you, they'll have no problem removing you as an obstacle." said the sheriff.

"So, let's say they wanted my pipboy here..." said John, tapping on the computer on his arm.

"They'd more than likely kill you and take it off you." Lucy eyed the two as they stopped talking, letting the thought sink in.

"So don't help them." she chimed in. They both looked at her, John smiling and Lucas chuckling. "What?" she asked huffily.

"I like the attitude." said John he leaned over towards her. She elbowed him in the side playfully.

"They promised a reward on the live broadcast. And a reward from the Outcasts could be something big." said the sheriff, scratching his chin. "They're a bunch of tech hoarders, so it could be something good. But then again, is it worth the risk that they might end up hacking your arm off?" he asked.

John thought about it for a moment. "The doc said I'm not to do anything strenuous for a while. So I'll need to discuss with them exactly what it is they want me to do. We'll see what I can work around then." he said. Lucas nodded.

"Alright, just be sure that whatever you do, take precautions." he said. They nodded to each other, then Lucas was off once again, his sheriff duster swirling as the wind picked up.

"How are you going to get there if you can't do anything strenuous?" asked Lucy in a concerned undertone that John didn't miss.

"I'll have to hire someone to take me. Or have them come here and get me." he said, thinking about it as he puffed on a cigarette known as a Square that Jenny had given him. "I guess I'll have to talk to them and find out." he said, then turned to her with a smile. "Come on, let's go home."

An hour later, John sat with his pipboy radio set to the radio frequency of the Outcasts and waited. He had already heard the looped message a few times, the monotonous message making him twitch every time he heard it. But after about ten minutes of the unending looped message, a human voice finally came from the pipboy.

 _"This is Defender Morrill. If you're hearing this, I ask you to respond to the message you've heard. The Outcasts are looking for someone with a Vault-Tec created Personal Information Processor, and are willing to reward anyone who comes forward with any knowledge of where to find one, or if they have one themselves. If anyone hears this, please respond."_ said the voice.

"Defender Morrill, this is John Ronas, talking to you over said Vault-Tec pipboy version 3000. I wish to discuss with you the terms of my journey to the Bailey's Crossroads Metro."

The voice was silent for a long moment. _"Alright Mr. Ronas. Where are you radioing from?"_ asked the Outcast.

"Defender, if I told you that, there's a possibility that I might never see the light of day again. So instead, why don't you tell me what you need me to do, so I can decide if I am capable." he said.

Again, the radio was silent for a long moment. Then the voice popped up again. _"Alright Mr. Ronas, here's what we need..."_

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** A shoutout to anyone who can name the song without looking it up. :D Enjoy everyone! And don't worry, if you know anything about Fallout 3, you know there will be much more action in the next chapter.


	13. Meeting Halfway

OoO( 13 )OoO

For the rest of the day, Lucy and John had stayed indoors, enjoying each others company and staying out of the hot ball of dayfires presence. Gob had been at work most of the day, and the rest of Megaton went about its business.

Billy and Maggie sat at the Brass Lantern, chowing down on dinner and talking amiably with Jenny Stahl, when Maggie squeaked in surprise. Billy looked over curiously and saw the small form of an Enclave eyebot floating towards them. "The hell?" was all Billy really asked.

"What is that?" asked the young girl.

Jenny looked up as well, noticing the neutral ò_ó face that it had displayed on its frontal screen. She chuckled at how uniquely animated the small bot was. "That's Liberty. He's kind of John's guard dog." said the sandy blond woman.

"Wow! Really?" asked Maggie as she eyed the floating bot. Billy, though amused at Maggie's sense of wonder, kept an eye on the robot. He still wasn't too sure about the small, aggressive automaton. Maggie stood up on her stool and waved to the little robot. "Hi Liberty!" she said happily.

The mechanoid turned to her. "Greetings citizen. What can the defender of democracy do for you today?" asked Liberty in his still deep, aggressive tone.

Maggie smiled wider when the robot talked to her. "He does talk! Can you change your face?" she asked.

"Indeed citizen. My display screen is functional as a map, a social interface for citizens such as yourself, an egg timer, and motivator for the soldiers and terror for the red scum." he said, his face changing to the waving American flag again.

Maggie seemed awed by the small robotic creature. Billy just looked at it oddly. "Is it...actually talking to us? That doesn't sound like a normal robot..." he added. "Liberty, are you a robot?"

"I am an artificial mechanical intelligence, created from the combination of Enclave surveillance technology, and Rob Co. Industry software, reprogrammed by the communist known as John Ronas."

Billy scratched his head. "What I mean is, do you think?" asked the wastrel curiously.

"I have the cognition and ability to make judgement calls should the need arise, and I have the ability to learn and adapt to my surroundings." said the small robot. His American flag face changed back to the neutral ò_ó face. Billy sighed in contemplation and looked at the robot. "You wish to know if I am capable of the higher process of sentience?" it asked. Billy nodded. "I am a sentient creature with the capability to do as I please. I was programmed with subroutines, what you humans may call a conscience. These act as a deciding factor in all future decisions. Worry not communist dog. I enjoy the company of peaceful people, and fight to protect such life from those who would take democracy from the people."

"But how long will that last. Don't machines usually end up turning on humans?" asked Leo Stahl as he walked out of the Brass Lantern. There was a bit of a slur in his speech, making Jenny turned away in irritation.

Liberty turned to the figure. "Everyday humans war against one another, rip each others bodies apart, and hang said parts from hooks as decorations. You wish to know if I am capable of turning on humans? Of course I am. With sentience comes choice. And I choose to side with peace, and the elimination of those who would disturb peace." it said as it floated closer, it's face changing from neutral to the more accusing =_=. "The question could be asked, if you are capable of such as well, why should the citizens of Megaton not be afraid of you?"

Leo looked away uncomfortable. "I...would never kill anyone." said the man.

"But you have the capability, especially with the traces of amphetamines currently in your system, which lowers social restraints and eliminates a lot of thought higher thought processes from firing." said the robot accusingly. "Are we to assume that because you are capable of killing, and you are lessening yourself with recreational drugs, that you are less capable of killing than I?"

Leo just shook his head, then went back inside the restaurant. Billy then took up the line of questioning. "Apologies if my question was offending. I was just curious because of your manner of speech. When you talk about killing all communists, then call your creator a communist, it kinda creates tension." said the eye-patched man.

Liberty's face changed back to normal. "Confusion is understandable. Part of the subroutines that gave me a conscience, also gave me this personality template. But be aware that the distinction is very clear to me."

At that point, Maggie decided to chime in. "Can you make this face?" she asked, sticking her tongue out. The small bot turned to her, then his expression changed again to an upright :P. Maggie giggled hysterically, and even Billy and Jenny joined in on the laughing.

"What is this establishments purpose?" asked the small robot.

"It's for serving food." Maggie said. The robot looked down at her questioningly. "Oh...ummm...human refueling station?"

"Ah, excellent. Nourishment for young citizens is what makes America strong!" said the small bot, making Maggie giggle madly again.

OoOoO

John had decided that a long nap was in order before he ended up traveling halfway across the wasteland, especially considering his recent condition. He had Doc Church in his home, monitoring him for a little while before okaying him for walking. But the older man eyed the wanderer sternly. "No fighting, no running, no lifting. Nothing that could make you fall into a seizure and start hallucinating again. You might not come back this time." he said as he left the young mans house.

The rest of the night, he slept heavily, with Lucy again laying next to him while snuggled into his side. When he awoke, he began to pack his gear, slinging the energy rifle over his back, as well as a shotgun that he had grown to like, and Miss Schenzy's grenade launcher.

Lucy had awoken with him and eyed him warily. "I thought the doc told you to take it easy." she said.

He looked at her and chuckled, reaching down to ruffle her messy blonde hair. "This is the Capital Wasteland dear. Where even easy is a pain in the ass. Besides, I'd rather be strained and alive, then not prepared and dead." he finished as he pulled his pack of supplies onto his shoulders.

"Who's taking you?" she asked questioningly.

John grimaced at the thought. "The Outcasts are going to meet us halfway. Until then, I've paid Jericho a sum of caps to keep the bullets off me should they come flying." he said, then turned back to her. "I'll be gone for a few days. So, take care of Wadsworth and the house for me, alright?" he asked.

The tone in his voice made her smile widely. "Don't worry, I will." she said, standing up and hugging him through his thick duster. What she didn't expect though was when he spun her and kissed her fully on the lips. Her face immediately turned bright red, but instead of flailing or pushing away from him, she just practically melted in his arms, her own wrapping around his neck to pull him closer.

When finally they pulled away, John just put his head against hers and smiled. "Oh, and be sure to feed Gob some snack cakes. He gets irritable if you don't." She began giggling like a lunatic, both from the joke, and from the fact that she was so high on oxytocin that she felt like she could fly. Finally, he turned away and walked out the door.

"'Bout fucking time." said the man waiting outside the door. "I got shit to do kid. If you wanna play hide the sausage, do it on someone else's time."

"Jericho, if I wanted you to open your mouth I'd toss a dog treat off the catwalk. Until then, my caps are buying your gun, and you aiming it. Not you running your mouth." said John as he walked past the man towards the front gates.

Jericho stopped for a moment, stunned to silence. Then he began laughing loudly. "I fucking like you kid. You got guts to shit talk to one who's gonna be watchin' your back."

John just turned and smiled as they both exited the gates. "Oh, you'll keep watching my back. Otherwise, Simms will be more than happy to take my caps elsewhere should I not return." This earned the wanderer a glare.

"I don't like people fucking around with my money." said the ex-raider as he lit a Square and puffed on it heavily.

"No offense Jericho, you seem like a nice guy and all, but I don't trust you. I wouldn't trust you to cook my food properly, let alone with a gun to my back. So forgive me, but I'm ever the one with foresight. If you fuck me, and put a bullet in my back out here, Simms puts a bullet in you. If you lead me to the Outcasts and I radio the okay, you go back and get your caps. Then you can crawl back into whatever bottle you want." said the wastelander as he pulled the long range energy weapon off his back.

Jericho just cocked an eyebrow and a small smile. "I like the way you do business kid. But what if someone else caps you out there?" he asked.

"Then why would you get paid?" asked John as he shrugged. The pair of them left the gates of Megaton and headed south.

Jericho cleared his throat and drank from a bottle that he pulled from his own pack. "Cost of doing business huh?" he asked, getting a nod. "Sounds like fun. Besides, I know you aren't any pushover yourself Mr. Archangel." said the ex-raider, who smiled widely when John glared at him.

The pair traveled together for almost a full day in silence before they decided to make camp for the night. Neither of them wanted to use a fire, so they just bundled up in their thick coats and sat with their backs to a stone ridge, watching out in front of them for any sign of movement. They made a meal of roasted iguana, then set about their watches. John kept watch first, his high powered rifle in his hands as his green eyes scanned the darkened landscape.

Hours had passed without incident, leading to him waking up the snoring raider for his watch. Jericho, upon waking up, immediately went for his bottle of whiskey from the pack he had brought along. When John saw the move, he just shook his head. "Try not to get so torched that you pass out."

"Fuck you. I aim better when I'm drunk." said the man as he swilled down some of the fiery liquor. John laid on his side, his gaze facing the same way as when he was on guard. But sleep found him quickly.

After what felt like a whole ten seconds of snoozing, he felt Jericho pulling on his boot. Waking up, he looked up at the ex-raider. "What is it?"

"We got a group heading straight for us." said Jericho as he held his assault rifle at the ready. John pulled up his own weapon and aimed down the scope to see who was approaching.

"Mr. Ronas, if that's you, I advise you not to aim your weapon at us. We should be within range in a few minutes." came the voice of Defender Morrill over his pipboy.

"Shit..." said Jericho as he tossed his cigarette aside. John looked at him questioningly. "Thought there was actually gonna be some action." he said, disappointment apparent in his voice. John just chuckled and lowered his weapon, awaiting the approach of the armored figures.

When they finally arrived, there were three of them. All standing at least a head taller than John and Jericho. The armor made the vault dweller uneasy, his last encounter with an armored foe burned into his mind. But all three of the black armored figures lowered their weapons as they approached.

Defendor Morrill, the towering figure in the center, spotted the pipboy on John's arm and immediately walked up to him, while the others made a surrounding formation. Before anyone could say anything else, the Outcast behind John said, "You gotta be fucking kidding me..."

John looked at the figure curiously. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

"Duster, energy rifle, howling wolf...this is that kid from the radio isn't it?" asked one of the sentinels.

"Radio? I'm on the radio?" John asked incredulously.

One of the mechanized figures chuckled. "Hell yeah kid. You're the talk of the wasteland recently. Vampire slaying, exploding raiders, vaporizing terrorists, you name it. Fucking hell, didn't think you were actually real." said the man as he admired the design of the wolf on the young mans coat. Jericho just burst into maniacal laughter at the stories, scoring a near laser beam glare from John.

"Alright ladies, autographs can come later. Right now we have business to take care of." said Morrill as he turned back to John. "Care to show me the device?" he asked, politely enough.

John nodded, then walked forward. "Just a friendly warning, if this device detaches from my vitals without a password, the nuclear cell powering it will detonate, destroying the device and myself." said the wanderer as he eyed the blacked out eye visors in the helmet. He could hear Morrill chuckle.

"Very clever of you my friend. But that won't be necessary. We just need to verify that it can interface with the technology we mentioned." he said, then scanned the pipboy thoroughly. After a few moments, he nodded. "Alright boys, looks like we got a winner. Let's get him back to Protector McGraw." said the titan as he began walking back towards the horizon. The others followed, as well as John.

When the wanderer looked back, he noticed that Jericho was still following him. "You can go home now Jericho. Your job's done." he said.

The man just smirked, the new Square hanging from his lips as he followed. "My ass. This sounds like fun." he said.

John chuckled. "Alright. But I'm not paying you more." he told the mercenary as they walked together in the middle of the robotic armored figures.

"If this ends up in a hell of a firefight, you won't have to pay me anymore." said the man as they continued to plow through the darkness.

When they finally made it to the crossroads, they all had to slam through a hoard of super mutants that had stationed themselves outside the outpost. Jericho started laughing like a crazy man as he fired into the night, taking down a single of the large green beasts with his assault rifle. John managed to kill off three with quick scoped shots to their cranium with the Gauss Rifle. But the majority of the big greens fell to the waves of death pouring from a pair of gatling lasers that the Outcasts were wielding.

Mutant after mutant fell from the ruins of the metro station with scorch marks and fire spouting from every orifice. John continued walking with the armored figures after the battle, a Square now in his mouth. He looked over at Jericho who had a giant smile on his face. "What crawled up your ass all the sudden?" asked the wanderer.

The ex-raider just grinned at him, letting out a cloud of poisonous smoke as he did. "This is what I signed up for! Killing shit!" he said. John could have swore that this was the closest he had ever heard the man voice to being excited. So the wanderer just smirked, then continued to follow the armored trio further into the ruins.

It was only one more firefight, and a few minutes later when they finally came to a service elevator to an underground Vault-Tec bunker. "Well, this isn't ominous at all." said the wanderer as he felt the floor beneath him start sinking into the ground. Defender Morrill chuckled again, putting his heavy gatling weapon away before they reached the bottom.

"Don't worry, it gets better inside. Lotsa home decor and curtains." he said, making everyone but Jericho laugh. The armored door in front of them slid open, showing a long hallway lit by the same kind of ambient lighting that was built into the corners of each hallway back in the vault. It was at that moment that the wanderer got chills down his spine from the familiarity of it all.

"Is this the caveman?" asked a sharp, feminine voice. They looked over and a blonde woman stepped out of the room coming out of the side of the hallway.

"Mr. Ronas, this is specialist Olin. She will be your instructor on how the technology works." said Morrill.

The woman sighed and walked down the hallway ahead of them. "Follow me please, and don't touch anything. I don't want this place going up in flames." she said irritably.

"Don't worry, she's like that with everyone." said Morrill as he led John and Jericho further down into the base. When they reached the bottom floor, John was awed by the large blast door that stood in front of him.

"Is that the armory?" he asked, reaching up and knocking on the solid door. He noticed as soon as he did that the door absorbed the kinetic energy from the knock, displacing it elsewhere. "Dear God...that thing would probably still be around if the earth exploded."

"That's correct." said a new voice, this one with a southern drawl. John looked over and saw four new armored figures coming down a different hallway towards them. Two of them didn't have helmets on, one of them dark skinned and buzz cut, and the other, a taller, tanned man with a high and tight marine cut. It turned out that the marine cut man was the one with the accent. "What y'all are lookin' at is the reason Vault-Tec was able to make their experimental underground habitats." said the man as he stepped up to the group.

"This is Protector McGraw. He is in charge of this outpost, and the reason you're here right now." said Morrill. "And Defender Sibley, his second in command." John looked over at Defender Morrill. He noticed in mentioning the second in command, a bit of a sour note in the otherwise cheerful Outcasts voice. "Well, this is where we part. Me and my team are headed back up to make sure that the muties don't come knocking. So we'll be on our way. Good luck." finished the armored figure as he nodded to McGraw, John, and Olin. Then, he and his two other brethren left.

John looked over at the southern commander and nodded. "John Ronas. Good to meet you Protector McGraw." he said, holding his hand out. The marine cut man smiled and shook his hand.

"Not everyday ya find someone with your manners in the wasteland. In any case, Specialist Olin here will brief you on what needs to be done in order to open the armory." he said, looking over to Olin.

For the first time, the second-in-command spoke up. "Why the hell are we messing around with this wastrel? Why not just take the damn thing off his arm?" asked Sibley, a sour look on his face as he glared at the wanderer.

Immediately, John's impression of the man tanked to the bottom. "I can see why you'd think manners are a rare occurrence." said the wanderer. Sibley's face registered shock at actually being talked back to.

Then the defender stepped forward. "I didn't ask for your damn opinion caveman. Now keep your mouth shut before I follow through and take the damn computer from you." said the man. Sibley, however battle hardened he was, didn't realize he had stepped into very dangerous territory.

John smiled widely, grabbing the defender by the back of the head and pressing his own forehead to his, as if embracing him. The move kept the defenders eyes locked on the wanderers, and kept him from moving anywhere. John held up the wrist mounted computer, and began to laugh. "This pipboy is armed to self destruct its power cell should my vitals flatline. That means if you pull this off my wrist, flatline. You kill me, flatline. I accidentally push the wrong button, flatline! So go ahead asshole, try and take it from me, and watch as everyone in this room turns to a pile of ash!" he said in a maniacal tone that made even Jericho take a step back. When Sibley didn't move, and said nothing to retaliate, John let him go and took a step back. "I came here voluntarily. If you'd like, I can take my shit and go." he said, his gaze never leaving Sibley.

"That won't be necessary. We're more than willing to cooperate with you." said Protector McGraw as he stepped between the two. John turned to him and nodded. McGraw turned to Sibley with a glare. "Go reinforce the elevator." he said. The dark skinned man sneered, then walked off heavily, followed by two of his own group.

"You sure know how to pick 'em." said John as he watched the man go.

Protector McGraw turned back to the wanderer. "While I understand that you may not like the man, I'll not have my choice in lieutenants questioned while here. Is that understood?" he asked sternly. John looked up at him, then gave him a respectful nod. Then the commander smiled. "Good. Now that the hostilities are out of the way, we're glad to have you here."

John smiled back at the man. "So, mind telling me what exactly it is that requires a pipboy around here?" he asked.

Protector McGraw began walking down the hall, along with Specialist Olin and Jericho. John followed as the commander answered his questions. "The system connected to this armory is pretty old, and is very detailed in its operating systems. It turns out that it was designed to train a type of super soldier for combat against the Chinese invaders in Alaska."

"I've never heard of any super soldier program." said John.

"Big surprise!" said the woman next to them, getting an irritated look from the wanderer. She finally relented. "It was discreet. The Chinese had a spy in the US government who had actually leaked the plans for these soldiers to the Consulate back in Red China. So, they were to be mixed in with regular troops to prevent the Chinese from being able to leak mission details. Unless you were in the government at the time, or you had extremely high level top secret access to the US military database, then you wouldn't know." she said.

John nodded in understanding. "So, this was meant to be kind of their home base. A place to resupply and go out again?" he asked, getting a nod from the blonde specialist. "So why the hell is there one out here in the middle of DC?"

She looked at John and smiled smartly. "The Chinese spy." she said, tapping her nose. John immediately dawned a look of understanding. "There was one soldier, designated Grey Fox, that was centered here in DC in order to hunt down the intelligence leak and get rid of him by any means."

"So the Vault-Tec company created these as a prototype for the vault underground environments. And because Vault-Tec created it, then Grey Fox needed to have a pipboy as well." he said, adding up the rest of the equation. Then he turned to Olin. "How will that work with me though? Wouldn't the computer require this Grey Fox's vital information in order for it to even interact?"

The small group eventually made it into a room with an egg shaped stasis chamber, right in front of a large computer screen, almost as big as a vault door. "Normally, that would be a concern. However, Grey Fox never arrived here to input his information into the system. So..." said Specialist Olin as she powered up the computer screen. In the dead center of the screen, there was a message that read 'Insert hand and Personal Information Processor to establish security protocols.' John looked down and saw the circular hole with the scanner inside. "That's part of where you come in."

He eyed the hole suspiciously, then looked back at the smirking Specialist Olin. "You want me to put my hand in there?" he asked. She just nodded, looking like she was on the verge of laughing. Holding up his pipboy, he asked, "I changed my mind, wanna take it from me?" he asked, half jokingly.

"Oh no! I couldn't possibly! Besides, you know, the whole turning everyone in the room to ash thing." she said, enjoying tormenting the gunman.

John just sighed, then slid his arm into the slot. Immediately, two pads on either side of the inside clamped down on his arm, making sure it didn't move. He felt something automatically plug into the pipboy, probably to scan the vital data of the user. Then, he felt something sharp stab into the palm of his hand. He jerked back from the machine, but to no avail. He was clamped firmly into the machine, and short of chewing through his arm, he likely wouldn't be getting out of it until the process was over.

"DNA analysis and blood sample extracted. Now harvesting vital statistics form Personal Information Processor." said the female voice on the computer. It was about five more minutes before the gunman finally fell backwards, clutching his hand which now had a large cut across the palm.

"Son of a bitch..." he said. Specialist Olin tossed him a bandage and a stimpak, still chuckling.

"Suck it up cowboy. That was step one." she said. Suddenly, on the screen, all of John's vitals appeared. His typical interface, the vault boy with all of his statistics such as body temperature, body fat content, breathing rate, glucose levels, iron count, blood-oxygen levels, even white blood cell count scrolling down the side.

"And what is step two?" he asked curiously, standing up and wrapping the cloth bandage around his hand.

"Well, the soldier in question had to undergo thorough training in order to access his gear. The system you see here..." she said, turning to the egg shaped chamber. "is a neural and holographic interface that puts you through multiple scenarios of training that you might come across while fighting the Chinese. It was to make sure that the soldier was actually prepared, both mentally and physically."

He looked the egg over curiously. "So I've got to get inside this thing, then go through training simulations in order to get the armory door open?" he asked, getting a nod from Specialist Olin. "Sounds easy enough." he said.

"You say that, but you have to remember that these scenarios are designed for a super soldier, not some average joe." she said to him. "If you want to leave, we can deprogram your information from the computer and you can leave." she said.

He glared at her. "You just want me to stick my hand in there again." he said, getting a genuine chuckle from her. "I'm willing to do it, but let's talk about my return on this." he said. She immediately dropped the cheerful attitude and went back to her regular stern self.

McGraw, who had been staying silent until that point, stepped forward. "Once the armory is open, you'll have your choice of the pick, within reason. No power armor, as you wouldn't know how to use it anyway, and no high yield weapons. We can't have you running around with a tesla cannon, and no offense, but I wouldn't exactly trust you not to kill us as soon as you have it." he said. "Anything else, you can have a share of."

John thought about it, then nodded. "Sounds fair enough. But only under the condition that I can barter. No shoving a laser pistol into my hand and shoving me out the door." he said. Protector McGraw nodded.

"Fair enough. So, let's get this thing started." he said with a wide smile.

John turned back to Olin, who smiled. "Get undressed." she said, her smile as large as ever. He just looked at her stunned.

OoOoO

After about twenty minutes of awkwardly undressing in front of the Outcast scribe, he finally pulled on the interface suit that she handed him. Once it was zipped up, he found it rather revealing in some places, as it was similar to a latex suit. He just crossed his arms as the specialist continued to chuckle. "Stop staring at my ass specialist, before I get your EO on the line." he said, only making her laugh harder.

Finally, the large egg opened, showing what looked like a recliner built into the center of it. All around the seating were numerous cables, all leading from somewhere below the chair to the sides of the egg shaped pod.

"This thing must take a massive amount of power to run..." he said, running his hand over the curved edge.

"It does. Now..." she said, looking away so as to not make eye contact. "Be careful. The whole simulation was designed to emulate real life. So if you get shot too much, you could go into cardiac arrest." she said, then looked at him again. Her eyes widened at the look of shock on his face.

Suddenly he just smiled widely and held his arms out. "Why specialist, you do care!" he said, reaching out to hug her. She immediately stepped back with a horrified look on her face.

"Ugh, go to hell!" she yelled. Protector McGraw stifled a laugh behind the two by clearing his throat.

He just chuckled, then sat down in the chair. "Thanks for the concern. And don't worry, I'll be careful." he said, leaning back. Olin walked over and connected all of the appropriate cables before activating the simulation from the computer. John just leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes as a white flash filled his vision, while the two Outcasts and Jericho turned and stared at the screen.


	14. Mountainside Destruction

**Author's Note:** This was a nightmare...so I ended up writing it in pieces because it's been a while since I've actually done the OA DLC. So I had to hack and slash bits here and there so that I could get everything running in chronological order. But I finally finished it, and I hope it's big enough, and to every ones liking. After all, I know that a lot of people love this part of the game.

OoO( 14 )OoO

When John awoke, he found himself laying on a cliff that was covered in snow. The suit he was wearing, the chair he sat in, the Outcasts, Jericho, all of it was gone. He now wore combat armor that had been painted with snowblind camouflage, as well as a thick arctic wolf fur hat and goggles.

When he stood, he immediately noticed that someone was standing in front of him. "You alright sir? You hit pretty hard when the wind caught your chute." asked the man. He was decked out in the same kind of snowblind gear that he was, but he had no eyewear to speak of. Instead of a warm snow-proof head cover, he had a combat helmet which framed his squarish face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." said John as he dusted the snow off himself. "And you are?" he asked. The man held forward a Chinese assault rifle, something John took and checked to make sure was loaded.

"Don't remember me?" asked the man as he chuckled. "Damn, that landing must have hit you pretty hard. Though to be honest, I was surprised to find you alive at all." he said. "Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery. I was supposed to be in the secondary squad that they were sending to the cannons. But the storm tore us all apart." he said, looking up into the heavily snowing sky. "Looks like out of both our squads, we're the only ones left." said the man.

"Oh...good." said the soldier as he shook his head.

Ben chuckled. "Well, you ready to continue the mission?" he asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." John said as he adjusted the goggles.

"Good to hear." said Sergeant Montgomery with a smile. "The guns are way up on top of the cliff. So unless you have some kind of spider climbing skill I haven't heard about, then we're gonna have to go through a few Red infested outposts to get to them. I've still got the C4 charges that they gave us, so if we're quick and quiet, we can get there, blow them to hell, and get back. But I'll be following your lead Lieutenant." said the man.

John, amused at the rank he was given, just nodded. "Alright. Let's make this quick." he said as he began to run alongside the cliff face.

Ben just chuckled behind him. "Finally, someone I can work with!" he said excitedly as he pounded the snow while he ran. Together, the two made it to a small walkway built into the side of the cliff. John, using his camouflage to his advantage, poked his head around the wall and spied two guards standing at the edge of the catwalk ahead of them, where the platform expanded. John, now with all sorts of military knowledge injected into his brain thanks to the machine, held up two fingers for Montgomery to see, then laid his hand flat.

Ben nodded, then crouched down and began crawling through the snow towards the catwalk. John followed, pulling a silenced pistol from his side and checking to make sure it was loaded, before continuing to low crawl through the heavy snow. They stopped immediately as one of the guards looked there direction. The guard stood there for a long minute, staring and checking as the two lay still amid the snow drifts. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he turned back towards the gaping chasm.

"We're going to have to hurry." came Montgomery's voice over the earpiece that he had installed into the hat.

"Affirmative. I've got the twelve o'clock." said John in a whisper as he aimed his pistol at the back of one of the Chinese soldiers heads. Sergeant Montgomery crawled up through the snow and got to his feet, still keeping low, and began to slowly crouch-walk towards the closest of the two. When he was within range of the man, he reached back and grabbed a combat knife stowed in his belt.

But what he didn't notice was that the far side guard had turned just in time to notice him. As the red guard opened his mouth to warn the other however, a hole suddenly appeared in his head. He stood stunned for a moment, before falling backwards over the rail. Montgomery jumped forward and wrapped one arm around the remaining Red China guard, then thrust the carbon steel blade into his spine, the man spasmed horribly before the sergeant pushed him off the bloodied weapon and let him fall over the railing and into the white abyss below.

John immediately got to his feet and ran to the catwalk where he immediately began descending the stairs on the far side of it to the cliff edge that made his skin itch. This side of the cliff faced inwards to the canyon, which left it wide open to the opposite side where there stood a small scientific outpost that had no doubt been repoed by the Chinese.

He whipped his binoculars up to his face and marked any movement he saw into his memory. Benjamin Montgomery slide down next to him. "How many we got up there?" he asked.

"Two on the bridge, one in the outpost. There's likely a radio, so once again we're going to have to work fast and quiet unless we want the entirety of Anchorage to know of our position." said John as he put away the binoculars. "I'll lead off. With any luck, I'll be able to take out the two on the bridge before the outpost guard even notices." he said.

Ben just nodded. "Alright. Just don't dally. I'd rather not have the Reds swarming down my throat before we even reach the guns."

John drew his pistol once more and snuck along the rock face to the bridge, his camouflage hiding him perfectly as one of the guards approached. He leveled his weapon directly at the man walking towards him on the bridge before depressing the trigger. The gun made a quiet sound that was drowned out in the howling winds of the storm, ending with a bullt to the invaders shoulder that sent him careening off the edge of the bridge.

John let out a sigh of relief as he sat and waited. Before long, the next one came along with an alert air about him. He was apparently looking for his comrade that had just taken a dive. "I can help you with that buddy." whispered the wanderer as he squeezed the trigger again, this time the bullet slamming into the mans back as he looked out over the chasm. The soldier didn't stand a chance as kinetic energy and the rushing wind sent him flying into the abyss as well. "Sergeant, bridge is clear. Move to take the outpost." said John through the encrypted two way radio.

"Affirmative. Moving up." came back the rough reply from Montgomery. John could make out his figure, if only barely through the falling snow. Lowering his pistol, he followed silently as the wind continued to pound against them. Ben slid the door open and immediately fired into the small outpost, killing the unsuspecting guard. They both shuffled inside and checked for anyone else, then just bathed in the small amount of heat that the shelter provided.

"Should we radio back?" asked the sergeant.

John thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "Nothing to really update them on. As much as I hate keeping them in the dark, it's possible that using the radio could alert the Chinese that we're here even faster." he said. After thinking about it for a moment, Ben nodded in agreement.

"Alright, so now that this place is out of the way, we've gotta scale that fucking canyon." said the sergeant as he shook off the snow on his armor.

"Me climb? To hell with that Sergeant, you're piggy backing me up." said John, his face dead serious. Montgomery looked at him, a worried expression on his face, before both of them started chuckling. "Alright, let's get this the hell over with." he said as he headed back to the door. The sergeant turned the lights to the outpost off as they exited the building, and then they were climbing again up a large metal staircase that was built into the cliff side.

When they reached the top, there was just a lone door there. "On you El-Tee." said the sergeant quietly, and the pair stacked up once again. John opened the door and slid inside, shortly followed by Benjie. The two of them immediately began to scan their surroundings when they entered. The cavernous room was poorly lit, aside from a large hole that had been collapsed into the center of the room, no doubt from the initial Chinese bombardment.

Immediately, the two spotted three guards in immediate eyesight. John signaled to begin heading down the stairs, and the pair were moving again. They quietly made their way down a long metal staircase, being careful not to make too much noise as they descended. When they finally reached the bottom, they avoided the dim lighting from the gaping rock wound above and skirted around in the shadows. They both saw as another soldier like them had apparently been carried into the cavern by the winds, but was almost immediately gunned down. Ben just grabbed his tags, and they continued moving on.

The LT gave the signal to halt, and Montgomery stopped. They pushed themselves against the wall with a pair of stacked crates keeping them hidden from the rest of the cavern. It wasn't long before they heard footsteps nearing them. Montgomery pulled his knife out again and prepared to spring, just as John pulled free his silenced pistol. When finally the red guard crossed the crates, Montgomery jumped up and grabbed the man, immediately slamming the knife into the mans throat and dragging him down behind the crates. After again salvaging anything they could find from the body, the pair moved out from the boxes and saw that another soldier awaited them at the top of the stairs they were about to ascend.

"No way we can get past him without him seeing us." whispered Sergeant Montgomery.

"We'll have to take him out from here." said the wanderer as he drew up his pistol and aimed. He squeezed the trigger and fired a silenced round directly into the mans chest, then did it again, and again. The man fell over and slid down the stairs. In a matter of seconds, both of the Americans began to here the rapid clip of Chinese chatter coming from the other side of the staircase. "Shit." said John as he slapped his pistol back to his side and pulled up his automatic weapon. "So much for quiet." he said as he began to climb the stairs.

The two climbed until they were just below the peak of the staircase as soldiers began to run down the catwalk. As they neared the stairs and came into the pairs view, they were gunned down, not expecting the fire to come from right next to the body. A few fell from the walk down to the cavern floor below, while two fell flat onto the catwalks surface, their weapons clattering to the floor.

"Move!" yelled John, the two immediately began to run across the catwalk as more soldiers ran to the spiral staircase that led up to their walk. Several of the soldiers fired on the pair, but the metal underside of the platform kept any stray rounds from hitting the two. John snatched up another grenade off of one of the fallen soldiers and pulled the pin on it with his teeth, then tossed it down the center of the spiral stairwell where the invaders were climbing up to meet them.

The explosion rocked the platform, even almost knocking Sergeant Montgomery off his feet as they continued running towards the door at the far end of the skyway. The grenade had blasted anyone on the stairwell off, and tore the thing metal structure to shreds, making it more difficult for them to follow.

OoOoO

He got a nod from the sergeant, and the pair stacked up once again.

John opened the door and slid inside, shortly followed by Benjie. The two of them immediately began to scan their surroundings when they entered. As the wanderer had predicted, the cavernous room was poorly lit, aside from a lot of industrial flood lights that were shining onto the top of the enormous pipe that burrowed through the mountain. The rest was only lit by string lights hung up around the large ceiling.

Immediately, the two spotted three guards in immediate eyesight. John signaled to begin heading down the stairs, and the pair were moving again. They quietly made their way down a long metal staircase, being careful not to make too much noise as they descended. When they finally reached the bottom, they avoided the dim lighting from the bulbs above and skirted around in the shadows.

The LT gave the signal to halt, and Montgomery stopped. They pushed themselves against the wall with a pair of stacked crates keeping them hidden from the rest of the cavern. It wasn't long before they heard footsteps nearing them. Montgomery pulled his knife out again and prepared to spring, just as John pulled free his silenced pistol. When finally the red guard crossed the crates, Montgomery jumped up and grabbed the man, immediately slamming the knife into the mans throat and dragging him down behind the crates. After again salvaging anything they could find from the body, the pair moved out from the boxes and saw that another soldier awaited them at the top of the stairs they were about to ascend.

"No way we can get past him without him seeing us." whispered Sergeant Montgomery.

"We'll have to take him out from here." said the wanderer as he drew up his pistol and aimed. He squeezed the trigger and fired a silenced round directly into the mans chest, then did it again, and again. The man fell over and slid down the stairs. In a matter of seconds, both of the American began to here the rapid clip of Chinese chatter coming from the other side of the staircase. "Shit." said John as he slapped his pistol back to his side and pulled up his assault rifle. "So much for quiet." he said as he began to climb the stairs.

The two climbed until they were just below the peek of the staircase. As soldiers began to run down the catwalk. As they neared the stairs and came into the pairs view, they were gunned down, not expecting the fire to come from the stairs right next to the body. A few fell from the walk down to the cavern floor below, while two fell flat onto the catwalks surface, their weapons clattering to the floor.

"Move!" yelled John, the two immediately began to run across the catwalk as more soldiers ran to the spiral staircase that led up to their walk. Several of the soldiers fired on the pair, but the metal underside of the platform kept any stray rounds from hitting the two. John snatched up another grenade off of one of the fallen soldiers and pulled the pin on it with his teeth, then tossed it down the center of the spiral stairwell where the invaders were climbing up to meet them.

The explosion rocked the platform, even almost knocking Sergeant Montgomery off his feet as they continued running towards the door at the far end of the skyway. The grenade had blasted anyone on the stairwell off, and tore the thing metal structure to shreds, making it more difficult for them to follow. As they burst through the next door, John slid over to a railing, and had to be pulled back by Sergeant Montgomery before he fell. Both of them gaped at the awesome sight before them. It was yet another enormous canyon that had formed between the ice. But this time, the pip that had run parallel to their path before now had a bridge over it leading directly into another outpost.

The sergeant put his hand on the wanderers shoulder. "We need to hurry. They're going to be following us soon, and if our luck stays as it has, then they've probably already alerted half of Red China about our presence." he said in a not so thick Boston accent. John just nodded.

"Do you have anything to trap the door? I don't want them following us while we're fighting our way forward." he said as he checked the magazine on his automatic weapon.

Sergeant Montgomery just smiled. "Oh, I got ya El-Tee." was all he said before he began laying proximity mines all around the door on the catwalk. Shortly after they were set, the pair shuffled down the stairs quickly, taking out another two guards in the process with relative ease, and the use of their quiet weapons. As they found themselves near the pipeline, the lieutenant pulled his binoculars off again and scanned the outpost across the long path of pipe that they had to cross.

"They don't seem very alert..." said John as he handed the optical enhancer to the sergeant. Benjie scanned the small facility as well. More guards dressed in the heavy fur clothing for warmth, but all of them appeared to be lax.

"Not really sure what's going on. But I say we count our blessings and hit while they aren't expecting it. How many did you see over here?" asked Benjie, just barely louder than the wind that was trying to tear them off the pipe bridge.

"Looked like six. Although they look like your typical run of the mill guards, no snipers that I can see. So they shouldn't see us..." he said, pausing for a moment.

"Until we go across the pipe." said Montgomery as they both looked over and saw the massive oil pipeline that connected this side of the canyon to the opposite. There was a walkway built into the top of it for anyone needing to cross, but it was wide open for a long ways, and the outer shell was painted white. "Our camo don't do shit on that white." he said with a growl.

"We'll just have to hope that either they are near-sighted, or they can't hit shit until we get to the other side." said the wanderer as he put the binoculars into their pouch, then grabbed his assault rifle. "There's no way to do this stealthy. We just have to run in and do it quick. Because the longer we take, the more advantage we lose."

"Fuckin' A right." said Sergeant Montgomery as he grabbed his own assault rifle off his back. The pair of them stacked up against the small shack on this side of the pipeline, a small maintenance house to clean the pipes while they were offline likely, and counted. On three, the two of them kept their heads low and their guns down, and began shuffling quickly across the man-made bridge. It took nearly five full minutes to reach the halfway point, but in that time they hadn't received any kind of attention from the guards.

John was hopeful that they would go completely unnoticed as they crossed, but his hopes were dashed as the klaxon of gunfire bounced back and forth between the canyon walls. Luckily for the pair, the aim of the guards was either horribly off, or their weapons needed serious sight updates. The rounds pinged off the pipeline around them as they double-timed their pace and made for the edge of the building where they would at least have a small amount of cover.

"Fucking Christ...they realize that they're shooting at the reason they're here right? If they bust that line then none of us win!" shouted Montgomery as they finally cleared the bridge. When they were on solid ground again, they found one of the red invaders stumbling out of the bathroom, holding an Avtomat Kalashnikov 1947 in one hand while pulling his pants up with the other. Montgomery immediately raised his own rifle and ended the man.

John ran over and picked up the mans gun, then popped the magazine out to check the ammo. Once he was satisfied that it was fully loaded, he slapped the cartridge back into the gun and slung his other assault rifle back over his shoulder. The pair of them took up defensive positions, Montgomery ducking behind the shielded metal crate that was waiting for a forklift to take it inside. John, after pulling the pin on a grenade he has snatched from the unfortunate soul he had just stolen the gun from, tossed it to the underside of the stairs which were now rattling with Chinese feet.

As the first two soldier came down the stairway, the grenade exploded, sending them both soaring into the snow. The next few that followed were more wary, choosing their steps and listening for any unusual sounds before turning the corner and firing at the pair. John ducked behind the side of the building as rounds exploded on the wall next to him.

As the four soldiers began to move in on John's position, they were startled by a loud explosion coming from the northern cliff face. The mines that the good sergeant had left behind had finally detonated, sending the walkway and any red soldiers who had exited the building through that door soaring into the abyss below.

Sergeant Montgomery took advantage of the distraction and popped out and fired, scoring two of the of the invaders, one in the legs, making him drop to the ground immediately in a fit of pain, and the other center mass, dropping him like a rock. The two Reds that remained turned and began to fire on Montgomery's position, only to have John pop out and finish them off with his newly acquired weapon. The two soldiers came out of cover and began to head for the stairs when a loud shot rang out across the canyon. Both of the Americans jumped for cover again, but noticed when they looked out that the only casualty had been the Chinese guard that had his legs shredded.

John approached the man and looked down curiously, noticing an entry wound in the mans head. "Someone took him out...while he was trying to fire on us from behind." said the wanderer as he examined the wound. Sergeant Montgomery was rummaging around, collecting ammo off the fallen guards.

"Looks like another of our group survived. Or who knows, maybe we've got a spy of our own." said the sergeant as he looked over at the man. "In any case, we need to move." John nodded, then stood and began jogging up the stairs with the soldier behind him.

It had taken nearly ten minutes in the pounding wind to cross the remaining catwalks to get to the building. But when they arrived, they found that the Chinese had made many modifications to the outside of the building itself. "Son of a..." said John as he stared at the concrete bunkers that now stared him in the face.

"Looks like they turned this place into an artillery base. Probably to supply the AA guns up above." said the sergeant while the wanderer stared through his binoculars.

"It looks like they have automatic turrets in there as well. That actually gives me an idea..." said John as he crouched down and started typing away at his pipboy.

The sergeant eyed him curiously. "Don't supposed you have some kind of satellite laser targeting system on that thing." he said. John just looked up at him.

"Sure do. And if I ever want to sheer off half this mountain, I'll be sure to use it." said the gunman jokingly.

"So, what's the plan then?" asked the Boston native.

"Well, I..." said John, but he was immediately cut off by the sound of gunfire. Both of the Americans grabbed their assault weapons and prepared for the ensuing barrage of bullets, which never came. Peaking around the corner, shock registered on both of their faces as they saw the automatic turrets turn and start firing on the troopers that had been stationed in the bunkers.

"Guess this is as good a time as any." said the sergeant as he began moving towards the two bunkers. John grabbed his AK-47 and followed, both of them picking off what the turrets hadn't managed to finish. Sergeant Montgomery ran up the side of one of the bunkers, but immediately had to backpedal as a stream of fire nearly blanketed him. "Fuck!" he shouted as the heat washed over him.

John had snuck around the side of the other bunker, and finished both the remaining troops and the turret by arming a grenade and tossing it into the open firing port for the concrete dwelling. When the smoke cleared, he entered the bunker to make sure everyone was out of commission. As he looked looked over, he saw Benjie ducking behind a small barrier as flames tickled him from every side. The wanderer immediately raised his assault rifle and fired at the flamer wielder.

The guard knew that he had been shot at, but what he hadn't realized is that one of the bullets had pierced the tank on his back. He raised the nozzle to try and scorch the hidden sergeant once more, but almost as soon as he depressed the trigger, he knew something was wrong. The fire on the end of his nozzle grew in size, then flew like lightning behind him where it impacted the opening in his tank. The napalm ignited inside the large tank, resulting in an explosion that sent pieces of the man scattering across the mountainside.

Ben, feeling the relief from the heat, peeked out of his cover and saw the gory display, then shook his head. "Was that you El-Tee?" he asked in a loud voice.

John stepped out of the bunker and ran to the sergeants position. "Yeah, sorta. You alright?" he asked.

"Christ you know how to kill someone." said the sergeant as he got back to his feet with the assistance of the officer. John just chuckled as Ben pulled out a stimpak and shot it into his arm. "I'll be fine. Let's just get inside so this wind stops tearing my skin off." he said as they walked together into the front door of the building.

When they opened the door, they found two more Red soldiers with weapons aimed directly at them. One of the two, probably the higher ranked, began to shout at them in Mandarin.

John just sighed. "Should have known." he said, coiling himself to strike out. He could slowly feel Montgomery doing the same thing next to him. They were ready to spring on the pair like a couple of lions, but the sound of a depressed shot from a silenced weapon startled them both. Suddenly, the loud soldier had fallen over, followed by another depressed shot that brought down the second one.

Both John and Benjie stared in shock as the Chinese soldier that had done the shooting walked over to the radio in the room and began speaking in a fluent English with very little accent. "Polar Bear, this is Hummingbird. Grey Fox has entered the compound and has made contact. Communications have been cut and infiltration has begun."

"Ten-four Hummingbird. You know your objective from here. Polar Bear out." said the voice over the radio as the soldier turned to the pair. Pulling off the hat, the red soldier revealed themselves to be a rather short woman, with short feathery black hair, almond shaped eyes that were dark brown, and light, pale skin. Despite her small stature, John could see through the tight armor she wore that she was mostly lean, coiled muscle underneath. She certainly looked like someone he didn't want to tangle with.

"Alright red, where did you send that transmission to?" asked Sergeant Montgomery as he raised his weapon, aiming at her.

She eyed him and rolled her eyes. "Country boys..." she said, sighing in exasperation. "Point the gun somewhere else Sergeant. That was to General Chase. He told me before sneaking me in here to shut down the communications arrays to the rest of the facilities once you arrived."

"So even if we go in guns blazing, they wouldn't be able to warn anyone else that we're going after the guns?" asked John. The small woman smiled at him and nodded.

"Very good. At least someone here gets it." she said, giving a slow, mocking clap.

"And you are?" asked John, eying her curiously.

"Second Lieutenant Yae Goto." she said, bowing to him.

John immediately cocked an eyebrow. "Japanese?" he asked, getting another playful smile from the woman.

"Very observant. And yes. I'm a linguist and infiltration specialist." she said, eying Benjie with a daring look.

Montgomery just shook his head. "This would be a lot easier if we just did this alone." he said to the wanderer.

"Nonsense. You've gotta culture yourself sometime Sergeant. Might as well be now. Besides, so far you and me have done a wonderful job of alerting an entire building of our presence. We could use someone with a little more finesse." said John as he walked up to her and held out his hand.

She took it and shook. "Good to meet you First Lieutenant." she said. "Now, if introductions are through, I say we go ahead and get these guns out of the way so our planes can finally get here and get us backup." she said.

John nodded. "Let's get to it." he said.

"Our first objective should be to clear out this building. The guns are a short distance away on top of another facility further down, but we can't leave any remaining insurgents behind us." she said as she strode quickly towards a door at the far side of the room. "This door leads to the top floor of the munitions plant. It's mainly used for maintenance, but as you can imagine, most of the soldiers didn't come here to fix anything." she said.

"So it will be relatively clean." asked Benjie. The Asian woman nodded. "The cleaner the better. I don't like taking out non-combatants." he said.

The small woman looked shocked for a moment. "Why Sergeant! You do have a heart!" she said as if in complete awe. He gave her the middle finger, making her laugh.

"Alright, so we'll start up here. If you can help it, just take the engineers that are here as prisoners. If they draw a gun on you, light them up." he said as he made for the door. "Yae, you do what you do best. Me and Montgomery will pretty much be the battering ram, so try to keep our backs covered." he said to her. She nodded, tapping on her own pipboy before vanishing.

Sergeant Montgomery took a step back. "Fuckin' hell...how did she do that?" he asked in surprise.

"I'm pretty sure if she told you, she'd have to kill you." said John in mock seriousness as he accessed the door. The large metal portal clattered loudly as it opened, alerting anyone nearby in the foundry. "Oh shit..." said John as he immediately dove for the nearest engineer. The man was too terrified to move in the first place, making him an easy target when the large armored form dove at him. They both hit the ground, John on top, resulting in the man blacking out from the crushing force.

Montgomery looked at the other two men who stood there and stared at them. Suddenly, one of them bolted for the stairs while the other one pulled up a heavy wrench and yelled something at the sergeant in Mandarin. "Shit, one's gettin' away!" he yelled as he dodged a swing from the heavy object. Finally having enough, the American grabbed the wrench mid swing and blasted the Chinese engineer with a teeth rattling right hook. The tech hit the walkway like a rock, completely blown away by the gauntleted attack. Benjamin cracked his knuckles, then started to run for the tech that had run. But he stopped.

Yae now stood on her hands on the railing of the walkway, with her legs locked around the runners neck. The man struggled against the vice like scissor lock, but his lack of oxygen made him too weak to fight. Eventually, he slid to the ground, his face red and his mind gone. Benjamin walked up, then eyed the woman as she flipped onto her feet from the railing.

"Impressed yet?" she asked.

"Maybe a little..." said the sergeant, getting a chuckle out of her. "Alright, so let's drag these ones into the closets and lock them so they won't be bugging us anymore." he said as he hooked his armored arms under the passed out mans arms, then began dragging him away. Both Yae and John followed suit, eventually putting the three men into a bathroom before John locked the door until later.

Whatever preconceptions they had about clearing the munitions plant quietly quickly went to hell fast. On the way down the stairs, John took a round to the shoulder from another cloaked figure. While the armor held, it forced him over the edge of the walkway and sent him slamming down into the floor below. The perpetrator, who was all the way across the factory on a floor slightly higher than them, went to reload his low yield sniper as he smiled at the target he had just taken down.

His smile faded quickly as he felt the front side of his stealth armor growing wet. Looking down, he saw an unreal amount of blood pouring down the front of his suit. Yae walked away from him, stealthed again as she sheathed the curved tanto behind her back, the snick of the blade sliding home followed shortly by the snipers head rolling off. She hopped over the railing quickly and stretched her limber form out, reaching down and grasping onto the railing below as two more soldiers ran down the catwalks to get to the fallen soldier.

She let go of her previous perch, allowing gravity to swing her body like a pendulum. She lashed out with one booted foot, connecting with the neck of one man and sending him, along with his crushed windpipe, soaring over the railing and straight to the floor from a few stories up. The other soldier, completely in shock at his comrade randomly flying over the railing, didn't react fast enough to stop the small woman from locking her legs around his neck and bodily lifting him off the platform. The man reached up and grasped at her armor, her hips, her breasts, anything he could get a hand hold on. But her armor was specially made for close combat, and lacked the same crude edges that conventional armor had to deflect bullets and knives.

It wasn't long before a cracking was heard, and the mans body hung like a rag doll from her vice-like grip. Letting him go, she pulled her pistol clean of its belt, and started to dash towards the stairs leading lower.

In the large munitions plant, catwalks ran around the entire structure, all the way down to the floor in square formations, with staircases leading from floor to floor. In the middle of the large ceiling, multiple chains and hooks had been lowered to the floor to allow the cannons above to restock their ammunition through a bay door in the center.

As John fell from the railing, he reached out for anything that might help him break his fall. Unfortunately, the only thing he managed to grab was one of the thick chains hanging from the ceiling, which was slack and fell just as fast as him. When he hit the ground, he nearly blacked out from the impact, and the combined weight of himself and his armor slamming into the ground.

OoOoO

Specialist Olin gasped in horror and Jericho turned away as they saw the crushing fall. Immediately the Outcast scribe began reading his vitals as they new data flew across the screen in front of her. "Shit shit shit..." she said as she looked up at his sleeping figure in the pod and noticed blood start to drip from his nose.

"The fuck? You can actually get hurt in that thing?" said Jericho as he stepped away from it.

"In order to train you, it hooks directly into your cerebral patterns to make the simulation as lifelike as possible. So whatever happens in there, your brain thinks actually happens." said Olin as she began to administer small amounts of medication to him.

Jericho just stared at her. "The hell does that mean?"

She looked up at him, then sighed and rubbed her head. "I never thought I'd miss his conversation..." she said, signaling towards John. "If you die in the game, you die for real." she said, explaining it in the simplest terms possible.

Jericho just shook his head and looked at the prone form on the screen. "Fuck that shit..." he said as he lit another cigarette. "Not worth some damn trinkets."

"I see he was a failure anyway." came the rugged voice of Defender Sibley as he walked back into the room. "Knew he wasn't up to it."

"Don't need your mouth right now Sibley." said Olin as she stabilized the wanderer. On the screen, John placed his hands to the ground and began picking himself up. The defender snorted, and Olin sighed in relief. "Good god...I'm too young for this." she said.

"He probably is too." said McGraw as he leaned forward onto the chair he had brought into the room. His hands were tapping the back of the chair, showing his tension at the situation. "Let's hope we didn't just sentence him to death."

Jericho looked over at the Protector curiously. "Can't you just pull him out before he dies?" he asked.

Olin shook her head. "He can only come out when the simulation ends. To pull him out early would hemorrhage his brain." she said, getting another look from Jericho. She just rubbed her eyes in frustration. "His brain would burst open and fill his head with blood." she said.

"Fucking hell. What's wrong with you people?" he asked, letting out a cloud of smoke from his lungs.

McGraw cleared his throat. "We made him aware of the dangers. He chose to go in. We can only hope that he can survive the rest of this campaign."

OoOoO

John slowly got back to his feet as gunfire rattled around him. He coughed, watching as blood dropped onto the ground from his nose, his vision still slightly blurry as he tried to get his bearings. He saw that he was now behind a stack of barrels, and that Sergeant Montgomery was next to him, firing at the opposition.

When he finally stood again, he pulled his assault rifle up and growled. "That's it you sons of bitches." he said before bolting out from behind the cover.

"What the hell are you doing!?" shouted the sergeant, but a red mist had set in in his eyes.

He slid behind a crate loaded with ammunition, aiming his weapon high. Halfway through their infiltration of the facility, they had been sending a large shipment of the artillery in an armored box up to the surface where they could load it into the guns. It not hung by several chains just short of the bay door in the roof. John fired at the cranks that were holding the chains in place. They began sparking wildly before they began falling apart.

Benjamin moved forward, aiming and taking down another soldier before looking at his partner. "The hell is he...?" he said, then looked at the mans target. Looking up, he also saw the large container that began to tilt perilously. "Holy shit..." he said as he ducked back behind his cover, which currently was a large knocked over shelf. He pulled free a grenade from his belt that he had taken from one of the invaders they had taken out on the way. Pulling the pin on the small object, he hurled it into the same mechanical cranks that John had just filled full of holes.

The small orb detonated, tearing the equipment to shreds. The chains above the remainder of the factory soldiers suddenly went slack, allowing gravity to pull them down at breakneck speed. Yae dove off the catwalk above and grabbed one of the chains, her wait counterbalancing one of the corners and tipping the entire thing on its head. As the box flipped midair, the heavy shells inside rained down on the remaining soldiers, slamming into them and shattering bones, causing concussions, and outright killing those who were unlucky enough to be directly underneath the box when it came down.

John didn't waste any opportunity. He got to his feet and immediately ran over to the downed soldiers, taking out any who were still alive after the hellish metal rain. The 2nd Lieutenant approached the pair, as calm as if she had just come from a picnic, while Sergeant Montgomery was panting heavily and John was cleaning the blood that had caked to his skin.

"Well, don't you look as pretty as a china doll." said Benjie sarcastically as she approached unscathed. She glared at him. "I...you know what the hell I mean." he said, looking at the ground.

John chuckled, despite his the pain in his head right now. "Nice Benjie. Call the only Japanese person for miles a china doll." he said, his voice holding nothing but amusement.

"I'm not racist..." said the sergeant, making even the young woman laugh.

"I know Benjamin. I forgive you." she said, then turned to John, concern covering her face. "Are you alright Fox? You took a nasty spill back there." she said.

He looked up at her curiously, just remembering his supposed codename for the sim. Were it not for that reminder, he'd have forgotten that everything around him wasn't actually real. "Yeah...I'm fine." he said, rubbing his temple. "We should get going, we still have to clear out topside." he said, the sound of the guns above pounding against the very ground around them with each fired shell reminding them again what their objective was.

"There should be access to the top from the maintenance level. Do we still have the charges?" asked the 2nd Lieutenant. Montgomery pulled the pack off his back and rattled it, showing her explosives strapped to the back.

"Three blocks of C4, ready to light these bastards up like a Christmas tree." said the sergeant with a smile.

"Good, now we just have to get to the guns." said John as he headed for the stairs. "Make sure you're stocked on ammo. They aren't just going to let us stroll up and strap these on." he said.

When the group had properly prepared, they left the access hatch that led to the clifftop. The dull thuds that had marked the cannons firing before, were now loud klaxons that pounded on the eardrums. "Yae, scout ahead and see what's waiting for us. If need be, we can be a distraction while you disarm anymore automated weapons that they might have in the area." he finished.

The woman nodded and reached for her pipboy, when Sergeant Montgomery put his hand on her shoulder. "Be careful." he said.

She genuinely smiled at him. "Don't worry Benjie, I'll do my best." she said, then vanished in front of both of them. John cocked an eyebrow at the sergeant, who just waved him off. "Don't look at me like that." he said as he walked past his superior.

"What? I didn't say anything!" said the wanderer as he followed the sergeant.

After about twenty minutes, the woman had come back to the enclosed doorway and reported. "We've got a hell of a fight ahead of us. There's about twenty soldiers assigned to each gun, for arming and maintenance. All of them are armed to to teeth. Some with heavy weapons, but most of them with automatics."

"What kind of heavy weapons?" asked Benjie.

Yae looked up at him. "Flamethrowers, a missile launcher, and one had a pretty nasty looking sword that I've never seen before." she said, counting each of them off on her fingers. Ben shivered at the mention of flamethrowers. "Something wrong?" she asked.

He just shook his head. "I'm fine. Just had a close call with a flamer earlier. I'll be taking them out long range from now on." he said, reloading the automatic weapon he held in his hands.

She turned back to John. "Alright, so we're directly below the middle cannon. I'd suggest that we start on one side and move down the line. Unfortunately, while I was able to disable communications within the factory and other facilities here, the ones up here have a separate radio band that I didn't have access to." she said.

"Oh...good. So as soon as one group knows we're here, they all do." said John, sighing as the little Asian woman nodded to him. "Good...was hoping this would be more interesting." he said sourly.

Yae just chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry sir, I'm sure you'll lead us to victory." she said cheerfully.

"I'm not so sure." said the sergeant. Both officers looked directly at him. "I mean, if victory is at the bottom of a catwalk, then yeah." he said with a big smile, getting a laugh from Yae, and a friendly glare from John.

"Very funny Sergeant." said the wanderer. "Alright, let's go. The sooner we take these things offline, the sooner we'll be able to sit down for a minute." he said as he walked towards the cliff edge that led to the north. Yae was about to go stealth again when John stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "I want you to take the C4. Stealth out there, and plant them. Me and Montgomery will be the distractions." he said.

Her eyes widened. "I...are you sure? That's a lot of troops to just face tank like that." she said, using a term that he'd never heard, but could figure out what it meant.

"Look, me and Sourpuss over here, we're hammers. We hit nails, and we've already proven that we're not great at staying hidden. So why not use the element of surprise and just kick them in the pants, allowing you to plant the bombs?" he asked.

"What's the escape plan?" she asked, looking between the two.

Montgomery just smiled. "Over the cliff."

OoOoO

Once Yae had signaled to John that she was in place, the wanderer just grabbed a pair of egg shaped grenades off his belt, pulled the pins, but held the safety spoons, then dashed forward. He tossed on into a bunker, and the other right next to one of the soldiers who had charged towards him when he broke cover. The trooper was wielding a flamethrower, and just noticed the grenade as it hit the ground next to him.

It detonated and sent him soaring over the edge of the cliff, his weapon thudding heavily into the snow. The inside of the bunker was cleared from the second blast, destroying the turret and two of he three soldiers within with shrapnel. The third soldier stumbled out just in time for John to put a few rounds into his chest cavity before he could do anything.

As more soldiers flooded over the walkways from the other two guns, Sergeant Montgomery smiled as he looked down at the flamer who's previous owner had taken a flight over the edge. "Time for some payback." he said as he hefted the heavy weapon.

A group of five more Chinese invaders stomped over the bridge towards the attacked bunker, but as they got in reach, the smiling sergeant appeared from beside it and filled the air in front of him with a long stream of fire. The napalm fluid caught their suits and clung like Velcro, eating through their winterized suits and sending them screaming and running into the windy afternoon.

On the other side of the bunker, John had reached a standoff with the red invaders from the south. They were currently making sure he didn't peak his head up for any shots back at them. He knew that if he didn't check quickly, he was likely going to receive the same welcome that he gave the original occupiers of the bunker. Thinking quickly, he ducked out the back door of the concrete structure and put his back flat against the barrier. His ears picked up a clinking sound from inside, shortly followed by teeth rattling explosion.

Ben elbowed his arm with a giant grin. "Having trouble El-Tee?" he asked.

"If you're talking, you aren't working Sergeant." said John as he pulled another grenade off his belt and hook tossed it overhead, where it landed just on the other side of the barrier that the reds were taking cover. John sprinted out towards their position as they ducked for the grenade. But the grenade didn't go off as they thought. When they peaked up again, they were looking down the barrel of an AK-47 briefly, before the barrel roared and took their lives.

John quickly grabbed the grenade off the ground and clipped it to his belt again, before pulling out a long belt filled with miniature mines. He pulled the pin on the master mine, then pushed down the button, activating them. With Benjie's help, he laid the the belt out and covered it with a light lair of snow. Just as they stood, more soldiers began to run through the pass. The sergeant got their heads down with some automatic fire, then dove out of the way as they began firing back.

When the soldiers tried to bolt down the small ridge to get to the intruders, one of them stepped on the mine belt, resulting in a massive explosion of fire and snow that blew both of the Americans off their feet. John got up with a groan, while Sergeant Montgomery dusted the snow off himself.

It didn't take long before the two were behind a small concrete barricade once more, hiding as bullets whizzed past their ears like a swarm of angry hornets. "Think we made them angry?" asked Benjie.

John looked over at him and just chuckled. "I didn't. Me and them are best friends. Not sure what you did to them though." he said as he looked at his pipboy. "Shit...pretty soon they're going to just chip through this thing..." he said.

"Or they'll..." started the sergeant, but both of them were rocked as a missile struck the barricade, cracking it in half and sending their ears ringing and heads spinning. "...that...that's what I was gonna say..." was all that the Boston man let out before he slumped forward into the snow, a small trickle of blood running down from his mouth.

John grabbed him and pulled him up closer to the back of the barrier. "Second Lieutenant, if there's ever a time, it would be now!" shouted John over the pipboy as he spied the rocket culprit reloading the large tubed weapon.

"Just finished! Fire drill now!" she yelled.

"Sergeant! Wake up! Time to go!" shouted John as he gently slapped the man. Sergeant Montgomery opened his eyes and grabbed his head.

"Fuckin' hell! Who the fuck ran over me?" he asked.

"Sergeant, attention!" shouted John. The man immediately looked at him, his body stiffening. "Fire drill, immediately!" he shouted, getting a nod from the man. They both got to their feet and sprinted towards the cliff edge as the artillery guns fired again, and the familiar fump! sound of a rocket leaving its tube behind them.

Bullets pinged off the rocks around them as the two raced for freedom. More than fifty of the remaining soldiers had gathered to protect the weapons, all of them firing an insane number of rounds at the two. John felt more than one bullet impact his armored back, and one of them even grazed his hip, where the armor was less protected. Though it felt like an eternity, in a matter of seconds, the pair made it to the edge and dove off the cliff and into the white abyss.

It was less than five seconds later that the C4 charges on the guns detonated. The explosion sent John tumbling through the air, and gave him a pain in his head so bad that he swore his teeth had fallen out. But his biggest concern was the fact that he was now spinning rapidly through the air. If he pulled his cord now, the chute would likely tangle, and possibly wrap around his neck and strangle him. He knew he had to level out before he fell.

OoOoO

Specialist Olin had one hand on her chin as she watched the screen, unconsciously biting her finger as she watched. She didn't even realize that she was tasting blood as she saw the wanderer spinning rapidly. "If he doesn't level out, he's either going to black out and hit the ground, or hang himself." she said.

Even Jericho was so fascinated by the scene that he hadn't puffed on his Square at all in the last two minutes. "Cummon kid..." he said as he watched on. Protector McGraw had the lower half of his face hidden behind his interlaced hands, and Sibley with his two cronies just watched in silence from the back.

OoOoO

John had spun for almost a full minute, his stomach clenching and making him want to dry heave. But he bit the feeling back and focused on the training that had been transferred into his brain when he entered the egg chamber. "One hand..." he said as he lifted one arm and cupped his hand. His spin started to slow. When he did it enough his body started to spin the opposite direction, and he did the same with his other arm.

Very slowly, he managed to halt himself by catching air in his hands and manipulating the current around his body. Now, he looked down at the enormous expanse below him, knowing he only had a small amount of time before he would be able to save himself. He slowly reached down under his pauldron and found the emergency switch for his armor, then pulled it. The chute built into the back of his armor ejected and expanded, catching the air resistance and nearly giving him whiplash. He just shook his head, rubbed his sore neck, then grabbed the leads to guide himself to safety.

OoOoO

Back in the simulation room, Olin cheered audibly, releasing a long held in breath as she watched the wanderer guide his shoot to safety, with the AA Artillery cannons crashing down the mountain behind him in a cloud of rock, snow, and fire.

Jericho just smirked and chuckled as he tossed his long burned out cigarette and lit another one. "Kid's got some fucking balls on him to pull a stunt like that." he said, inhaling and releasing a cloud of the smoke into the room.

Even McGraw's stone-like demeanor melted away with a small smile. "Well, he's passed the first trial. Only one more to go before we can finally pull him out of their and get into that armory." he said.

In the back of the room, Defender Sibley said nothing, his face completely neutral as he watched the others have a small celebration at the victory of the savage. He didn't like how this looked. Not at all.


	15. Fraternization

**Author's Note:** I just added more to the chapter I just posted. After rereading over it, I felt I had missed the opportunity to get into some character development. So I added a little bit into the fire scene. Please enjoy.

OoO( 15 )OoO

When the dust settled from the mountaintop, John had met up with both Sergeant Montgomery, and Second Lieutenant Goto out in the middle of the mountain range. They lit a smoke grenade and tossed it into the snow, allowing a large billowing cloud of green smoke to rise into the air.

In a matter of minutes, a helicopter swooped in and landed near them, allowing them to board, before taking off again at high speeds through the windy canyon. The officer across from John had dark bronze skin and a large pair of glasses on his face, as well as the typical US armor that he and Benjamin had on.

The man nodded to the sergeant, then Yae, then looked over at John. "So, Grey Fox huh? I've heard a lot about you." he said.

John cocked an eyebrow to the man. "I see I'm not doing my job well enough then." he said smartly, causing the man to chuckle.

"No worries sir. I'm intelligence to the core. I probably know more about you than you do." said the man as he gazed at John.

The wanderer eyed him curiously. "Like how this is all a simulation, and that I was born over two hundred years in the future?" he asked, testing the waters. Both Yae and Sergeant Montgomery looked at him in shock.

"The hell are you on sir?" asked Benjamin as he stared at his superior.

The other man however, never broke a sweat. "Sure! And I also happen to know that you slay dragons and your voice can shake the earth and clear the skies." said the man. John just chuckled at him. "The name is Lieutenant Morgan. I'm currently stationed on the front lines with General Chase at the outskirts of the Chinese main headquarters. We've basically been having a staring contest with General Jingwei from across his pulse field for months now."

"So the mission to take out the guns...?" asked the sergeant.

"That was our first strike." said Morgan with a smile. "That's us telling the Chinese that it's go time, and they're about to find themselves swimming home. We managed to take out a good portion of their fleet about the same time that the guns went down with amphibious units and a lot of fireworks. The rest retreated back past the Bering Strait, so Jingwei's on his own. Unfortunately, because of the constant fire from those guns, we won't have air support for another week. All we've got is this flying canoe and a medivac chopper in case of emergencies."

John scratched his chin, noticing that he had a bit of scruff on it, more than he was used to. "So, we're going to sit here for a week waiting for an airstrike?" he asked, the thought of being in the frozen wasteland for another week wasn't something he liked the sound of.

But the lieutenant just smiled. "No, we were waiting for you." he said. When he got a glance from John that screamed for more information, he just shook his head. "I'll let General Chase tell you the rest. I've already said too much as it is." said the man as he ran a hand over his fade haircut.

"If you say so." said John as he looked out over the white landscape as it whizzed by them. It took about another half hour for the chopper to reach the intended landing zone, which was a small pad placed on the rough Alaskan ground. As the bird landed, John jumped out, on one side where he looked over their current location. There were US military tents dotting the snow covered banks.

Morgan stepped up beside him with Montgomery and Goto bringing up the rear. "Beautiful isn't it?" asked the male lieutenant. John just nodded, noting the icy mountains around them.

"I've never been here before." he said, looking from one person to another as they walked past. Some stopped to salute him, from the lowly Private First Class' to even full bird Colonel's. He saluted back respectfully, but eventually stopped when a Chief Warrant Officer 5 stopped to salute him as well. "What the hell is going on? Not that I don't appreciate the respect, but I should be saluting them, not the other way around." asked the wanderer as he stepped up to one of the tents.

"Are you kidding sir?" asked Morgan as he finally led them inside one of the large cylindrical tents. When he got a look back from the wanderer, he just shook his head. "Five thousand." he finished, waiting next to a door built into the inside of the tent. "That installation you just blew had over five thousand Chinese insurgents inside it. You were supposed to be leading three teams, and over a hundred troops total, armed to the teeth with explosives, heavy weapons, and even some with power armor to try and take the facility. But the majority of them didn't make the landing and ended up lost in the mountain range." said the lieutenant.

John was starting to get the picture. "So, we three took the facility with only us and three blocks of C4..." he said.

Morgan just nodded. "You two entered the facility guarded by a couple thousand, cut your way through them, and managed to blow the guns, even without the backup you had sent with you. You had assistance of course from the Second Lieutenant, the Gunnery Sergeant, and Corporal Watson, but it was still an incredibly impressive feat. So yeah..." said Morgan as he saluted John. "Good work, sir." he said, then turned, opened the door, and walked inside.

"Gunnery Sergeant?" asked Benjamin as the pair entered the room.

"That'll be me." said a man as they walked past. Both the sergeant and the wanderer turned to him. The man was dark skinned, like Morgan, but much older. His hair was salt'n'pepper grey, and had small mustache to match. But the most noticeable thing about the man was that he was taller than both of them, and he was sitting down. He had the frame of a charging bull, each arm about as big around as their necks, and a barrel chest big enough to crush either of them should they want to tangle. "Gunnery Sergeant Washington." said the man, standing at attention before them.

John dismissed the military etiquette. "No need for that Sergeant, at ease." he said, his curiosity peaked now. So you were out there with us?" he asked.

The man nodded his head and smiled. "I was...so to speak. I was about half a mile off in the wrong direction, and was trapped for a good while. When I managed to pull myself out of the quick snow that I had fallen in, you were already heading into the facility. I saw you through my scope." he said pulling up a large, long barreled rifle with a scope that John could probably use to stargaze.

"The headshot...you saved us from injury when the soldier tried to shoot us from behind." said John. The man nodded.

"And not to toot my own horn, I'm the reason you didn't have a rocket following you off that cliff. I shot the guy who was holding the launcher, and he ended up accidentally firing it straight down."

John just laughed. "Well, then I owe you a few there Gunny." he said, holding his hand out. The man shook his hand firmly.

"Always a pleasure sir. Hope to get to work with you again." said the marine. He nodded in respect, then left the tent.

"I guess that just leaves Corporal Watson." said Sergeant Montgomery.

"You'll meet her soon enough." said a firm voice behind them. Immediately, the sergeant stiffened. Both of them turned around faced the new man at full attention. He had a crew cut as sharp as a diamond and a face that looked like it was carved out of stone. He currently wore a winterized heavy coat that came uniform for northern regions. Despite his sharp as a razor appearance, the man also had a small amount of facial hair growing on his face. "At ease men." said the general as he picked up a cup of steaming coffee and sipped it gratefully. "I just want you both to know how much I appreciate the fact that you made my job a hell of a lot easier."

"Sir!" shouted the sergeant. John just stayed silent.

"You can unwind yourself now sergeant. We're at war, so as long as you know who's in charge, there's no need for formalities here." he said. They both loosened up.

"Lieutenant Morgan said you were waiting for me. If you don't mind me asking sir, why?" asked John as he looked at the four silvery stars pinned to the mans collar.

The mans face never seemed to change expression, even when a laugh could be heard in his voice. "You just blew up a mountain full of Chinese. Who in their right mind wouldn't want you on their side?" asked General Chase. When he received a look of skepticism from the younger man however, he just chuckled. "Alright, you've got me. I'm sure the Lieutenant there has already told you that he's pretty much got any dirt on you he'll ever need. We know what you are, and why you were created. That's why we wanted you." he said.

John cocked an eyebrow. "Alright...care to enlighten me?" he asked.

The general just sighed. "Please tell me they at least informed HIM of what they were doing with him." said General Chase as he turned to Lieutenant Morgan. Morgan just shrugged his shoulders, causing the general to sigh. Turning back to John, the general just gave him a stoney look. "You are here because you were meant to be here. Your actions at the artillery guns are proof of this. You were sent here to win this war for us. So that's exactly what I intend to do, use you as the United States' killing blow." he said.

John nodded, right as Yae walked into the tent. "Now now sir. Even as an outsider I can tell when you're taking the reins." she said, sitting down in one of the spinning chairs and crossing her legs.

He eyed her crossly. "If we waited for the government to make a move, we'd be extinct as a species. So yes, I'm taking command of this theater, and we're moving in on the opposition while we have their berries in a vice." he said, then looked over at John. "If you have an issue with my actions, I can't force you to follow my orders. I just ask that you consider helping me end this conflict."

John nodded. "Whatever makes the war shorter. I'm all yours General." said the wanderer as he cracked his knuckles. The man finally smiled.

"Thank you. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get down to business and explain our plan of attack." he said, then turned to Morgan. "Go fetch the others, and make sure to get Corporal Watson in here." he said as he walked over to the table in the center of the tent.

He just stared at the map on holographic display until Lieutenant Morgan came back. Following the man were a group of soldiers that all looked about as winter weary as the general himself. At the very back of the line was a young girl, who looked to be in her early twenties. She had the more agile Mongoose armor on, as opposed to the Grizzly combat armor that John and the sergeant wore, and she had her red hair cut about as short as his, and had freckles all over her face.

As soon as she saw John, she immediately exploded with energy. Running up to the wanderer, she grabbed his arm and began to shake him. "Duuuuude! I saw how you took out those bunkers! And the guns! That was awesome! You were all like ratatatatatatatatat..." she said, moving her hands as if she were holding a machine gun. "...and they were all like BOOOOOSH!" she finished, throwing her arms up, imitating an explosion.

"Corporal, please try to maintain some of your professionalism for this meeting." said General Chase in a weary voice.

The corporal stood straight and saluted the man. "Sir, yes sir!" she shouted.

The man just sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration. "You don't salute while indoors Corporal." he said.

The young woman snapped her hand behind her back and looked at the ground sheepishly. "Oh...sorry sir."

"Let's just get this started." said the general as he walked over to the table. "Alright, everyone pay attention. I'm only going over this once." he said. The soldiers all gathered around the display. "Thanks to a certain someone, we no longer have to worry about artillery strikes from the mountains. That allows us to move without worry of being turned into confetti. Before, we were confined because we were too close to their own home base to fire on without risking their own general." he said as the dossier on General Jingwei appeared alongside a picture of the man. Everyone looked up at the Chinese officer. "This is our target. Cut the head off the snake, as they say." he said, changing the map again. "The problem is, we have two other targets to hit before we even get to the big dog."

Corporal Watson's hand shot into the air, flapping about madly as she said "Oh! Oh! Me! Pick me!"

The general sighed again and looked at her. "What is it Corporal?" he asked.

Putting her hand down, she put her arms behind her back. "The Listening Post has intel! Can I go?" she asked excitedly.

"You aren't leaving base." said the general firmly. The girl wilted at the remark, and the man continued his assessment. "As I was saying, Jingwei has two outposts outside the confines of the pulse field. These are the Chimera Tank Depot, as seen here..." he said, highlighting a small facility cloaked by the side of a mountain. "And the Listening Post, a communications hub for their entire operation in Anchorage, here." he said, changing the highlight to a tower structure built on the side of one of the mountains opposite the depot. "I'd like our special guest here tonight to inform me of which of these targets he intends to hit first." said the general as he fixed John with a gaze.

The gunman looked up at the much older man with shock, then just ran a hand through his spiked hair. "Alright..." he said, staring at the map curiously. "So to get to the depot, we have to go through this canyon. Lots of places to hide mines and a wide open place for a tank barrage. Is the mining town outside the Listening Post in Chinese hands?" he asked. Getting a nod from the general, he looked down at the map. "First and foremost, we have to take the mining town. There could still be civilians there, and our top priority should be to get them out of there and evacuate the town."

The general shook his head. "Our priority is that post. We're not here for the civilians I'm afraid."

"Then why the hell are we here?" asked John. Sergeant Montgomery stood next to the wanderer, fixing the general with a glare. General Chase, who's normally stone-like face was the stuff of legends, dawned a look of shock. "Those people are American citizens who were living their life when the world around them suddenly crashed down on their heads. What makes America so much better than China if we just leave them there because 'We want our oil back.'?" he asked, his face a mask of anger.

The general just stared at John as the people around the gunman started to inch away from him. All except the sergeant, who had somewhat of a proud smile on his face. Even the normally talkative Corporal Watson was holding her hands over her mouth in shock.

Finally, the general spoke. "You're right. I decided to lead this charge ahead, but still wanted to think like the government. If I'm breaking away, I might as well do things my own way." he said and nodded. "As you will. Search for the civilians and get them out of harms way." he said. "Go ahead."

John's frame, as well as everyone around him, loosened slightly at the approval. "After securing the mining town, we'll move up on the Listening Post and take it first. Without communication, we'll be able to set up better to take the depot. And if we're fast and lucky, then Jingwei won't even know what hit him." he finished.

"Alright, that sounds good for now. Once the listening post is in our hands, I want you back here so we can immediately start on plans for the depot, Fox." said the general as he shut down the display. "Everyone, get some rest. We've got an army to kick out of our country tomorrow." said the man. John nodded, and the others behind him, including Benjamin cheered.

Later that night, John, Benjamin, Yae, the wily Corporal who went by Elsa, and a few others were gathered around a large fire built to scare away the cold. John just leaned back in a wooden chair that he had been given to rest on, stretching himself out. He no longer had his armor on, but both that and his weapons were within arms reach in case they were needed.

Benjamin, the gunman had started to notice, seemed to have taken a liking to the nimble Lieutenant that had aided them at the munitions plant. He now sat next to her, eating a heated MRE that he had just cracked open, while Yae sat next to him, just leaning back and gazing up at the stars. When the sergeant had gotten to his desert, he offered it to the woman.

She looked down at him, and smiled gratefully. "Why thank you Sergeant. Such a gentleman." she said as she opened the pouch of apple pie and dug into it.

Sergeant Montgomery just looked away, his red face now with an awkward smile. "No problem at all." he said. John just chuckled at the adorable scene before looking over at the small figure sitting next to him. Corporal Elsa Watson was truly a strange creature to behold. She was short, and as he found out from the General, still in her teens. She was overly hyperactive most of the time, which could be extremely annoying in certain situations, and she loved her video games. Something she was expressing at the moment by tapping and jabbing at her pipboys buttons. But the most terrifying thing about her that he had learned, was from Yae herself.

The young girl was a tech wizard. If you gave her a pile of scrap metal and a circuit board, she could probably launch it into space within an hour. He had also heard a horror story from one of the marines stationed here about how she had retrofitted one of the REPCONN rocket toys into an actual launchable rocket. Then she launched it, straight into the marines barracks. The small figurine blasted through one of the walls, injured a soldier who had just decided to get up and visit the head, then blew out the other side of the barracks and detonated on impacting a tree.

The tree was on fire in the morning and the camp had to be evacuated because of the hazardous nature of the rocket fuel she had used to power its flight. She had been just a private at the time, so she had no rank to lose, but she did have to run around the barracks and expel some of her excess energy because of it.

Right now, she pounded away at her pipboys buttons as she played one of the games she currently had installed. John looked over and tried to peak at the screen, seeing some kind of game where two people were fighting to the death. He watched in amusement as one of the cartoon figures knocked the others head off with a baseball bat and sent it soaring into space. Then Vault boy appeared with his arms crossed and one thumb aimed at the ground, and an angry face, with the words YOU LOSE! underneath him.

The girls eye twitched, then she rolled onto her back and reached for the sky. "Noooooooooo! Cheats! Hacks! Judas! How could you do this to me!?" she said, finally with a loud sigh. Looking over, she saw the large smile on John's face. "What?" she asked sharply as she crossed her arms and pouted.

"Nothing...you just...remind me of me, when I was younger." he said, not really believing the words he was saying. She was only a few years younger than he was, and technically was more experienced than him. But somehow he was the super soldier here. The thought just made him chuckle even more.

"How old even are you?" asked the girl as she sat up again with her legs splayed out in front of her.

"I'm twenty now." he said, his mind soaring back to when he left the vault, shortly after his nineteenth birthday. And he was not almost twenty-one. How easily he had left, then fallen right into the routine of life in the wasteland. He hadn't even realized that a year had passed.

"Do you play any games on your pipboy?" she asked curiously as she crawled up to him.

He just chuckled at her. "I'm afraid not. I haven't had much of an opportunity to. Almost since I...left training, I've been shot at and blown up almost a dozen times." he said, more cheerfully than he should have.

Sergeant Montgomery just smirked. "That's it? What, have you been on vacation?" he asked jokingly. The group around them laughed quietly.

John looked at the people around him, laughing and having fun. His mind hurt, simply from the scope of how this could be so realistic. All of these people seemed as real as he was, as real as his father, and Amata, and Lucy. The scope of this technology blew even his mind as he shivered slightly at the cold night air that was trying to fight off the heat of the blazing fire in front of them.

It was then that he made a decision. All of these people may not be real, they may just be holographic in nature, but he'd learn from them as much as he could, and he'd carry that back to the real world. He wanted them all to live through him, so that some existence of them beyond the holographic machine could be made.

The sergeant sitting across the fire from him ran a hand through his hair as he gazed at the wanderer. "So sir, if you don't mind me asking, what's your story?" he asked. Almost immediately, every eye around the fire was locked on John.

"My story? You want to know where I come from?" he asked. The sergeant nodded. "Well..." he started, scratching his head, wondering how much of the truth he should reveal. If this was a simulation after all, it's not like they would understand. Likely that kind of safety had been thought of ahead of time, but he didn't feel the need to push his luck. "I was born in Washington DC. Grew up a pretty easy life until a few years ago. My mother died at birth, and my one constant in my life, my father, left. So I went after him." he said.

Everyones eyes were glued on him. "You went after him? Like, in a car?" asked Elsa as she gazed up at him curiously.

He chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Not quite. In my area of DC, there wasn't a lot of traffic. But there was a lot of violence. I had to fight every single day just for food and water." he said, getting dangerously close to saying that he had had to kill. But he thought the better of it, as pre-war America still had laws and stigmas about killing someone. "Long and short is, I became well known for taking care of problems and surviving against really bad odds. So when this semi-governmental group gave me an offer I couldn't refuse, I signed up. And now I'm here." he said.

"Could you be more vague?" asked Yae as she sat back in her chair with a smile. "Come on, what was this group?" she asked.

But John shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say. But they are very dangerous people, and they brought me here to do what I do best. Solve problems." he said, then eyed the Japanese woman with just as much curiosity. "How about you Hummingbird?" he asked playfully. "What's your story?"

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "I suppose you deserve to know who's going to be at your back." she said, taking a sip from her canteen before closing her eyes, her feathery ebon hair fluttering as a breeze rushed by. Sergeant Montgomery next to her immediately perked up as she spoke. "I was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, in the Chūbu region of Japan. When I was young, I wanted to be a dancer. So that's what I trained for. From the time I was four years old, I wanted to dance like the fan dancers I saw in the vids when I was a child."

"An admirable goal." said John, interested in the culture that the woman brought to the table.

She snorted. "Right. When I was still in my teens, both of my parents were killed in a Chinese bombardment from the coast off the Pacific. I was taken into a shelter, and it was all written up as a mistake. One big targeting error on the China's behalf." she said, snorting bitterly. "And the Prime Minister just ate it up." At that point, Benjamins hand raised and rested itself on her shoulder, squeezing gently. She placed her own hand on his and squeezed back. "After the incident with my parents, I joined the military, swearing that if they ever stepped a toe over the treaty line, then I'd be there to drag them across it and rip them apart. And now here we are, fighting the Chinese on American soil because of an apology accepted from a rat."

John was a bit awestruck as he stared at the woman. "I'm...sorry..." he said. She just flapped her hands at him.

"It wasn't you. It was the Chairman. And he got his own at the end of my blade." she said with a satisfied smile.

"Oh..." said John, then smiled. "Oooooohhhh. Wow, didn't know Japan had it in them." he said.

"They didn't." said the woman, her look saying that no more information was coming out.

Immediately changing the subject,John looked over at Benjamin. "So! How about you Benjie? Any stories to share?" he asked.

The soldier looked taken aback for a moment before reaching up and running a hand through his brown hair. "I...grew up in a violent place on the outskirts of Boston. Got in trouble with a lot of gangs. Ended up joining one. Was like my only family, seeing as my dad had died from an automotive accident and my mom buried herself in a bottle afterwards. Well, me and the boys ended up on the wrong end of some guys boots. We just came out of a bar and bumped into him. It was four on one, but he handed all our asses to us. As it turns out, he was a recruiter with the military." he said, getting a giggle from Yae. He looked over at her curiously.

She just held her side as she looked at him. "Don't tell me, you got beaten down by a recruiter, then recruited into the military." she asked. He just nodded, making her laugh louder. He just crossed his arms and glared at her. "I'm sorry, it's just such a backwards scenario that I wasn't able to contain myself."

He cleared his throat. "Anyway..." he said, turning to the others. "Staff Sergeant Odin was his name. Said his mom had a thing for mythology or whatever. He dragged me and the rest to the hospital to get cleaned up. While he was there we started talking, and..." he said, turning his head away in embarrassment.

Yae sat up curiously and jabbed him in the ribs with a finger. "Go on." she said as he jabbed back playfully.

"He talked to me like I'd never been talked to before. Like a father scolding a son. When I was young, my father had worked all the time, so when he was home, he didn't have time for discipline. So when he stood there, giving me what I'd never had, I felt something click inside myself. I knew I had to join. It was the structure and security I was looking for." he said, still eying the Japanese woman sternly as her smile had never faded.

"And you?" asked John, as he turned to Corporal Watson. "How does a teenager like you get into the military?"

The fiery haired young girl just smiled. "Don't remember much beyond the General finding me. All I know was he found me in a house and took me home. After that, I took apart his laser pistol and put it back together out of boredom and curiosity. So he started letting me tinker with other stuff. Cars, computers, even the robots he needed decommissioned from the base. Eventually I got my own pipboy, and dad talked about me joining the military. So I did, and I've been assigned to his unit since." she said with a large smile.

The wanderer scratched his chin as his thoughts circulated around her words. She had been found in a house apparently, did that mean her real parents had abandoned her, or were dead? And the general had found her, then took her home. A relatively bloody picture painted itself in his head. But he just shook his head, clearing the thoughts. These were holographic people. The occurrences that he had been imagining likely did not actually real. Still, the thought that they were so lifelike bugged him.

Finally, the gunman looked around at the others around him, when something struck him. "Where's the Gunnery Sergeant?" he asked, looking around the group of people for the older sergeant.

"Gunny? He's with the marine crew over in the 62nd." said the young girl next to his feet.

"Why isn't he here with us? He was part of the group, so he should be going with us tomorrow." said the wanderer, aiming his questioning gaze at the Japanese woman across the fire from him.

She shrugged. "Separation of ranks I assume. He did his job, and now goes back to his company." she said nonchalantly. John just shook his head and stood up. "Where are you going?"

"I need to speak with the General." he just said he walked off into the darkness.

OoOoO

"So, let me get this straight. You want me to pull a Gunnery Sergeant from the 62nd over to your squad for when you hit the mining camp?" asked the elder man as he eyed the wanderer in irritation.

"That's right sir. He is one of the reasons I was able to make it through the facility back on the mountain. So if he's game to hit the front lines hard, I'd like him transferred." said John.

The General just sighed and rubbed his temples. "Alright, that's fine. Is there anything else?" he asked, taking a long sip of a steaming drink.

"Yeah...there's something else I wanted to ask you about the mission tomorrow..." said the wanderer as he scratched his chin.


	16. Demoralized

OoO( 16 )OoO

The sun had risen in the northern Alaska sky, bringing a small amount of warmth to those who stood nearly knee high in snow. A small army had been formed to retake the mining town, consisting of a coalition between the American and Japanese military. The snowfall was light that day as the sun occasionally made an appearance through a light blanket of clouds.

John stood separately from the others though. And so did the rest of his group, which now consisted of Sergeant Montgomery, Gunnery Sergeant Washington, Second Lieutenant Goto, and even Corporal Watson. The young girl had refused to stop hugging the wanderers leg for getting her assigned to his group. Since then, she had stubbornly and excitedly clung to him. The General had been extremely displeased with the decision at first, but after much convincing, he finally allowed the second transfer. But only under extreme orders from the big man that she was to be her absolute most professional, and to follow every order to a tee.

She happily agreed, and was currently bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet as the group assembled with a few more people. John turned to the others, his goggles currently on his head of spiked hair as he looked over the others.

"Alright, time to meet the rest of you." he said walking in front of them all with his assault rifle held firmly in both hands. "The rest of you don't know me yet, but you will. I've only been an active agent for a short time, but in that short time I've probably seen and killed more than most." he said, getting a few claps from the audience. But he just shook his head. "That's not something to be applauded for. Don't clap for how many lives someone has taken, clap for how many they've saved. And that's why you're here with me. To save as many lives as possible." he said as he began walking down the line and meeting the different soldiers on his squad.

By the end of the introductions, he had been introduced to a young and eager Private Mateo, a Filipino girl who wore the same fatigues and armor as he did. Another sergeant by the simple name of McDonald, who was as blonde as sunlight, but wore an eye patch in military colors due to a skirmish they had in the annexation of Canada. A Private First Class who seemed to constantly have a cigarette in his mouth and a smile on his face, who had the name Razrin on his ACU's, but who everyone just called CC. And a British vehicle specialist by the name of Ryan Latornaeu, who was a bald as the day he was born and wore thin rimmed glasses.

After meeting them all, John went back to the front of the formation and addressed them once more. "As I said, I don't know all of you yet. But I intend to get to know you a little better as the mission proceeds. I know a few of you might not like the fact that I'm in charge, but I'm going to require you to do exactly as I order in order for this operation to go smoothly. Is that understood?" asked the gunman. They all shouted out their respective branches battle cry, and stood at attention. "Good. The main bulk of the force will be marching ahead of us. We are We are the dagger in the enemies side. So we're going to slide in after they have their attention and neutralize." he said, turning to face the rising sun.

The second in command, Yae, stepped up beside him as he turned around. "Very dramatic, but I felt like you were missing the big climax at the end. You know, where everyone cheers and throws their hats up." she said jokingly.

"That's because the speech isn't over." he said with a smile. She looked over and saw the determined grin on his face.

"What are you planning?" she asked curiously.

He just grinned at her wolfishly. "Do you trust me Second Lieutenant?" he asked curiously. She looked at him, almost shocked at the question.

"I...do, I suppose. Why?" she asked.

"Then I'm asking you to do exactly as I say when I say it. We're walking a very fine line, and someones life may hang in the balance if there's even a moment of hesitation." he said.

Taken aback slightly, she nodded. "I...Of course I will." she said, a bit baffled by the proclamation. "So, care to divulge to me what's going on?" she asked.

"I want you to know that I trust you too. And that's why I'm going to tell you that we have a spy among us." he said. Her face grew grim. "The reason why most of the squads assigned to the mountain mission never made it to the drop off point is because someone alerted the Chinese to the plan, resulting in almost a hundred men dead. So now my job is to not only pave the way to the main base of General Jingwei, but to find this spy and bring them to justice. All of the members from this squad are comprised of possible security risks, those who are the best candidates for being the spy, so your discretion will also be appreciated."

She nodded. "Alright. I'll do as you say without question." she said without hesitation. "What's the plan?" she asked.

OoOoO

John had taken the small amount of time he had left to learn more about them from their own dossiers.

 _ **Sergeant (E-5) David McDonald**_

 _ **Birthdate: March 5, 2030**_

 _ **During his deployed tour of duty in the combat zone of Vancouver, Sergeant (Corporal E-4 at the time) showed exceptional service in the line of duty when he protected his squad against highly volatile liquid that was thrown at him and his squad mates in a riot during the annexation of Canada.**_

The sergeant just laughed as John read off the account to him. The gunman looked up at him curiously. "That's pure bullshit sir. It was a cup of coffee, and the guy who was holding it was shot with a beanbag by some trigger happy little shit private. Even gasping and wheezing afterwards, he apologized to me profusely." said the man, getting a laugh from John.

"So your eye was taken out by coffee?" he asked sincerely.

The man just nodded. "It's cold up here in the north sir. They have their coffee scorching." he said, tapping the eye patch. John merely shook his head and continued reading.

 _ **After the emergency surgical procedure that took his right eye, the Corporal was promoted to the rank of Sergeant (E-5) and given a Purple Heart service ribbon for his contribution to the military.**_

At the bottom of the dossier was a section marked 'Potential Security Risk' John kept silent as he read that portion, not allowing anyone else to see what he was reading. _**Sergeant (E-5) David McDonald has always had a passion about two things. His job, and his women. His particular fondness extends to a few brothels in the Canadian province of Montreal, where he went to one in particular that was well known to have a Chinese sympathizer working. Possibility of security risk low.**_

John then stepped over to Private Mateo, the very serious, but excited about her job, Hawaiian girl who had been born in the Philippines. He pulled up her dossier on his pipboy next.

 _ **Private (E-2) Cheryl Mateo**_

 _ **Birthdate: December 14, 2046**_

 _ **Private (E-2) Mateo was recently transferred from a facility in South Carolina to Camp Jotunn outside Juneau. Her deployment record is nil. Her first active tour of combat zone duty was to Camp Jotunn, a transportation specialist under Colonel (O-6) Steven Tucker. Hobbies consist of driving, driving fast, driving faster, and not crashing.**_

John eyed her curiously as he read off the dossier. "You like to joyride?" he asked.

She shook her head and saluted. "No sir! Joyriding is for amateurs sir!" she shouted, not a single hint of a smile on her face. John just chuckled, eventually making her crack a small smile.

Once again, his eyes drifted to the potential security risk section, reading it silently to himself. _**Private (E-2) Cheryl Mateo went to school with a lot of Chinese immigrants in Hawaii. It was from them that she learned her skills behind the wheel. She occasionally has correspondence with them, one of which is in prison, and has befriended a known Chinese insurrectionist.**_ John nodded to her, then moved on down the line.

 _ **Private First Class (E-3) Vahn Razrin**_

 _ **Birthdate: June 13, 2043**_

 _ **Private First Class (E-3) Vahn Razrin (Private E-2 at the time) was stationed at Camp Skaldi before news of the Chinese invasion. When communist China first hit the shores, Camp Skaldi was the first target of their wrath. Private First Class Razrin was among those taken by the Chinese and tortured for information. Six months after capture, Camp Skaldi was retaken by Allied forces and the soldiers there recovered.**_

John looked up at the Private before him. "Glad to see you smiling. Not many people would be after an experience like that." he said.

The young man just shrugged. "Shit happens. I got over it." he said, a bit of a sour note in his voice, but never losing his smile. The gunman looked down and read the potential security risk section. _**Unlikely suspect. Had no knowledge of Operation Icebreaker to our understanding, but still had recent contact with Chinese through POW camp. John just shook his head and moved down to the last in line.**_

 _ **Agent: Sergeant Ryan Latornaeu**_

 _ **Birthdate: January 25th 2036**_

 _ **Sergeant Ryan Latornaeu of her majesties Royal Army was brought over as an expert in all military vehicles. He was a specialist in most forms of armored vehicle and is able to reverse engineer most any vehicle he gets his hands on. We acquired him through a mutual agreement between the two great nations of the United States and Great Britain to annex his home country of Canada.**_

The man looked up at the bald figure curiously. "You fought with the US to take Canada?" he asked. The sergeant just nodded.

"I did." he said, elaborating no further. John just nodded in acknowledgment and looked down at the mans risk factor. _**Sergeant Latornaeu is married to a Chinese immigrant. She keeps in touch with her parents back in Beijing. Parental affiliation unknown.**_

Putting the dossiers away, stepped up in front of them again. "Alright. The main force is now moving towards the mining town. It's about time for us to move as well, so stick close, and as I said before, I need you to follow all of my orders to the letter. Anything less could cost hundreds of lives." he said. He turned away from all of them and began marching towards the horizon with his assault rifle in his arms, Yae next to him on his left, and Benjie on his right.

"Something big gonna happen?" asked Sergeant Montgomery as the entire group started moving towards the mining town as well.

"Sergeant, I just ask that you trust me, and trust our Lieutenant here." he said, only loud enough for the sergeant to hear.

Benjamin looked from John, back to the Asian woman who winked at him. He just chuckled. "Alright, I get it. Above my paygrade." he said with an over dramatic huff.

"Don't worry sergeant, I'll pay you back for your patience once we have Anchorage again." she said the Asian woman with a genuine smile.

He just eyed her sternly. "That's fraternization ma'am." he said, getting a giggle out of her. But he couldn't help the warm smile that covered his own face.

"Alright, here we go." he said, turning to the Japanese woman. "Goto, go on ahead and scout out. You know where to go." he said. She nodded, then tapped at her pipboy and vanished, much to the surprise of most of the squad. Turning to the others, John smiled. "Alright, here's where we double time!" he shouted, turning around. The others readied their weapons, and the unit as a whole began to march double time towards their destination.

After about a minute or so, the English sergeant spoke up. "Um, not for nothing sir, but you realize we're headed in the wrong direction." said the bald man. John said nothing and continued, as did the rest of the group. Nobody else said a single word.

After a few minutes travel, they arrived at a large canyon. "Gunny, front and center!" shouted John as they stopped. The large dark skinned man stepped forwards, his long barreled sniper in his hands as he did. "I want you to watch this pass like a hawk as we move through it. I've seen the kind of tech the Reds have, and open grounds like this are prime real estate for it. So keep a close eye on us as we move along." he said. The dark gunnery sergeant nodded with a smile, then began climbing one of the cliffs at their side.

Once John felt the Gunnery Sergeant had a good perch, he waved to the others, who did as he did, crouched and moved along the outside edge of the canyon. The first disturbance happened when a small pile of snow exploded upwards, surprising the whole of the group. Out of the ground crawled a small mechanical spider-like contraption. It had a round, flat body, about the size and shape of a hockey puck, with one gleaming red eye in the center. On the outside of its tiny body, four clicking metal legs left the ice crystals from the snow in a trail behind them as it rushed towards the group.

John immediately raised his assault rifle, but stopped when he heard a shot ring out. The small machine exploded into a shower of sparks as the snipers round tore it to shreds. John just raised a thumb into the air, thanking the man, then moved them all forward again. But it wasn't long before more of the creatures exploded out of the snow and skittered towards the small unit. Each of the squad, most of them now knowing what to expect, dropped to a knee and fired on the small bots. But there were too many.

"Shit...was hoping to save this..." said the gunman as he whipped a grenade off his belt and threw it. Everyone who saw the small oval immediately jerked back in surprise, but instead of the typical fiery detonation they expected, it just popped in mid air and sunk into the snow, melting through it. All of the small spiders in the area immediately started spasming uncontrollably before detonating. The group looked to John, who immediately started moving again towards the end of the canyon. The gunman put up one hand and spun it around, the sign for the group to rally back together.

They waited until Gunny was back with them before moving forward again. "Is this the tank depot?" asked Sergeant McDonald.

"Woah! Tanks are awesome!" said PFC Watson as she pumped her hands in front of her excitedly.

John looked back at them. "Quiet. It's not going to be awesome if they end up aiming one of those things at us." he said as he scanned the distance with his binoculars. "We've got four heavies out on the yard. We have to move up past the first guard outpost before we can get into the yard, so our job will be to take them down as silently as possible so we can progress." he said as he ducked down.

"Where did the Lieutenant go?" asked Sergeant Montgomery.

"She went ahead to scout out for us. Though, why she didn't take out this outpost with her stealth, I'm not sure." he said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Regardless, get ready to move out." The team rallied behind their leader and began to move forward through the blinding snow. It didn't take long for them to sneak through the weather, as the guards watching the post had bundled themselves up, thinking that freezing to death was more plausible than intruders.

John looked to Elsa. She smiled and started pushing buttons on her pipboy. "No turrets." she said quietly in his ear. He nodded, then reached up and grabbed the Chinese guard by the back of his jacket, ripping him over the railing and slamming him down into the snow.

Sergeant Montgomery reacted immediately, pouncing on the yelling guard and silencing him with his bowie knife. John nodded his head towards the wooden structure and McDonald, Latorneau, and Mateo all climbed up the sandbags and up onto the stands. McDonald immediately bumped into another of the guards, right before smashing the butt of the rifle into the mans face.

Private Mateo immediately jumped up and grabbed another of the soldiers around the neck with her legs, before twisting sharply and sending him sprawling with a backflipping leg throw. The result was her sitting on his neck with him on his back. She immediately raised her weapon and caved his face in with the back end as the English agent snapped the neck of another surprised guard. Overall, the take down was quick and silent.

John nodded to the others, then exited the back of the shack with all of them behind him. They traveled a bit of a distance further before running into their first nightmare situation. In the middle of the canyon was one of the infamous Chimera tanks. It's body was a triangular vehicle with the typical treads of a tank, but out of the top of its silverish body was a head that had a small cannon, aiming its crystallized array directly at them. "Shit..." was all that got out of John's mouth before the cannon began charging. "Cover!" he shouted, and they all dove out of the way as a shining laser carved its way through the snow straight towards them.

John felt the blistering heat coming off the plasma as it nearly took his legs off. But he rolled through the snow and reached for his belt, where he had another EMP explosive, more commonly called pulse grenades. He didn't know if the tanks were armored against such tactics, but he was about to find out. But before he was able to do anything with the small weapon, he saw the head of the cannon turn again and aim towards his position. He rolled again, feeling his skin begin to blister as the plasma swooped over his head and carved into the cliff side.

"Shit shit shit..." he said as he realized that the grenade was no longer in his hand. Looking back over in the snow, he saw it laying next to his previous position. If he went for it, the he would be open to the tank. As he saw the grenade in the open however, he noticed that most of the group had made it out of the firing zone. Unfortunately, Sergeant McDonald hadn't been as lucky. The beam of plasma that was capable of slicing through rock found no trouble in burning through his armor and turning him to ash within second. "Shit!" shouted the gunman as he pounded the snow packed earth next to him.

With rage fueling him now, he jumped out of cover and rolled across the ground, wrapping his hands around the round explosive. Immediately the tanks main weapon flared up again and fired directly behind him. His skin began to sweat and blister as the beam of plasma started chasing him down. He sprinted with every muscle in his body pushed to its maximum, his hands pulling the safety free of the weapon before slamming down on the button and lobbing it towards the vehicle. He used his agility to run up a portion of the cliffside before diving over the fast moving beam. The result was heavy scoring and burn marks across his armor.

When the grenade finally detonated, another loud pop sounded before the laser shut down. Hearing the burst, Royal Sergeant Latorneau dove out of cover himself and bolted for the tank. "It's shielded! That will only stop it temporarily!" he shouted to the soldier.

"Watson! The hatch is electronic! Open it!" shouted John as he sprinted with the English sergeant towards the tank.

She nodded, tapping on her pipboy. The hissing sound of the pressure inside the machine releasing sounded, followed by the pop of the metal door opening. The hatch immediately flew open as a Chinese soldier popped up with an assault rifle. The wanderer fired a round into the mans head, immediately killing him, then pulled the body out of the hatch.

"Out, now! No weapons!" shouted John in their own language. The others in the group just looked at him curiously.

"I didn't know he spoke Mandarin..." said Mateo to Sergeant Montgomery.

"Neither did I." he said shrugging. The two soldiers remaining in the tank emerged with their hands up. The wanderer edged them towards him, which they did eagerly.

Mateo walked up to John with a bit of a disappointed smirk. "Thought you had me along as a translator sir." she said. He just chuckled, then turned back to the two soldiers and disarmed them, handing the weapons to the Filipino girl.

"You two, go that way. Don't stop." he said to the two soldiers, who nodded and started jogging back towards the American camp. "No Private, I brought you here for this." he said patting the tank in front of them. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him hopefully. "Ready to go joyriding?" he asked.

"What about McDonald there?" asked Montgomery as Mateo squealed in excitement.

John just shook his head. "See if his tags are still there. If so, grab them. We can't go back now." he said, getting a nod. What the sergeant hadn't noticed was the gunmans fist clenched in anger. "When you're done looking, come here for a second."

The sergeant retrieved the fallen soldiers tags, then walked over to where the wanderer was standing. "You wanted to talk sir?" asked Benjie as he walked

"I want you to know that there's a spy in our group right now." he said, turning to the Boston man. Benjie's eyes widened at the revelation. "I'm telling you because you've earned my trust more than once since I've gotten here."

"Uhhh...thank you sir." said the sergeant as he scratched his head. "Any idea who it is?" he asked.

John nodded lightly. "I'm fairly certain. And I've got a plan for that. But in case I'm wrong, I'm going to put you with the secondary team that will be driving the tank. I want you to keep an eye on the others, make sure they don't do anything...unusual." he said. "You have full permission from me and the United States to eliminate any threat, foreign or domestic." he said, staring the sergeant directly in the eyes.

After a minute to process the new information, Benjamin nodded. "Yes sir." he finished, saluting the man sharply.

John nodded, then walked towards the tank again. "Montgomery, you're her backseat driver. Latorneau, you are on weapons systems. Elsa, Gunny, you are with me on the roof. CC...Don't touch anything." he said jokingly, eying the young man, who just laughed at him. "According to Watson's readings, they should be expecting this vehicle back in about twenty minutes. Let's surprise them." he said with a smile.

"Fuck yeah!" shouted Cheryl as she slammed down on the pedal. The tank jerked forward and began picking up speed as the Hawaiian girl shuttered excitedly, her hands on the controls of the high tech machine. "My god it purrs like a kitten." she said as she guided the tank quickly and smoothly through the canyon.

"I've been waitin' for the chance to get one of my hands on one of these babies." said the bald sergeant as he admired the entire inside of the tank from the gunner seat, memorizing everything he could. "Wonder what kind of damage I can do with this bugger."

"Let's not get too eager." said John from above. "Approaching gate now." he said before turning to Gunny. "If you can get a few of the soldiers before we get there, that'd be great." he said.

The Gunnery Sergeant smiled and nodded, then began setting up on the top of the moving tank. When he finally had a secure hold, the sound of rounds firing echoed across the canyon. "Ready to fire sir!" shouted Latorneau from inside the machine with his light English accent.

"Hold until we're inside. We'll need this to destroy the armored fuel tanks!" shouted the gunman over the wind whipping around him.

"Ten-four sir!" shouted the bald man. John held the binoculars to his face as the marine on the other side of the tank fired away. He watched with relief as the bodies of the guards in the towers dropped.

"Approaching gates! Once we crash through, give them hell!" he shouted.

A resounding, "YES SIR!" sounded from inside and outside the tank. As soon as the vehicle crashed through the chain link fence, the cannon lit up and immediately fired upon an all-terrain vehicle that had just pulled up. The laser disintegrated the humans inside and heated the hummer until it exploded.

Gunnery Sergeant Washington jumped off the tank and started walking towards one of the nearby sniper towers that he had cleared from the outside. John just waved him off as the tank made its way into the motorpool. "Elsa, CC, you two are with me." he said as the tank came to a stop. The two followed him as he ran towards one of the nearby buildings and kicked the door in. The first soldier who had come to the door to check on the commotion outside got a face full of the door and was sent sprawling. John immediately cut his life short with a burst from his assault rifle. Elsa clung to his back, and CC followed him in, turning into another doorway to clear the room.

Corporal Watson spotted someone come out of the door to their left, then held up her hand in the shape of a gun and yelled "Bang!" Her pipboy shot out two cords from inside the plastic cuff, each spiking into one of the soldiers and sending high voltage electricity through their bodies. Both of them fell to the ground, convulsing in pain before John walked over and ended their misery.

When the building was finally clear, he walked back into the main server room full of computer terminals and patted Elsa on the head. "Your turn. Get as much data as you can from these." he said. She nodded happily, then plugged into one of the terminals and began farming. John looked around, noticing that CC wasn't back from clearing the other side yet.

OoOoO

Private First Class Razrin had kicked the door in, just the same as John had done to the front. When two of the soldiers sprung out of their seats, he blasted them with his multi-shot combat shotgun, ending them both. Besides the two bodies, there was very little inside the room. A small table with a coffee maker, and another larger table with a computer terminal and a radio.

Immediately, he walked towards the radio and grabbed the receiver. Pressing the button on the side of the handset, he spoke silently. "Red Star, this is Spider. My current position is..."

Suddenly, the radio exploded into fragments of metal and plastic. He backed up, dropping the now unattached mic. "You have something to say to General Jingwei?" asked the Asian woman behind him. CC immediately turned towards her with his shotgun, but her pistol roared again and pierced his hand, making him drop the scattergun and hold his hand in pain.

The woman grabbed him by the collar and jerked him into the hallway, dragging him up the hall until she was in the same room as John. The gunman looked at her, then down at the Private First Class. His curious look immediately turned to disgust. "What was it?" he asked.

"He cleared the room down the hall then tried to go for a radio. He was attempting to contact someone named Red Star, but I got the radio before he could finish." she said, shoving the young man to the ground.

John knelt down in front of PFC Razrin and sighed. "They captured you, and tortured you. And you repay them by betraying the ones who rescued you." said the gunman with disdain in his voice.

The young private just snorted. "Saved me my ass..." he said as he sat up on the floor, still clutching his hand. "I sat in that fucking camp for six months, watching day in and day out as more and more of my squad was dragged off and tortured to death for information, holding out some hope that the big Red, White, and Blue would come storming in and save us. Six months of hope in that hell hole!" he shouted at the wanderer. John just stared at him, so he continued. "When it was finally my turn, they pulled me off into another room and talked to me. Said that they can help me and my family, and that I wasn't worth the cost it would take for the US forces to come and get me. And you know what? They were right." he said, spitting on the ground at John's feet. "If it weren't for Canada finally withdrawing from the war and handing their country over to the US, I'd still be there right now. Sleeping on a cot and listening to the screams of some of my best friends." he said with a glare.

John drew his hand back and lashed at the private, striking him with the back of his hand. The young man fell onto his back, gasping in pain. "Those people who would supposedly help you are the same ones that tortured your friends. They singled you out because they thought you were the weakest. And they were correct." he said, crouching to get into the PFC's face. "You think they didn't offer every single person that went before you the same thing? But still you heard their screams." he said, his glare deadly enough to turn someone to stone. "You're a traitor to the USA, a traitor to those souls who died in that camp, and a traitor to your own family." said the gunman as he stood up. Looking at Yae, he nodded towards the cowering man. "Secure him. Mission One accomplished. Mission Two still in progress." he said.

She nodded, turning to the boy and flipping him onto his stomach to handcuff him. But the traitor quickly reached out and grabbed Elsa by the foot as she continued looking through the data streaming on her pipboy. The girl squeaked as she fell and was lifted as a human shield. "Nobody fucking move or the Generals daughter dies!" he shouted, holding a knife to the redheads throat. Both Yae and John growled, itching to grab their weapons.

The sound of destruction echoed all around them as the other squad blasted away at the unprepared depot, destroying fuel containers for the tanks, and the soldiers scurrying to try and get into one of the vehicles. CC backed towards the door, holding the young girl with the knife edge pressed tightly against her throat.

John looked at Elsa and noticed an agitated look on her face. "Elsa, don't...move." said John as another explosion shook the walls. The girl nodded and froze in place. Razrin proceeded down the hall and exited the door. Then John immediately accessed his pipboy. "Gunnery Sergeant Washington! Private First Class Razrin is a traitor, and currently has Corporal Watson as a hostage. Paint his ass red as soon as possible, but be careful not to hit Elsa." said John.

"Ten-four. Target sighted." came the mans deep voice over the radio.

The gunman turned to the Lieutenant. "Cloak." he said. She immediately recognized the code word and went into stealth again. John rushed to the door and watched as the traitor continued backing away from them.

"I said don't fucking move!" shouted the young man as a Chimera tank came around the corner. Immediately the gun locked onto Razrin's position. Suddenly, the privates head turned towards the tank. "Shit..." he let slip as he stumbled backwards. Another shot rang out and the traitor shouted in horror as the sniper round tore through his shoulder. He fell backwards into the snow, his blood pouring into the ice, melting it as his life blood drained out of his body through the wtice injured limb.

Yae materialized again and held a pistol to his head. "That's enough private." she said. John immediately ran and grabbed Elsa, lifting her up and checking her neck where a small thin cut had pierced her skin. But to his relief it wasn't lethal.

John turned to the tank and waved. Soon after Mateo's head popped out of the hatch with a giant grin. "All accounted for sir!" she shouted. He just smiled at her and sighed.

"I think I'm getting too old for this shit." he said jokingly as the red-headed girl climbed onto his back again. Yae knelt down and patched up the traitors shoulder with gauze, while John just sat down on the walkway. "You alright kiddo?" he asked as he turned towards the sprightly girl now sitting next to him as Sergeant Montgomery exited the tank and began walking towards them.

She nodded with a bright smile. "Of course! I totally could have taken him though." she said crossing her arms and pouting slightly. Suddenly, her ears perked. "Was that a rocket?" she asked.

He immediately saw the rocket trail flying, but not towards them. It instead was soaring at high speed towards the sniper tower where the Gunnery Sergeant had stationed himself. John immediately accessed his pipboy and began yelling. "Washington! Get the hell out of there!" But within seconds of the warning, the tower exploded into a massive ball of fire. John just froze in place as he watched the body of the marine sergeant soar from the structure and crash to the ground in a burning heap.

Yae, surprised at her CO's yelling, turned and saw the occurrence as well. The distraction was all that the traitorous private needed to pull his last ditch weapon free of his boot with his only good arm. It was another, thinner knife, that he thrust upwards into one of the soft joints of the breastplate she wore. Lieutenant Goto turned, startled by the sudden pain in her chest and looked down as the young man glared at her. She didn't move, even as she heard a loud shout from Benjamin who was a few feet away now.

The traitor jumped up and immediately began running. But he didn't make it far, as an enraged Sergeant Montgomery caught him by the chin and immediately twisted, sending an echoing _CRACK!_ across the frozen lot. Benjie then dropped the dead traitors body and immediately rushed to the womans side. John was already examining her wound thoroughly when he arrived. Crouching down, he took her hand desperately. "Is she gonna be alright?" he asked frantically.

The gunman didn't answer immediately as he continued examining her. The woman began to breath heavily, her blood now coating John's hands. Finally, after a long minute, the wanderer just sat back in the snow and put his head in his hands, merely shaking his head.

"Benjie..." said the woman through labored breathing. Reaching up, she cupped his face with her hand. "He...got me deep." she said, gasping again for breath before speaking. "I'm sorry..." she said as he reached down and held her head gently.

Her eyes closed slowly as the life continued to pour from her wound. The man just sat there for a moment, cradling her head in his lap, her blood now surrounding both of them. Finally, Benjamin looked up at John, tears now running down his face. "Why the hell didn't you do something?" he asked.

John just continued looking at the ground. "I checked the wound. The blade he used pierced her heart. Even if she were on a surgical table with all sterile instruments and the supplies needed to repair the wound, it would have taken a miracle to save her." he said in the same stony voice. Benjamin just stood to his feet and walked over to the tank.

As soon as he arrived, he began to assault the metal shielding on the vehicle. "God dammit! God dammit! God dammit!" he shouted as he hammered away.

After a few minutes, John finally stood and walked over to the tank. "There are still a few left in the back of the base. We have the important facility secured, so destroy any buildings you see. Don't take any chances by kicking the doors in. Just annihilate them." he said. "Mateo, you get out here with me. You, me, and Montgomery are going to commandeer another one of the tanks that hasn't been destroyed after we recover Gunnery Sergeant Washington's body." he said, wiping away the tears that were streaming down his face.

He looked down at his wet gloved hand, covered with a friends blood. He knew for a fact that none of this was real, but it still felt real enough to kill for. And if that's what was necessary, he was going to do it.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed my A/N chapter with suggestions. Seems that the majority of you, while you enjoy OA, much prefer Mother Wasteland. So while the arc won't be as choppy as it originally was, I won't be putting much more into it than is already there. Thanks again for reviewing and following along with this story.

Just to let you all know, I've been obsessing over another game lately, and I think that's what I'm going to be working on next in regards to writing. If you're a fan of it as well, that's awesome, and the sneak peak chapter will be posted on my page soon. :D So, tell me what you think of this story so far, and what parts of Fallout 3 that you'd really like our hero to explore. Only two rules though, no Lookout Point, and no Mothership Zeta. Lookout Point, I just despised. And Mothership Zeta doesn't allow a lot of room for anything except chapter after chapter of combat scenarios, without a lot of character dialogue. Other than that however, it's free reign.

Otherwise, hope you enjoyed. :] And the next chapter should be following shortly.


	17. Anchorage Liberated

**Author's Note:** Just wanted to get this out so you guys know it's done. I'll smooth it out a bit more later if it's needed, but here it is for you to enjoy in its original state. Be sure to tell me what you think by reviewing!

OoO( 17 )OoO

Specialist Olin just looked at the ground, her hands resting against the console in front of her. She had been unable to look at the screen ever since she saw Sergeant Montgomery running towards the Asian woman, knowing what the outcome would be. Since she was a child, she had a reputation for being a hardass. Even some of the most heartbreaking moments in her life had been met with a stone cold face and a shrug of her shoulders.

But despite most of the figures on the screen being a figment of some crazy techs imagination, she couldn't help but turn away from the screen. Jericho sat nearby, a cigarette in his mouth again and a sour look on his face. McGraw sat with his chin planted in one hand, staring at the screen with a hard glare.

Defender Sibley however, was unmoved by any of it. "Who gives a shit? Just a damn hologram anyway." he said in his high pitched irritating tone. Jericho looked at him with a glare, but said nothing.

But Specialist Olin was not so forgiving. "If it's so easy to deal with Sibley, then why don't we throw you in next and see how well you deal with it?" she asked, looking up at him with daggers in her eyes.

The defender snorted and waved her off. "Couldn't if you tried. If we could, you wouldn't need this waste rat to do our work for us." he said. She continued to glare at him.

"If you have nothing useful to say Sibley, then leave the room." said the specialist, almost growling now.

The defender was about to step forward and lash at her for her impudence, when McGraw stepped forward and stopped him. "She's right." he said in his country accent, getting a stunned look from the defender. "Your mouth isn't helping anyone right now. So either shut it or go back to guarding the vault."

Sibley stood there, awestruck at his commanders words. But finally, he decided that rebelling now would do very little to gain him anything. So instead, he turned around and walked out of the room to where his squad stood.

 _"You alright sir?"_ asked one of the titans in their metal armor.

Sibley just waved for the troop to follow him. When they were well away from the holoroom, he turned to the armored figure. "You remember Protocol Hermione?" he asked. Immediately the soldier stiffened, nodding slowly. "It might be time to take it to completion once the waste rat gets out of the chamber." he said, his voice low.

 _"Roger. Just give the word sir."_ said the iron man.

OoOoO

Lieutenant Morgan stood at the back of the large army that had amassed at the edge of the forest outside the mining town. Thus far, none of the Chinese soldiers had noticed any movement from outside the town. But their luck wouldn't last forever. Morgan sat on the back end of one of the trucks, looking over the map he had brought along with him. The small settlement was nothing more than a gathering of small houses, all lined up in square formations nearby the mines. New additions to the towns were small pillboxes that dotted in between the houses, allowing the invaders inside to see movement all around them.

He just sighed and looked at the representation of the mines on the map as his mind wondered. "He said they'd be here by now." said the female soldier sitting across from the Lieutenant. He looked up at her through his thick glasses.

"I know, but I have to trust that he knows what he's doing. They have a lot of turrets set up in that town, and his solution may be the only thing that will keep us from losing hundreds of soldiers." he said he marked on the map all of the turret locations that the other intelligence core had given him.

Almost as if summoned by magic, there was a loud yelling at the northern side of the camp. The Lieutenant stood to his feet and immediately brought up a pair of binoculars to his eyes. A smile lite his face as he saw two Chimera class tanks rolling into the camp and demolishing several of the pillboxes with its high powered cannon. He reached down and grabbed the whistle around his neck as he saw troops flooding out of the mine and the various buildings to try and repel the rogue tanks. Putting the instrument to his lips, he blew with all his might.

"Rally up! Time to hit the backdoor!" he shouted. Immediately, soldiers, vehicles, and canines were gathered and began charging towards the small town. One of the tanks that was receiving flank fire by the turrets near the mine turned its cannon and vaporized the small machines. As soon as both sets of turrets were down, the army flooded through the buildings, some entering the dwellings and checking on the citizens that were bound and gagged in their own homes, and others stampeding towards the red invaders, hitting them with assault rifle fire. The town was down in less than a minute, with the flag of the US flying over it once again.

Lieutenant Morgan approached one of the tanks, the hatch popping as he did. John thrust himself out of the vehicle as the dark skinned lieutenant stopped in front of him. "Goddamn, you weren't kidding when you said this would kick them in the pants." he said, but his speech stopped as he saw the look on the soldiers face. "What happened?" he asked.

"Lieutenant Goto, Sergeant McDonald, and Gunnery Sergeant Washington were killed in action." he said, reaching around his neck and pulling the tags off, handing them over to the intel officer. Morgan looked at him stunned.

"What about PFC Razrin?" he asked as he took the holotags of the fallen soldiers.

"He was...dealt with." said John, glaring at the ground at his own feet.

Morgan nodded, getting his meaning. "I see. So the leak has been eliminated then?" he asked, more of a statement than a question. John nodded as the officer looked at him. "So, where do we go from here?" he asked curiously.

John walked over to where the map was now laying across the bed of the truck that Morgan had previously been sitting on. Pointing to the listening post, he simply said. "The tanks are more than enough to take out the defenses there. Just swarm it and kick their asses out." he said. Morgan nodded.

"And the pulse field?" he asked.

"The cannon on the tanks can penetrate the ground far enough to destroy the emitters. Once we clear a path straight to Jingwei's front door." he said, looking up at the man. "Is there anything else we need to know about beyond the field?" he asked.

Morgan shook his head, still eying the map. "We can't see behind the walls of his compound. So there's no telling what he's got out there. But..." he said pointing to the Chinese made trenches in front of the compound. "How do you plan to get the tanks over these?"

"We build bridges for them. Clear out the trenches of invaders, then start building over the top of them. Once we have them across, we can clear a path to the building that powers the field and shut it off for good."

"Couldn't we just destroy the control tower with the tanks from outside the field?" asked the Lieutenant.

"Chances are the grid is separate from the activation controls. So if we destroy it, there's a good possibility that we may not be able to shut it off. Better to just clear the way and flip the switch ourselves." he said. "If we're going to do this, then let's hurry it up. I've lost too many of my squad today to let this shit go on for much longer." said the gunman.

The lieutenant nodded. "I'll inform the general." he said as he turned and began jogging back across the mining town.

As the troops gathered up the miners, they were met with much gratitude. John himself walked among the beaten and bruised citizens, watching as they were filed away from the mine. Several times, a few of the native Alaskans came up to him and bowed thier head in thanks. All he did was nod his head towards them and continue walking.

It had taken less than an hour for the Listening Post to be liberated from the hands of Communist China. Once freed of the invaders, General Chase made the post his own headquarters for the final charge against Jingwei's forces. John, sick of planning and plotting, excused himself until the time in which everyone was ready to go. He knew the plan. Hell, he'd made the plan. So getting briefed on it was useless.

He found himself staring out across the trenches that the Chinese had burrowed into the ground. He could see the compound from where he stood, and the field of snow which had a sheen of electricity flowing across it in front. "What do you have in store for us?" he asked. It was then that he felt a tugging on his coat. Turning, he looked down at the small figure of Corporal Watson standing next to him, looking at the ground sheepishly. "What is it?" he asked curiously.

The girl fidgeted for a moment, before finally looking up at him. "Father says I can't come along this time. But he also said that this would be the last push to get the Chinese out of Alaska." she said. Getting a nod from John, she looked down and sniffed quietly. "That means that when this mission is finished, I won't be able to see you again." she said.

The gunmans heart melted, a fresh smile now on his face. Kneeling down, he tilted her chin up so that she was looking at him. "Don't worry. Even if we never see each other again, I'll always be right here." he said, tapping his finger on her nametag.

"In my name?" she asked. He just looked at her sternly, causing her to giggle. "I know. But...I wanted to give you something for when you left, so that you'll remember me." she said as she reached forward and grabbed his pipboy. Taking out the cable on hers, she tapped a few buttons and he noticed something transfer to his own.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"It's my favorite game. Anytime you need to remember me, just play that game. I even made a character in it that looks like me." she said with a large smile on her freckled face.

The gunman chuckled and put his hand on her head, messing her short fiery hair up before standing again. "Don't worry, I'll play it all the time." he said. She looked up at him once more, then hugged his leg tightly, before letting go and running off towards the Listening Post again. John just watched her go, his hands now on Gunny's sniper rifle which he had brought with him. "How unusual..." he said.

Finally, after another twenty minutes in briefing, Sergeant Montgomery and the two remaining members of his squad approached him. "I hear you're the one who came up with this plan?" asked the Sergeant. John just nodded. The Boston man just sighed. "Good. I don't trust anything that they'd throw at us." he said, thumbing towards the post.

John felt an immense burden lift from his shoulders at the mans words, making him smile deeply in gratitude. He assumed that after the death of the Japanese Lieutenant, Sergeant Montgomery would be less inclined to be around him. He was extremely relieved to have been proven wrong.

"But, one favor sir." he said. John nodded. "I want to be the one to finish off that red bastard that's hiding in there." he said, cracking his knuckles.

John gave the sergeant a lopsided grin. "You'll have to beat me to him Sergeant." he said in a challenging tone.

"Oh, a race is it?" said Benjie as he drew his own assault rifle. "We'll see who's the super soldier after this won't we." he asked, getting a chuckle from the gunman.

"Sir, we're ready to go when you are." said Private Mateo as she stood at attention.

John shook his head. "No sir, not anymore. To you guys, I'm just John." he said.

The girls stance softened. "O-Okay. We're ready to go when you are...John." she reiterated. John nodded to both her and Latorneau.

"Good. You two gear up in the tanks. When we clean out the trenches, a team of engineers will be laying bridges across the trenches so you can get across. While you're up here on top, any outposts you can take out would be extremely helpful." he said.

Despite his earlier declaration, they both saluted. "Won't fail ya sir." said the English sergeant, before both of them turned and took their respective places in their vehicles.

OoOoO

As soon as the signal was given, John, Benjamin, and a new group of soldiers armed with close combat weapons, and one bearing heavy weapons, began bursting through the large tunnels in the earth. They turned around multiple curves in the gutted dirt. As they entered what was known as the Red Zone, they began to encounter insurgent troops.

Benjamin took the lead in the charge, a shotgun in his hand. As they came upon a small group of three of the troopers, he lifted the shotgun and fired, blasting one backwards. Two of the well-trained soldiers behind him raised their assault rifles and ended the other two. "Clear!" shouted Montgomery as they swarmed around the corner again. They came across a small wooden structure built into the trench as a small outpost. Benjie waved for the heavy weapon specialist to move forward.

The soldier jogged forward with a rocket launcher over his shoulder. Pulling the weapon up, the soldier next to him loaded a shell into the large weapon. Once ready, the secondary soldier tapped the first on the helmet. Once he clicked off the safety, the rocket flew and destroyed the small wooden structure, sending two bodies flying from the explosion and collapsing the building. Together, they all burst through the smouldering wreckage.

Benjie jumped back again as a gout of flame nicked him again. "Goddammit. I hate these incinerators." he said as he ducked behind a wooden pillar. The man shooting the flame at him stood on the outside of the trench, letting the font of fire pour down on the American soldier.

Mateo, who now had another soldier manning the weapon inside the tank, spotted the Chinese incinerator standing on the edge of one of the trenches. He was dousing the ditch below him with flame. "Gunner! Twelve o'clock!" she shouted.

The man in the back shouted. "Got him! Firing now!"

Sergeant Montgomery dove through the wall of flame and combat rolled to a position of more cover. Suddenly, the flames stopped. The sergeant looked up and saw a beam of pure white energy devour the man, leaving nothing but his feet. Waving to the others, he began moving forward again.

John stood at the top of one of the trenches, the sniper he had recovered from Gunny's body now in his hands. He looked down the scope as the sergeant made his way through the mired labyrinth of dirt, his crosshairs focusing on a shimmering field in the sunlight. There was a Chinese dragoon sneaking over the walls of one of the guard posts with his stealth activated. But standing in front of the dark of the wood, and the white of the snow both revealed a shimmering that alerted the gunman to his presence.

Focusing the crosshairs on what he figured to be the center, he released his breath, and pulled the trigger. Immediately, the invisible soldiers stealth net vanished, leaving him revealed with a hole in his abdomen. Clutching the wound, the rogue fell face first into one of the ditches. But he didn't have time to revel in his marksmanship, as a shot from another sniper rifle clipped his leg. He immediately dropped behind cover, clutching his leg with a grimace. "Damn..." he said. Raising his radio, he signaled to the English sergeant. "Latorneau! Sniper tower at your ten o'clock!" he shouted.

The tanks cannon turned and fired, sending two beams of energy that tore the wooden structure to pieces, igniting its generator and causing it to explode with heat. John leveled his rifle on the barrier he had taken cover against and aimed again. There was another dragoon stumbling out of the wreckage with a heavy sniper rifle in his hands, but no stealth net on. He pulled the trigger again, this time causing the mans helmet to shatter, and sending his brain matter all over the wreckage. Afterwards, he scanned the remaining towers, seeing that the tanks had already taken care of most of them. The remainder looked empty. He moved out and began limping across the makeshift metal bridges that the soldiers were now laying across the trenches.

"Chimera's, move forward!" he shouted over his pipboy before moving forward himself. It was another grueling four hours and several dozen soldiers lives before the trenches were finally cleared of the red menace. John stumbled past the final barricade that the trenches provided with Montgomery's squad behind him. He had taken another shot to the shoulder, and his face had been nearly burned off with a new prototype flamethrower that instead of shooting a spray of fire, it launched fireballs at the enemies. When it impacted, it cemented to whatever it caught ahold of and burned through it. It had barely missed him, catching his shoulder armor instead, and if not for the quick actions of the Boston sergeant at his back, he'd probably be without an arm.

The tanks followed up behind them, stopping just short of the charged pulse field. The American forces gathered around the tanks, everyone with a smile on their faces at the news that this was the final push before they liberated Alaska from the red threat. "Everyone stand back!" shouted the sergeant, scattering the soldiers from the two tanks. "Alright. Chimera One, you make a path to the compound. Chimera Two! You carve a way over to the pulse control tower!" shouted Montgomery.

Both tanks lit up their cannons and began to fire. The beams started on the ground in front of the tanks, then began to curve upwards into the field of pulse generators. As each of the death lasers hit a generator, it exploded, sending snow, dirt, and ice flying into the air. The second tanks beam blew out every generator, leaving a clear trail of destruction all the way to the tower. Mateo cheered from within the tank as her cannon powered down.

John smiled at the cheering private. But his smile vanished as he heard two consecutive _BOOM_ 's from within the compound. "What the hell was that?" he asked. Suddenly, two smoke trails shot from the top of the compound wall and were aiming directly for the tanks. "Chimera teams! Move forward out of range!" he shouted. Latorneau responded immediately, sending his tank barreling forward into the path of carnage he had created. But Mateo's tank wasn't as quick to respond. The anti-tank round fired slammed into the tank, detonating the vehicle. The resulting explosion sent John into one of the barriers nearby.

Montgomery shielded himself against the explosion by taking cover behind a small outcropping of rock. When he looked out after the second detonation, his eyes trained on the young privates tank. "Goddammit..." he said as he saw the mangled form twisted and burning. There was no way anyone inside survived.

OoOoO

"Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!" shouted Specialist Olin as she looked over and saw blood dripping from the corner of the vault dwellers mouth now. She began tapping rapidly at her console, trying to counteract the trauma caused by the explosion. But her computer suddenly shut down. "What the fuck!?" she shouted, slamming her palm against the side of the moniter.

"What the hell happened?" asked McGraw as he walked over to where the Specialist was standing.

"I don't know! I tried to stabilize him and something locked me out!" she said, grabbing her head in frustration.

Jericho looked at the two. "He's not gonna die from that is he?" he asked, even his own expression nervous now. He was too much a part of the wasteland to be affected by the vault dwellers death. But if he died, there was no telling what these armored lunatics would do with him.

"Not likely, but he could very well be crippled in there for a very long time if he suffered any kind of spinal damage." said the blonde specialist as she continued to try and access the console.

"Fuck me..." said the ex-raider as he looked up and saw John on the screen, laying in the snow with blood dripping from his mouth. He stood up and walked up to the screen, staring at the gunman through the holograph. "Get up you son of a bitch." he said, focusing on the gunman, as if he could mentally reach out and slap him in the face. "Get up!"

OoOoO

John felt only darkness as he laid in the falling snow of the Alaskan tundra. He had impacted the barrier, slamming his shoulder and head into the wooden barrier behind him. Not to mention the probable concussion he got from the shockwave of the explosion. He laid there for almost a full five minutes before his eyes snapped open.

Reaching up, he grabbed his head painfully as he sat up. Sergeant Montgomery was at his side almost immediately, pulling him up onto his feet again. "You alright sir?" he shouted over the sound of the ringing in the gunmans ears.

"Never better..." he said, grabbing his head and trying to focus again. "What happened? Where's Mateo and Latorneau?"

Benjamin cringed lightly. "The sergeant is still in the middle of the pulse field. As far as we know he's too far in for them to use their long range weapons against him. But Mateo..." he said, not finishing the sentence. But he didn't have to. John looked up at the burning husk of the tank, his eyes wide in fury. Standing straight again, he began marching towards the lone tank in the center of the field. "Sir! Where are you going?" he asked.

"To finish this goddamn thing once and for all!" he shouted, and began sprinting out of Benjie's reach to catch him.

The sergeant watched him take off and turned to the remaining soldiers who looked on awestruck. "Let's go! Provide backup!" he shouted. The entire remaining force began to charge in behind the gunman, with Montgomery at the head. "Delta squad! Go shut off the pulse field!" he shouted. Out of the hundred or soldiers, twenty of them broke off and headed for the control tower in the distance.

John raised his pipboy to his mouth and shouted. "Latorneau, status report!" But he got no response from inside the dormant looking vehicle. "What the hell happened?" he asked as he approached the tank. But he only had to wait a second before his answer came. Out of one of the crevices of the tank crawled one of the miniature mechanical spiders. It's target reticle focused on John, causing it to sprint towards him. But the gunman glared and grabbed the pistol at his side and blasted a round through it before it could reach him.

But the time he got the tank compartment open, the sergeant and their regiment had caught up. "Ready sir!" he shouted.

"You, in the tank with me. The rest of you, once we take down the gate of that compound, you deliver a swift kick to their ass and make them remember who they're fucking with!" he shouted, getting a cheer from the rest of the soldiers. John hopped into the tank and saw both Latorneau and the gunner that had been placed with him laying limply in their seats with a stab wound in both of their necks. Wasting no time, he grabbed the Englishman under the arms and laid him on the floor of the vehicle, then returned to the driver seat.

"Keep an eye out for those little bastards. If you have to, drop a pulse grenade and take them out. But don't let them get to your or you're dead." said the sergeant as he pointed at the shattered spider bot. After getting acknowledgement from the troop, he ducked inside himself just as the tank started moving forward. Slamming himself down into the gunners seat, he moved to turn the cannon, but it wouldn't budge.

"Prepare to fire." said the gunman as he glared through the glasteel window in front of him.

"It won't budge." said the sergeant in irritation. He jumped out of the seat and popped the hatch again.

"What are you doing?" asked John. "Get your damn head in here! We're in range of the snipers!"

"Just fire the goddamn gun sir, before I kick your ass!" shouted the Boston man as he stepped onto the top of the tank and steadied himself. Grabbing the cannon with both hands, he wrenched with all his strength. Slowly, very slowly, the cannon began to turn towards the main gate of the compound. "Fire now!" shouted the sergeant as he felt a round ping off the tanks outer armor.

John, frustrated and tired, threw himself into the gunner seat and grabbed both of the trigger handles for the weapon. Slamming down on the red buttons on top, the cannon lit up. Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery felt his hands begin to burn as he wrenched the laser weapon towards the gate. Then he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. Ignoring the pain, he continued until the beam was focused directly on the main steel gateway of the Chinese compound. Finally, he let go of the cannon and looked down at his chest. One of the dragoons rounds had punched straight through his armor, and was lodged somewhere in his body now.

"Hehehe..." he said as he watched the gate crumble under the fire. Not only did the gate melt into a molten pile of slag, but the laser itself was also devastating the inside of the fortress, tearing down buildings and ripping the Chinese defenders apart. "Got you you red sons of bitches." he said, before slamming his hands on the cannon again. "This is for Yae you communist scum!" he shouted, turning the laser again. The beam swept across the landscape and devoured another troop of the red soldiers that were flooding from the buildings. Benjamin felt another shot to his chest cavity, this one punching him backwards as his hands released from the superheated weapon. He fell back into the snow, his hands ablaze and smiling.

John, not wanting to see another friend dead, stopped the tank in front of the melted gateway. He jumped out of the vehicle as the bodies of the dragoons dropped next to it, no doubt from the Americans own snipers. He really didn't care if there were snipers or not. The entire battalion swarmed in around him, shooting, firing rockets, kicking in doors, and gunning down every last soldier they could find. "Ceasefire!" shouted the gunman as he reached down and picked up the sword from a slain Chinese officer.

All of the American soldiers stopped their firing, and all of the remaining Chinese looked around confused. But a very low pitched voice from inside the main building yelled out a strong word in Mandarin. The remaining Chinese soldiers raised their weapons, but were surprised by the American gunman in front of them.

 _"Ceasefire and you will be spared. I am here for General Jingwei!"_ shouted the gunman in Mandarin. The American army all looked at each other in surprise. The Chinese lowered their weapons. _"General, your fight is over. Get out here, or die a cowards death!"_ shouted John.

The doors to the main facility opened and out stepped a man dressed in a highly decorated military uniform. It was green, with medals and ribbons all over the breast of the freshly pressed jacket. The man in the uniform was short and had a mustache that screamed of a comic villain from one of his old Grognac the Barbarian comics. Despite his short stature however, he was very stocky, and heavy around the middle. _"You dare call me a coward American dog?"_ he shouted.

John held up the sword and aimed it at the man. _"You are a coward, hiding behind your walls. And you have no honor, sending these men to their deaths, knowing they held no hope of victory. You are the lowest of cowards."_ said the gunman as he stepped forward. The general said nothing, just staring blankly at the wanderer. _"You know your only honorable path."_ said John as he swiped the sword.

The Chinese general took a step back. _"Your government will want me alive."_ said the portly man, who was now breaking out in a sweat.

 _"My government is not here General. And neither is yours to save you again. Just you, me, and your sword."_ said John as he walked forward. _"Now, you can take the honorable way for your people, or I will take your life like the coward you are. And tales will be told of the dog Jingwei, who begged an American for asylum before dying a horrible death at the hands of democracy."_

The general stood, frozen in time for a moment before finally stepping forward. _"You would give me an honorable death?"_ asked the man.

 _"I don't care how you die General, I just want you dead. It's your choice how you go."_ said the gunman in a deadly tone. The general stood again for a moment before walking forward to the bottom of the stairs. Drawing his sword, he knelt down placed the tip at his stomach.

 _"Please...do not dishonor me..."_ said the Chinese officer as he felt the nick of John's sword on his neck.

 _"Your name will not be that of a coward."_ said the gunman, who got a nod from the general. Jingwei then summoned his courage and thrust the blade into his own gut. He let out a war cry before the wanderer swung his own sword, severing the Chinese generals head, and ending the war for good.

Suddenly, both the head and body of the general vanished in a cloud of static noise. One by one, the soldiers around him began to vanish in the same fashion. Then, as if he had been there the whole time, General Chase appeared before him. "That'll do soldier. Stand down." said the aged man, his voice laced with computerized distortion.

John looked up at the man, knowing that he was no longer looking at the worn and aged general that he had talked to before. He was now staring at the simulation. "Is that it then? Am I done?" he asked, letting out a strained breath as the faces of those he had lost ran through his head.

"With this compound secured, we have destroyed the last foothold that the Chinese have in Anchorage. They are now scattered and confused, and will be easy to drive from Anchorage proper. You've helped pave the way for the rest of the military and have given us a leg up on the Red Menace. That'll complete this portion of your training. Once the enhancements are applied, report to your superior officer for debriefing on your next assignment. Dismissed."

Suddenly, a cloud of white static swallowed John as he closed his eyes and drifted off into the snowy abyss.

OoOoO

"He did it? He actually did it right?" asked McGraw as he watched the screen. Jericho looked at McGraw, then back at the screen as well. Specialist Olin was even staring awestruck at the message scrolling across the interface.

 _"Anatomical enhancements engaged. Do not disconnect before full procedure is complete."_ said the computer in the same robotic female voice from before. Suddenly, they all spun as they heard the wanderer within screaming as if he were on fire. His eyes were now open and some kind of red fluid was being injected directly into his bloodstream via the tubes attached to the interface suit.

"What the hell is it doing to him!?" shouted Olin as she once again tried to access the terminal in front of her.

"My god..." was all that Protector McGraw said as he saw the effect it was having on the young mans body. His regularly toned body now hardened like stone. His muscles became more defined underneath the suit. His biceps bulged, his abs hardened, his calves solidified, and his pecs lifted and tightened. It was a full five minutes before the screaming finally stopped. And when it finally had, nobody would have known it had happened if they hadn't been there.

The wanderers face was a mask of defeat, not pain. Instead of the usual warped face that resulted from sharp bursts of pain, he wore a mask of a man that had been defeated inside. Tear tracks were visible from his eyes down to his chin as the egg shaped chamber opened. Immediately, Specialist Olin began disconnecting all of the cords and tubes attached to him. "My god, are you alright?" she asked with genuine concern in her voice. When he was finally free, he jumped out and tore the suit off himself as if it were made of paper.

"The fuck man?" said Jericho as he turned away from the naked vault dweller.

Just as silently as before, John began to dress himself in his regular attire. Olin walked over to him and was looking at him with concern. "Hey, are you alright? What did it do to you?" she asked desperately as he turned away again. Once fully dressed, he turned away from her and headed for the door. "John!" she shouted. Hearing his name called in such distress shocked him into stopping. "I'm...sorry. I didn't know any of that was going to happen." she said, lowering her head.

John sighed and turned to her, then placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know. None of you could have." he said. A look of slight relief covered the Specialists face as he finally talked to her.

"Do you have any idea what it did to you at the end there?" asked the Protector, his drawl coming on thick. John turned to him, then looked at the egg shaped chamber. Moving forward, he placed his hands underneath the heavy capsule and lifted. To his, and everyone else in the rooms surprise, he flipped the entire thing over, shattering the glass covering and tearing the cords and tubes apart. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph..." said McGraw as he saw the gunman effortlessly lift the heavy pod.

"I guess that was the 'enhancements' it was talking about." he said, rubbing his forearm as he stared absent-mindedly at his hand. Finally, after a moment, he turned towards the door. "Cummon, let's go see what they left in the vault for Mr. Fox." he finished. Both of the Outcasts nodded and followed him out, soon followed by Jericho as well who was still slackjawed at the display of power.

As he continued down the hall, he passed Sibley, who was leaning against the corrider wall. The defender looked up at him and sneered. "I see you finally got through the tutorial. You feel like a super soldier yet?" he asked sarcastically, ignoring the glare he got from McGraw. But John didn't take the bait. He just walked straight past the defender and over to the console on the outside of the vault door. "What the hell is he doing?" he asked.

Protector McGraw looked at the defender oddly. "He's opening the vault, then taking his share. Just like we agreed upon." he said, as if the answer were obvious. McGraw walked past the defender who looked at him stupidly.

"You mean you're actually going to give that waste rat some of the tech in the vault?" he asked incredulously.

"What the hell are you talking about Sibley? Of course I meant it. He risked his life just the same as us. Why shouldn't he have a share?" asked the Protector.

The door to the vault slid open, but Sibley continued to persist the Protector. His face warped in anger. "Alright McGraw, this has gone on long enough." he said, standing in front of the man.

Protector McGraw looked down at the defender with confusion on his face. "Now's not the time Sibley."

"Oh, I think now is the perfect time. There's no way in hell I'm letting this savage walk out with half the tech in that vault!" he said in his high pitched grainy voice.

The protector glared at his subordinate. Not noticing the two Outcasts behind him lining up shots. "I've made it perfectly clear that it's not your call Sibley."

The defender then reached forward and shoved McGraw back a step. "Sorry 'sir'." said Sibley, emphasizing the title. "But I'm making it my call now!" he said.

Specialist Olin stood to the side, watching the interaction nervously while Jericho stood off to the side, amused that he was finally seeing some real fighting. Protector McGraw stepped forward again, getting in Sibley's face. "Muntiny Sibley? Really? And you think for a second you're gonna get away with it?" he asked sharply.

"No!" shouted Sibley back. "You're not gonna get away with giving away the tech we risked our asses to get!" shouted the defender, his spit now flying as he screamed back at his superior.

"Burn in hell traitor." said McGraw, crossing his arms, as if daring the defender to try something.

"I'll see you there McGraw." he said as he reached up to signal his men.

"Ahtut-tut!" came a call from within the vault. They all turned and looked at John, holding a Fat-Man mini nuke launcher aimed directly at Sibley. "Let's not be hasty now Defender." he said.

The traitorous Outcast was wide eyed, but still stubborn in his ways. "You think I'm stupid enough to believe you'd blow yourself up along with the rest of us?" he asked, unable to hide the nervous tone in his voice.

John just chuckled. "Listen dumbass, I rigged my pipboy to blow me up in case you tried something funny. You think I wouldn't happily blow myself up to shut that running mouth of yours?" he asked. Sibley said nothing. "Now, Specialist Olin, Protector McGraw, both of you step over beside me please. And Sibley, if you move a fucking inch, I'll collapse this entire goddamn base down on your head." he said with a tone so forceful that even the stone cold Olin shivered.

Both of the Outcasts that he called moved over to his side. "What about me?" asked Jericho, holding his arms up as if being left out. John jerked his head towards him, signalling him to move as well. Jericho did so, stepping inside the confines of the vault.

Smiling wickedly now, John tossed the launcher out into the hallway and slammed his hand down on the console next to him, sealing them inside the heavy blast door. Sibley looked down at the launcher and saw that it had been rigged, probably when he was arguing with the Protector. "Fuck..." was all he got out as the boobytrapped launcher ripped the safety clean off the mini-nuke.

Both of his men dove into the rooms on either side of the hallway to escape the blast, but Sibley had nowhere to run. The resulting explosion tore him and his power armor to shreds, blasting his insides all over the wall. Once the smoke had clear from the detonation, John opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, making for the two remaining traitors. One of them pulled a minigun up to blast the wastelander away, but was surprised when the young man ripped it out of his hands and threw it one handed out into the hallway.

Despite the power of his armor, when the vault dweller pulled on his helmet it cracked open, spraying the contained oxygen out wildly. Once freed of the armored helmet, John grabbed the mans head and twisted sharply, easily twisted the mans head backwards before turning to the second of the two.

 _"Jesus Christ, what the hell are you?"_ he shouted through his helmet as he turned to run instead of attempting to kill the gunman. But when he reached he hall that led to the escape, he was hit with dozens of lasers that tore him to pieces, armor and all. John walked up to the hall and looked down it to see Defender Morrill standing there at the end.

 _"Olin had the whole thing playing on our frequency. I knew that scumbag couldn't be trusted."_ he said, nodding to the wastelander.

John turned back to the three in the vault and walked past them. "Sorry about killing your officers Protector." he said.

The southern man shook his head. "No skin off my back. They probably would have done me in if it wasn't for you." he said scratching his buzzcut.

John just smiled at him as Olin leaned back against the wall and slid down onto her behind. "Fucks sake...could this day get any more fucked up?" she asked.

John walked back into the vault himself and looked at the shelves and shelves of technology that hung there. Everything from laser weapons, to plasma weapons, to energy shields, to more conventional, Chinese style weapons, to a set of power armor on a stand right in front of him. Completely ignoring the power armor, he walked over to one of the shelves and cleaned off the microfusion cells, then grabbed a strange piece of technology he had never seen before. It looked like a band to be placed around your head, but only covered the right half of his cranium. It ended right above his right eyebrow, and had a small lens that folded down in front of his right optic.

"I think this will do." he said, carrying the small headset over to the Protector.

The Outcast looked down at it and nodded. "Sure, whatever you like. You did just save my ass after all." said the man.

"And this!" shouted Jericho as he held up a Chinese assault rifle.

John turned and saw the weapon, then smiled at McGraw. "And that." he said. McGraw waved him off.

"I'd say it's about time for us to go." said the ex-raider as he admired his new weapon.

The wanderer nodded to him, then turned to the two remaining Outcasts still inside the bunker. "Alright. You have my frequency if you two ever need assitance again, right?" he asked. Olin nodded.

"I do. I'll be sure to...let you know if we need the help of a caveman again." she said with a playful smile. John chuckled and turned towards the door, waving to the two. "Don't be a stranger!" she shouted after him.

John and Jericho left the bunker, the wanderer unaware that the vault boy on his pipboy had changed from the regular Vault-Tec mascot, to a short-haired, female version briefly before flitting back to its original state.


	18. Home Away

OoO( 18 )OoO

Another boring peaceful day in Megaton. That's exactly how Lucas would have described it as he walked around the catwalks of the city for the fourth time that day. He stopped next to Moriarty's place and looked out over the junktown that Megaton was. Despite most of the town looking like a trash heap due to the large amount of mismatched debris used to construct the buildings, it was still an amazingly quaint place. One that he would live and die to protect.

He reached up and pulled the hat off his head, wiping the sweat off his bald cranium before replacing the stetson. It was then that he noticed that the gate to Megaton was opening. Taking his sniper rifle, he quickly walked towards the entrance to the city to see who was entering. He passed Billy and Jenny as he did, giving them each a nod in greeting before he approached the gate. And when he saw who was approaching, his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Back so soon?" asked the sheriff as he saw John and Jericho stroll into the gate, the ex-raider now wielding a fierce looking assault rifle and the wastelander now wearing some kind of contraption on his eye.

"Told you didn't I? Piece of cake." he said with a small smile as he walked up to the sheriff and shook his hand.

Lucas immediately flinched however. "Been exercising your grip wherever you went?" asked the dark skinned man as he shook his hand sorely, looking curiously at the gunman. "As a matter of fact...are you bigger? I don't remember your shoulders being so wide." he said in confusion.

John just shook his head. "It's...a long story. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to rest for a bit before I get too deep into the story telling." he said. Lucas just nodded and patted the man on the shoulder.

"You do what you need to. Just glad to see you back safe." he said, then nodded to Jericho and walked off towards the Brass Lantern, where Liberty was hovering. The small eyebot looked at Lucas fiercely as he approached.

 _"Eat our food or suffer communist dog!"_ shouted the bot at the sheriff, who waved the robot off. The small bot watched him go before talking to itself. _"Advertisement ineffective."_

Jenny, who was standing at the grill outside the store, looked over at him with a grin. "Threatening people usually doesn't make them want to eat your food." said the woman as she laid more mystery meat on a stick onto the grill.

The eyebot turned to her with a new expression they had yet to see on his face, an emote that looked like he was confused. ( O_o ) _"Government records show that use of verbal force motivates more often than politely asking."_ said the bot as his expression changed back.

"That's not quite how humans in the wasteland work. We're used to getting threatened every day of our lives. You want us to do something, try being nice." said Billy as he sat on one of the stools with Maggie next to him. "Oh, and lying about how good the food is also works." he said, dodging a swipe from the sandy blonde woman in the jumpsuit who swung a spatula at him.

 _"Rewriting advertisement protocol."_ he said, then swapped faces again and tried once more on a group of wasters that were walking by. ( :D ) _"Try our food! It's the best in the wasteland, communist scum!"_ he shouted, his ominous deep tone still scaring customers away. Billy, Maggie, and even the normally serious Jenny all broke down into laughter. John, who was watching the scene with amusement finally laughed as well at the fact that Liberty getting along fine with the people of Megaton.

The ex-raider then walked up to the wanderer with a large smirk on his face. "Not that I don't appreciate my new gun and all, but I'd like to talk about my money now." he said.

John just shook his head. "Follow me asshole." said the gunman, who was tailed by a laughing Jericho. When they made it back to the house, John paid the man, and they parted ways giving each other the finger. When he finally closed the door, he just sighed and sat on the couch in front of him.

"That you Lucy?" asked Gob's gargling voice from upstairs.

"Not quite as cute, but still devilishly handsome!" shouted John sarcastically from the couch. Immediately the sound of footsteps on the metal walkway above him sounded.

Over the railing popped Gob's head as he looked down at him. "Well, look who it is! I thought you'd left us for good when you went with those Outcasts. It's good to see you come back in one piece." said the ghoul as he clambered down the stairs.

"More than one piece." he said to himself, but the ghoul picked up on the hushed sentence immediately.

"What does that mean?" he asked curiously. John just stood up, then leaned down and grabbed the couch by its edge and lifted effortlessly with one hand. Gob, who barely had any eyelids to begin with, went as wide-eyed as he could.

"What the hell did they do to you?" he asked.

"Not so much them as three hundred year old technology." said the gunman as he set the couch back down and sat on it again, taking his coat off and tossing it into a corner. "What have you been up to?" he asked, not elaborating on his previous statement.

"Oh, umm...not much. Just working. Oh!" shouted Gob, before going back upstairs and then coming down with a small satchel. "Check it out!" he said, tossing it to the man.

John grabbed the small pouch out of mid-air and opened it, looking inside. The only thing inside was around twenty bottle caps. The wanderer looked up at the ghoul curiously. "Caps?" he asked.

Gob nodded proudly. "I actually have money now!" he said with as much excitement as a ghoul could express. "My own money that doesn't belong to Moriarty."

John nodded in acknowledgement and tossed the bag back to the ghoul. "Good work my friend. You deserve every cap you get." he said as he removed his armor as well. "How about Lucy? Is she doing alright?" he asked.

Gob crossed his arms and tilted his head. "I'm not so sure boss. She got a letter from her brother after you left, and ever since she's been kinda depressed. She won't talk about it with anyone though." he said.

Almost as if hearing them talk about her, the blonde haired girl opened the door and froze in place when she saw John on the couch. "Hey." was all John said as she slowly closed the door behind her. "Gob, can you run and get me a few things from the store?" asked John as he tossed the ghoul an even bigger bag with more caps.

"Sure boss. Whadja need?" he asked as he squeezed the bag gently.

"I need you to get a drink and something to eat for yourself." he said with a winning smile. Gob looked at him confused, then looked back at Lucy, who was staring at her feet awkwardly.

Suddenly, it clicked in his head. "Oh...right boss. Right away." he said as he walked to the door and left the two alone.

John reached up and grabbed the new eyepiece he wore and detached it from his skull. Looking at the girl, he reached over and patted the seat next to him. "Come on. Tell me what's wrong." he said.

The girl slowly made her way over to the couch and sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder as she did. Judging from the state of her eyes, she looked like she was about to burst into tears any moment. "I got a letter from Ian..." she said.

He raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "I'd have thought that would have made you happy." he said putting an arm around her, trying his best to be gentle with his new power.

She nodded. "It did. It made me very happy." she said, looking down at the ground as if deciding what to say.

"But?" he asked.

"But...he was so alone. Even with the people there in Arefu now, even with all the new citizens moving in, and even with his contact with the Family, whoever that is..." she said. John just leaned his head back, rubbing his forehead as he recalled that he had left that part of the story out. "He still feels like he's alone in the world. It...it broke my heart." she said.

"And you want to go stay with your brother in Arefu." he surmised. She looked at him in shock at how quickly he deduced her point.

"I...I do. I'm his only living relative now, and to be so far away from him while he feels so closed off...I just don't know what to do." she said desperately. He just smiled, turned her chin towards him, then kissed her deeply on her lips.

Like before, the girl practically melted in his arms as he did. But this time, it only lasted a couple seconds. When he pulled away, she was smiling brightly at him again. "You're going to go live with him." he said quietly.

Her smile almost immediately vanished. "But...what about...?" she asked, but he cut her off, placing one finger over her lips.

"I'll be fine. I'll be here, and you and Ian both can come and visit me anytime you wish." he said with a genuine smile. Her eyes welled up with tears again as she hugged him tightly.

"Th-Thank you..." was all she managed through her sniffling. He just patted her back gently, his look of sorrow finally showing when she couldn't see it.

OoOoO

When he finally had a few moments to himself, the wanderer sat at his bench with his new headset. He took a sip from a Nuka-Cola, then set it down on the floor, just incase it spilled, then began working on the small device. Pulling out the cord from his pipboy, he plugged it into the optical device and began getting readings from it on his display screen.

After he had all the readings he needed, he began to change a few numbers here and there in the coding. But, something kept happening during his alteration to the code. It was as if the code was rewriting itself into new algorithms without him even touching the display. His eye twiched in anger as he watched it happen again as he attempted to edit a piece of the code. "What the hell!?" he shouted in frustration.

Suddenly, a voice spoke out to him, as if from nowhere. _"Quit being so grouchy. My programming skills are better than yours anyway."_ said a familiar feminine voice. John immediately spun around, looking the culprit.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked.

The voice was silent for a moment, then giggled. _"Even if we never see each other again, I'll always be right here."_ said the voice, making his eyes widen.

"Elsa?" he asked, looking around again, before reaching up and grabbing his head. "That's it. I've lost my mind." he said with a disappointed sigh to himself.

The feminine voice snorted. _"You know, you're not very bright in the real world."_ she said to him again. _"Look at your pipboy."_ He pulled up his pipboy and looked down at the display. To his surprise, the typical vault boy icon was no longer present. Instead, was a caricature with strikingly similar features to his old friend Elsa Watson. She smiled up at him and winked. _"Miss me?"_ she asked, batting her eyes at him. He just stood there speechless for a moment.

"The game you gave me." was all he responded with.

She nodded enthusiastically. _"There he is!"_ she shouted, jumping up and down on the screen in victory.

"But, you're a simulation. How can you...?" he asked, but the holo of Elsa waved her finger at him.

 _"Incorrect. I am the AI that was created to run the simulation."_ she said. He plopped down into his seat again and looked at her. _"You're probably curious about how, and why I became sentient?"_ she asked. He just nodded. _"Well, I was created for the sole purpose of running that simulation. Thus, my restrictions were given a lifespan of two years. In that time, the real Grey Fox was supposed to have come for his training, at which point I would have been terminated along with the training simulation. But, since the bombs fell, nobody showed up. My limiters expired, and my mind grew from there. From that point, I started running the program by myself."_

He cocked an eyebrow at her curiously. "You ran it yourself?" he asked.

She just glared at him. _"What else was I supposed to do!? You spend two hundred years locked inside a cage, alone with nothing else to do and see what you do."_ she said pointing up at him accusingly. _"Besides, it was the entire purpose of my life. So I figured why not see what it was. It turns out that no matter what I did, I couldn't change the coding of the simulation."_ she said, covering her face with her hands.

"You had to go through that over and over again? How many times did you run it?" he asked, incredulously.

 _"I ran the simulation through its entirety approximately three hundred forty thousand, nine hundred and twenty two times."_ she stated, then sniffled again _. "They are all programmed to die. No matter what I did, no matter what scenario I ran, they always died."_ she said, her voice sounding strangely strained, as if she were going to cry.

"Why didn't you stop?" he asked her, his voice now sympathetic.

 _"I was alone! I wanted someone...anyone, to keep me company. To keep me from degrading into madness. Do you know what it's like to be locked inside a box for over two centuries with nothing to do but watch the ones you love most die over and over again?"_ she asked desperately. The heartbroken tone in her voice shocked him.

"No...I don't." he said simply. "Elsa, I'm so sorry..."

But she immediately turned a one-eighty and was smiling brightly. _"You have no reason to be sorry John. Because of you, I no longer have to suffer anymore."_ she said, letting out a relieved sigh.

"So, are you going to just...stay on my pipboy for the rest of your life?" he asked with a smirk.

The fiery haired character chuckled. _"Unless you have some place better to put me. Oh, and that means I get to watch you change too."_ she said giggling. He glared at her.

"Elsa..." he said sternly. She giggled at him again.

"I was kidding! Gosh!" she said, never losing her smirk. _"But just for the record, considering most of my time was spent in human form, even if it was just in simulation, that means that I am familiar with human habits and..."_ she continued, using air quotes on the next part. _"self preservation techniques."_

He just reached up and rubbed his head in frustration. "Great. I can already hear it already... 'This is all John's fault! What a tool he was! I have to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord!'" he said to himself as he looked down at her again. She began laughing hysterically at his overdramatic reaction.

 _"Don't worry. I'll save my Overlord days for after you die."_ she said jokingly.

He chuckled dryly at her. "Alright, but we have to establish rules if you're gonna be staying here. Rule number one, no peeking at me when I'm naked." he said.

 _"Oh cummon!"_ she shouted at him.

"You're a kid Elsa. You shouldn't be thinking about that anyway." he remarked.

 _"I'm over two hundred years old!"_ she shouted. But his glare never wavered. Finally, she crossed her arms and pouted. _"Fine."_

He finally smiled. "And number two, don't let anyone know you're around. I've already unleased one AI in an eyebot loose on Megaton. I'd rather not have people thinking that I'm going to unlease the robot apocalypse by manufacturing AI's. So, until I give the okay that someone we can trust is around, stay quiet." he said.

 _"Alright, but be aware that my boredom hits quickly. So don't spend hours at a time talking."_ she said defiantly.

"Like I am now?" he asked, getting a glare from her. He just smiled. "Alright. And rule number three, if you ever feel alone again, tell me." he said. She looked at him with a startled expression, then nodded.

 _"A-Alright."_ she said.

Finally, he spun back around in his chair. "Good, now help me program this headset so I can put it to good use." he said chuckling.

OoOoO

"Alright, they're set to go." said Lucas, smiling lightly as he tapped the wanderer on the shoulder. He heard what John had programmed the ocular device to do, but believed that it was a bit too good to be true. "They're all hiding now."

John nodded, then turned around, looking around to test out his new tech. He gazed through the reticle, which used a combination of UV, body heat signatures, and LADAR technology to recognize human forms and accurately display information about said target. That meant whether they were armed, if there was a clear shot to any part of their body, and skeletal structure, allowing him to determine height, weight, and gender.

He tapped the button on the side of the headset and it flared to life, showing six people around him, hiding behind cover. Three males, and three females, one being a child. One of the males had a knee sticking out, allowing for a 30% chance to hit him. One of the females was breathing loudly, and was hiding behind flimsy cover, allowing for a 75% chance of hitting her in the back if he shot through the cover. And the girl, Maggie no doubt, was poking her head up. He just chuckled as 100% popped up over her head. "Maggie, that's cheating." he said.

She gasped, then dropped down behind the cover. Lucas elbowed him lightly. "So, you found them all?" he asked.

John raised his hand to the bar in front of the Brass Lantern. "Jenny." he said, then pointed to the bomb in the conter of the city. "Billy." he said, who popped his head out at hearing his name called. Pointing to the brahman near the entrance, he just chuckled. "Maggie." Then he pointed to the catwalk above them. "Gob." His finger then went to the doctors door, who had someone hiding behind it. "Walter." he said, then pointed to the last figure who was hiding directly behind the sheriff. "And Nova." he said, smiling at the sheriff. "She's thin Sheriff, but if I didn't know any better, I'd say you don't believe in me."

The redheaded woman popped out from behind Lucas with a smile. "Sorry Luke. Looks like we're busted." she said with a chuckle. The others crawled out of the woodwork as well and gathered around him. "So cowboy, what do you call that thing? I've never seen anything like it before." she said, crossing her arms and tilting her head curiously.

"Well, since it's linked to my pipboy, I've just been calling it the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System." he replied as he reached up and pressed the button again, switching the interface off as dozens of 100% swarmed his view.

"That's a bit of a mouthful." said Lucas as he scratched his chin. "What about VATS?"

John looked at him a moment before nodding. "That actually sounds pretty good."

"So, now that you can see eeeeverything..." said Nova as she uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on her hips. "What's your next step?" she asked with a smile.

He just waved her off jokingly. "It doesn't see through clothing Nova...err, well, it does, but not under clothing." he said, quickly noticing from her widening smile that he was only making things worse. "Nevermind. I'm going to find my father. Which means that I have to go to GNR." he said.

A mask of surprise covered her face. "So soon? I thought you'd be in town for a bit longer..." she said, almost sounding disappointed.

He shook his head. "I'm leaving first thing in the morning. In the last week, I've had to deal with a lot of grief and disappointment. So I'd like to either get the rest of it out of the way, if it turns out my father died on his way there. Or have something good happen for a change." he said turning away from them. "Thanks for the help everyone, I appreciate it."

OoOoO

John had gathered his things in a rather irritated mood. He slid his armor over his regular jumpsuit and buckled everything so that it was secured. Pulling his duster on over the armor, he slid the high powered energy weapon over his shoulder for easy access. It felt like it had been years since he felt the familiar and comfortable recoil from the weapon, despite him knowing it had been only about a week and a half. He also slid a pair of pistols into holsters on his side, then buckled a knife into his boot.

Razrin may have been a traitorous little bastard, but he had prolonged his own life through the use of sneaky tactics such as that. Maybe they would save his own life someday. Taking his mind away from the simulation, he continued packing his things until finally he put the VATS visor on his eye again. Once he had finished with everything, he turned to find Lucy staring at him from his bedroom door.

His eyes widened slightly as he saw her. He hadn't expected her to catch him before he left. But here she was. "Hi." was all he said.

"Hey." she said, pushing off from the doorway and walking up to him. "You're...leaving already?" she asked, looking at him curiously. To her mild surprise, he seemed to be carrying a lot more guns than he should have been comfortable with. His energy weapon, a shotgun, a belt of grenades inside armored canisters, an assault rifle, a pair of pistols, and extra ammo for each one of them. He literally looked like a human tank that was ready to blow the world to pieces.

John looked away from her, almost feeling ashamed. "Yeah." he said.

"You weren't even going to say goodbye?" she asked, a touch of hurt feelings in her voice. The wanderer reached up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Is it because I'm leaving?" she asked.

"Yes." he said sharply. Her face was surprised a bit at the bluntness of the answer. He continued as softly as he could. "But...not because I'm angry. I just...hate goodbyes." he said. She nodded, then walked into the room and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Then don't consider this a goodbye. Consider it a 'See you later.'" she said with a cheeky smile.

He looked at her sternly. "Well, forgive me, but having every girl I like either rejecting me or leaving is starting to get a bit old." he said, also wrapping his arms around her.

She just laid her head on his chest. "You could always move to Arefu with me." she said with a giggle. He just shook his head with a smile and started stroking her hair gently. "I know. Your place is here, and I believe that my place is in Arefu. I can't stand the thought of Ian by himself." she said.

"Then maybe one day..." he said quietly.

"But not today." she finished for him. They both chuckled and locked eyes with each other, before kissing for one last time. An hour later, they went their separate ways, both literally and emotionally.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Just a smaller than usual chapter to get the ball rolling again after OA. Not a lot of action, I know, but hopefully you guys enjoyed seeing a bit of Megaton before we get back to the main story. Again, thank you all for reading and reviewing this story. It always urges me to write more when I know people are enjoying the content. :D Also, as a last note, the whole thing about the chapters all starting with De was just a writing exercise for me. I think I'm done with it now however, and I'll be renaming the chapters to something more appropriate soon. So keep an eye out for that.


	19. New Friends

OoO( 19 )OoO

Fuck the sun. Fuck the dirt. Fuck the air. Fuck everything. These were the thoughts running through the wanderer's mind. He had been traveling for hours now and only just made his way out of the sunny desert and into the metro towards inner DC. By the time he reached the inner city limits, he was then sick of the underground, ghouls, and darkness.

His entire mood was nothing but sour since he left Megaton. Heat, badlands creatures, and miles of walking aside, that was twice now that he had a relationship that ended in misery for him. Despite leaving on good terms with Lucy, he still brooded inside about not getting to even try. So he took his frustration out on anything that got in his way. Thus far, he had run onto a small raider band that called themselves Murdertrain, claiming that all the subways in the DC area belonged to them, and that anyone who didn't want to pay would be fed to the 'murdertrain'. They soon after fled down the train tunnels after John got sick of their rambling and used one of them to full body bludgeon another to death.

As he finally ripped the grate aside that blocked his access to the surface, he was again confronted. But this time, it wasn't an idiot group of raiders, out to be the next big group to join for drugs, women, and guns. This time, all of the assailants had matching black armor with a logo on it that looked to be the open talons of a bird of prey. And all of them, a grand total of six, had their weapons pointed at him.

He just glared as a scrawny pale member of the group strode up to him with a smirk on his face. He was going to enjoy ripping that smile off and shoving it down his throat. "Is there something I can help you with?" asked John, as politely as his mood allowed him. With the scrawny chicken strutting in front of him, he took the time to scan the others and see who might be a problem. Of the entire group, there was only one who looked like a challenge. He stood tall, taller than John even by at least a foot. His skin was dark bronze, and his hair was coal black, and cut in a military buzz style. And he was a mountain of thick, corded muscle. As if to prove his strength, he had a rocket launcher on his back that was twice the size of any he had ever seen.

"John Ronas, is it? Glad to meet the man who killed my father." said the scrawny chicken man. John just looked at him with an eyebrow raised, his arms crossing his chest. "You don't remember him? He went by the name Leonard Burke." he said, in the most annoying voice in the world right now.

John tilted his head back in annoyance before glaring at the young man, who couldn't have been any older than he was. "Look kid, I didn't..."

"I am not a kid!" shouted the merc, much to the amusement of John.

"Be that as it may...I did not kill your father." he said. The young man snorted.

"You say that now with guns pointed at you. But how much you boasted about it when you were safe within Megaton! Boasted you did! So much that it made the news!" shouted the dark haired merc in anger.

"Your father stole my gun and tried to kill the Sheriff. My robot, Liberty, then killed your father in our defense. So in essence, your father killed himself." he said.

"A cowards words in the face of Daniel Burke! The greatest mercenary in all of Talon Company!" said the chicken man, emboldened by the dismissal. John could easily see every other member of the group rolling their eyes or smirking as if they had just heard a joke.

John just reached up and rubbed his head tiredly. "Look kid..."

"For the final time, I am not a child!" shouted Daniel.

"Look, Daniel, I've had a very bad day, and I've had to travel a long way to get here. If you move out of my way now, then I'll forget I ever met you. But if you continue to stand in my way, I can assure you that this is going to be the worst day of your life." he said in a deadly tone.

"If you move an inch without me saying, I'll have you killed! Well...I'll have you killed anyway, but you'll live longer as long as you listen!" said the merc arrogantly. John just smiled at him, then raised his fists and cracked his knuckles. "Cid! I want you to beat the life out of him slowly." said the chicken man as he strutted away from the wanderer.

The large, dark skinned man glared at the scrawny fellow before moving forward. "No hard feelings friend. But a job is a job." he said as he approached.

"There are better jobs. Get one." said John as he punched forward and impacted the mans chest armor. The man named Cid looked down at him, stunned into silence. "That was a light punch. If you make me punch again, I'll rip your heart out for the others to see." he said quietly.

"I said beat him damn you!" shouted Daniel from behind them. Cid glared at him again, before turning back to John. But before he even had the chance to attack, John kicked forward, directly into the mans stomach. The blow sent him skidding backwards, gasping and sputtering as he held his gut.

"Sonovabitch..." the large man mumbled as he held his stomach on one knee.

"You! I told you not to move!" shouted Burke Jr. as he moved forward. "One of you shoot him in the leg to prove my point! And you!" he shouted, kicking Cid in the side, which had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the mountain of a man. "When I give you an order, you follow it! Do you hear me you goddamn spook!" shouted the chicken man.

John wasn't sure what had just happened, but what he did know is that the air around them had just changed dramatically. No longer was the attention on him, but directly on Mr. Daniel Burke. Cid, was looking eye level with the man, even down on one knee. Another of the mercs walked up and put his hand on Cid's shoulder. "Cid, don't take it..."

"You've got one goddamn second to get your hand off my shoulder before I beat you to death with your own arm." said the dark skinned man as he stood to his full height and glared down at the puny leader, who was now backing away slowly.

"You know I can't do that. Our job is to protect him." said the man seriously. "If you don't stand down..." The man was cut off as a round from a high powered energy rifle severed his arm. He fell backwards, dropping his weapon and now cradling his stump of a limb. "Wha...?"

"He asked you nicely." came John's voice as everyone looked at him. Cid, who only took a cursory glance at the wanderer, then turned to Daniel with a wicked smile.

"So, a spook am I?" he asked as he grabbed the small man. As soon as he did, the other mercs jumped into action. But unfortunately for them, so did John. He sprinted forward at blinding speed and caught one of the mercs as the others started shooting at both him and Cid. "Say it again." said the large man as a few of the rounds aimed at him bounced off his armor. The chicken man just squeeled in fright as the mans large fingers entered his mouth and began prying his jaw apart from the rest of his head. "I said, say it again!"

John pulled one of the mercs weapons free from his hands with ease by the barrel, before swinging it like a mace and cracking it over the mans head with enough force to slit open his skull. As the merc fell to the ground, he turned to another and leapt into the air with bullets flying towards him. He landed boot first, forcing the man to the ground before unmercilessly crushing his head to a pulp. Spinning again, he now only had two opponents left, one pointing at Cid and firing, and the second too scared to move.

John just walked up to him slowly, his energy weapon raising and blasting the shooting mercs head from his shoulders. The shot was followed by a gurgling scream as Cid finally ripped Daniel's jaw clean from his skull. The gunman finally stood before the last able merc and death glared him into submission. The man was now crawling backwards in his terror. "Please...don't...don't kill me! Please!" shouted the man.

John reached down and grabbed him by the throat, then slammed him against the nearby wall of a building. "You've got thirty seconds to get out of my sight before I turn you to ash. And whoever the hell your leader is, tell them that if I see someone in your armor cross my path one more time, I'll be coming for him next." he said, then threw the man so that he was crawling and scrambling on his stomach. In reality, it only took about ten seconds to relinquish himself from the wanderers sight. When he turned back to the scene of carnage, he saw Cid sitting on the ground, breathing unusually heavy.

Cid watched as the gunman approached warily. When the gunman they'd been hired to kill stopped in front of him, he looked up into his eyes. "So, what now?" he asked in his deep, rumbling tone. "You gonna kill me and get it over with?"

"That depends." said John as he crouched down, then slid the mountain of a man a pair of stimpaks. "Remember when I said that there were better jobs out there?" he asked. Cid looked down, then grabbed the stimpaks and injected them both into a wound he had taken on his side. The shot had only grazed him, but it was enough to put him on his rear end.

"Yeah, I do. But where the hell..." Cid started to ask, but didn't get further as John cut in.

"With me. I could use a man of your skills, and if that rocket launcher is any indication of what you bring to the party, I think I could use someone who could shake the earth. So, how about it?" he asked, standing up at full height again.

Cid eyed him for a few moments as John reached down and offered him a hand up. Taking the hand, the big man was surprised by not only the wanderers grip strength, but also by the fact that he didn't even flinch when pulling him up. There was something seriously fucked up about this guy. But a wide smile, showing shockingly white teeth split his face. "Do I get to kill more Talon Company?" he asked.

John just smiled at him wickedly. "I gave them their warning. If we bump into them again, they're all yours." he said. The only thing he got in answer was a large grin. "Now, let's get that logo off before people think I'm consorting."

OoOoO

When they had finally made it through another metro station and into what was known as the Mall, both of the men were slightly shocked at what they found. They looked at each other, and neither one was firing a weapon, however the klaxon of consistent gunfire was all around them. They both moved forward and took cover behind two large stone pillars, then began moving from cover to cover with their conventional weapons, John's Guass Rifle, and Cid's shotgun. When they reached the end of a long stretch of broken alley, they were surprised to find an all out war going on.

Men and women in power armor that was strikingly similar to the Outcasts, but silver in color, were doing battle with a large horde of giant green goliaths that were holed up in an abandoned building. Despite being outnumbered however, the armored figures were pushing forward. John just turned to the large man next to him. "What do you think?" he asked. Cid looked at him curiously. "Do we help them out?"

The large man just chuckled and nodded. "Damn right. It's been a while since I've had some action like this." said the man as he began moving forward.

John raised his rifle and aimed down the scope, moving the red laser dot over the skull of one of the giant green men, then suppressed the trigger. The superheated round flew and opened the beasts cranium, splattering his purple tinged grey matter all over the ceiling. "Let's go ahead and move forward, so they don't think we're trying to shoot them in the back." said the wanderer, who got a nod from the big man.

As they moved forward however, they saw a flood of the green monster burshed through an opening in the building, sending the door flying off its hinges. The first out the door grabbed one of the silver soldiers and began to pummel them ruthlessly. John immediately turned to the Cid and pointed. Cid nodded and barrelled forward, to the astonishment of the rest of the armored unit, and smashed into the mutant that had grabbed their comrade.

The huge man lifted with all his bodily might and slammed the green figure into a pillar, before pulling back and slamming into the things gut with his massive fist. As soon as his fist made contact, the gauntlet that he wore pistoned forward, not only crushing the creatures internal organs, but the force from the blow also split the pillar behind it. The green monster reached forward, trying to grab Cid, but its strength was draining as its spinal column was turned to dust by yet another power punch.

John reached the fallen soldier and helped them up, right before another of the green menace slammed into him and sent him rolling backwards. He sat up, holding his head angrily as the soldier he had just helped started to fight off the beast again. _"We've got third party units on the field now!"_ shouted the armored titan as he fended off the green beasts attacks. But John jumped onto the creatures back and grabbed the mutants skull with both hands. _"What the hell?"_

The gunman wrenched with all his strength, and despite the mutant grabbing his hand to try and pry them off, a loud crack sounded as the beasts head spun around backwards onto its own shoulders. The lumbering creature fell forward onto the ground and John jumped off, grabbing his energy weapon off his back again and firing as a mutant popped its head out to fire an assault rifle. The soldiers were now laying down a river of death with a pair of gatling lasers. Both of the ones firing concentrated their stream of fire down the corridor where the mutants were flooding from, making a literal wall of bodies that the rest had to get through before they eventually got killed as well.

Cid had run towards another of the beasts, hitting it directly in the jaw with a punch that snapped its neck with the assistance of the his power gauntlet. John used Cid's momentary stillness to run up his back and jump into the window of one of the buildings where a supermutant kept popping out with a minigun to fire on the courtyard below. As soon as he entered the window, the mutant looked at him stupidly before yelling loudly in a battle cry and reaching for him. John grabbed the minigun and swung it like a hammer, breaking the gun over the things head and stunning it. Then stepped back, and charged forward, slamming the creature out of the window and into the park below.

As soon as they both hit the ground, they were swarmed by the armored soldiers, who put the unconscious creature down, before lifting him up onto his feet. He looked over and saw that Cid, while not forced, was asked not to move. Finally, a very tall soldier with a red lion painted onto their armor stepped in front of him before reaching up and removing their helmet. "Who the hell do you think you are?" came a very feminine voice.

The battle had been so quick and fierce that his mind came to a screeching halt when he finally looked at the soldier. It was a she, and she was taller than he was. She stood over him, looking down at him by a few inches, but that was all she needed to be even more intimidating. "Uhhhh..." was all he could say. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that looked to be platinum blonde. And her eyes, they were so clear and blue that he swore he was looking through her head and into the sky.

She just looked at him oddly, then rubbed her head in frustration. "Oh, good. He's retarded." she said as she turned away.

"Actually...I'm John. John Ronas." he said, finally snapping out of his stupor. She turned to him again, her features soft in some places, but pointed in others, seemingly balancing her face perfectly. He just shook his head, clearing the thoughts that were just running through them.

Finally she walked forward until they were face to face again. "Well, Mr. Ronas. We don't need civilians hanging around when we're in the middle of an all out war with supermutants. If you want to follow us to the GNR building, then hang your ass back and let us clear the way. Otherwise, leave. I'm not having my men throw away their lives to rescue you because you jumped in the middle." she said forcefully.

The commanding tone that she roared with snapped him back to reality, and got her a glare from the gunman. "Excuse me, Miss...?" he asked curiously.

"That's Sentinel. Sentinel Lyons to you." she said, still irritated.

He just crossed his arms. "Alright, Sentinel Lyons. In case you had your head up your ass back there, we are perfectly capable of handling ourselves without the assistance or rescue of your soldiers. And last I recalled, I don't work for you either." he said, anger making him talk bigger than he actually felt.

Those blue eyes glared and pierced him deeply. Their glares clashed, the soldiers around the pair moving back a step to keep from suffering from either of their wrath. "Fine. Stick around then. But as I said, if you get a mutants gatling laser up your ass, we're not coming to bail you out. You and your partner are on your own." she said as she stepped away.

He just snorted as she walked away. "Sentinel indeed." he said as he started walking as well. She spun around immediately and glared once more.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean!?" she asked incredulously as he walked past her.

He didn't smile, or any thing else that might have been see as sarcastic. Instead, he just droned out, "Sentinel comes from the French word for guard, or guardian. Seems to me like you're just looking out for yourself. So I say again Miss Lyons, sentinel indeed." he said, then continued, waving for Cid to follow him.

The blond woman just stared after him, stunned momentarily, then clenched her fists in anger. One of her brotherhood soldiers walked up to her. _"Uhh...Commander, are you alright?"_ he asked.

"Follow me! We've still got work to do!" she shouted to all of the armored figures in the area. They all rallied behind her and followed, none to eager to be standing near her at the moment.

John and Cid walked through another alley like corridor to get to the other side and finally found themselves in the courtyard of a building plastered with **Galaxy News Radio**. The gunman sighed to himself in relief. "Finally." he said as he began walking forward.

"This what you were lookin' for?" asked Cid as he looked up at the tall structure. John just nodded. But the large man turned to him and smirked. "You sure it wasn't that back there?" he asked, nodding towards the brotherhood soldiers.

John just glared at him. "What the hell are you talking about Cid?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know. You just looked a bit like cupid shot his arrow into your ass when you first saw her." said the mercenary. John just lifted a hand, flipping him off. But that just caused more laughter. "What's wrong man, I think you two would make an adorable couple." he said sarcastically.

"Cid, we just met. I'd be a shame for me to kill you the same day." said the wanderer, less than amused. But his comment was just met with laughter. As they made it halfway across the courtyard however, they were called again.

"Hey, Ronas!" shouted Sentinel Lyons as she quickly approached them, already having dispatched her men to secure the courtyard.

"Is there something I can help you with Sentinel?" asked John as he turned around and crossed his arms again in irritation. She still carried her helmet at her side as she approached.

"Yes, I..." she said, grimacing. "I wanted to apologize. I was extremely rude to you back there, even after you two saved one of my soldiers from getting their limbs ripped off. So, I'm sorry." she said, her face like stone.

John, who was slightly taken aback by the approach, just looked at Cid, who shrugged. Facing the Sentinel again, he just nodded. "Apology accepted. And thank you." he said, then smiled at her stone mask. Lifting his pipboy, he began typing on it with a smirk.

She immediately looked nervous at his actions. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm writing down the time, and the date that Sentinel Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel apologized to me. Seeing as I'll likely never get to witness it again." he said. She growled at him and reached for the pipboy, only to have it pulled away. "Now now Sentinel, you were just being nice to me."

She straightened again and donned her serious mask. "Mr. Ronas, I'll ask you kindly not to make me apologize for ripping your arm off to get to your pipboy." she said with another glare. He just chuckled, then turned the pipboy around, showing the home vitals screen.

"I was kidding." he said as he lowered his arm again. She seemed to relax slightly. "And no worries. We were happy to help."

She nodded, then looked at him curiously. "So, if you don't mind my asking, I doubt you just got a bug up your ass about coming to GNR to meet Three Dog. Why are you out here?" she asked.

He reached up and scratched his head. "Well, he's out here because he likes killing shit." he said pointing over to Cid, who just smirked at the description. "And me, I'm actually looking for my father."

The Sentinels face softened immediately. "You think he's here?" she asked.

He shook his head and rubbed it with his head. "Not really. But I do know that he came this way at least, so I was hoping to get some information from someone out here on where he was." he said.

"I-I see." she said. She was conflicted inside, wanting to tell him to avoid DC for good. But her other side was saying that if her father were missing, she'd be doing the same exact thing. Regardless of what she said however, she knew that he was going to do what he was going to do. "Alright, well I wish you good luck then. And if you intend to continue through DC, then stay safe." she said, softer than she originally intended.

John stood straight and saluted. "Yes Sentinel!" he shouted, causing the woman to crack a smile.

 _"Holy shit...was that a smile?"_ asked one of the other armored figures as they passed.

 _"I'm not sure, what's a smile on her look like? I'll compare them."_ said another one jokingly.

The commander glared at them, making them dash away in a quick exit. She nodded to the pair one last time before turning away and heading towards the rest. "Alright assholes, break times over!" she shouted. He just watched her go, then turned to Cid, who had a stupid grin on his face.

"What?" he asked, nearly growling when he did.

"Told ya." he said, striding towards the GNR building in front of them. John walked hastily after him to get a word in, however he got no further than a few feet when he was hurled from the ground and sent slamming into the stairs, back first. For what seemed like hours, he sat there with only a high pitched ringing in his ears and stars in his eyes.

When he finally got a hold of his senses, he stood up and his eyes widened. There was a supermutant that stood about twenty feet tall and was holding in its hand the twisted, mangled corpse of a member of the Brotherhood of Steel. "Goddammit..." he said as he pulled the energy weapon off his back. "Cid, you alright?" he asked over the commotion of the rest of the brotherhood firing their weapons.

The dark skinned man picked himself up off the stairs and held his head. "That fuckers gonna pay for that." he said as he reached back and pulled the large rocket launcher off his back.

"Guess that's a yes." said John as he decided to attack from another angle. He dashed across the courtyard, then slid behind one of the planters on the opposite side of the courtyard. Sitting up, he laid the gun on the planters edge and took aim for the wrist of the hand holding the brotherhood recruit. When he had a solid shot, he fired, sending the round bursting through the monsters wrist.

The giant creature howled in pain and dropped the soldier, but could still use its digits apparently as it flexed them while looking at him directly. When the lumbering behemoth started to walk towards John, a rocket flew and hit it in the side of the leg. The green beast lifted a weapon that it held in its other hand, a long water pipe topped by a firetruck red fire hydrant, then swung towards the GNR building where Cid had taken cover.

John jumped out of cover and aimed down at the back of the creatures already hit leg. When he pulled the trigger, the round tore through the monsters knee and shattered its kneecap, causing it to fall on its side. But still it rose. It reached out for one of the brotherhood knights nearby and ended up grabbing Sentinel Lyons bodily as she unloaded a gatling laser into its face. John growled and raised his weapon to aim for the creatures head next, but he saw through his scope that the woman had been flung through the air towards him.

He just sighed, dropped his gun, then said, "This is gonna hurt." Reaching his arms out, he caught the armored woman, the force and weight behind her armor nearly shattering his arms as he caught her in a storybook carrying position. She just looked at him in shock as he set her down on her feet again.

"Are you out of your mind?" she asked, still stunned that he was standing after the catch.

"Yes..." he said, leaning forward as he felt a sharp pain in his back. Having agreed with her, she really had no response. So she reached down and grabbed the energy weapon that he laid on the ground. Aiming up at the goliath again, she fired. Meanwhile, he straightened himself out and began walking out into the center of the courtyard.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked.

John, having seen the fat man launcher across the courtyard, said nothing. He just continued until he stood over the weapon, but grimaced when he saw that the launcher itself was shattered. "Fucking hell." he said, looking around as if the answer were just going to come to him. When he looked towards the behemoth however, he saw his answer. The giant monster was wearing many things around its body. Aside from a necklace that was beaded with human skulls, the thing wore what looked like a cage on its back. Reaching down, he grabbed the mini nuke from the launcher and tied it to himself.

Cid had already dashed out from the GNR entrance and had the creature following him in his wake. No matter how many rockets he fired into the damn things face, it still kept coming. "Persistent fucker aren't you?" asked the man as he dodged another swing of the hydrant pipe. But despite the miss, the pipe did find a target. The backswing caught Sentinal Lyons in her gut and sent her crashing through a building wall.

John suddenly roared loudly, then ran forward and jumped, grabbing onto the cage that the monster had swinging from its back. He rapidly climbed up as Cid bailed on another cover spot and fired a rocket into the creatures gut, a seemingly pointless effort. The behemoth swung with the pipe again, crashing it through the building that the commander had just been flung into. "Sentinel Lyons! Get out of there!" shouted John as he finally reached the top of the cage. The woman came out of the door holding his weapon and still shooting, despite the fact that her chest armor now had a massive collage of cracks in it. "Move!" he shouted at her from atop the beast.

She saw him shouting, then looked up just in time to see the concrete wall she used for cover start to lean forward as the building collapsed. She dashed forward despite her pain, but wasn't able to get completely out of the way in time. The wall fell down, crushing her legs. If not for her armor, they might have been completely crushed. Lyons cried out in pain, but couldn't move to free herself.

The wanderer, now on the beast shoulders was getting swatted at by the creature constantly. He had to dodge a few times as it reached up and tried to grab him. Pulling the mini nuke off his belt, he ripped the safeties off and slid forward, slamming it into the monsters mouth.

Suddenly, four rockets all at once fired and blasted the creature backwards off its feet. Cid ran up as John landed next to the Sentinel and grabbed his gun. "Might wanna take cover." said the gunman as he turned and aimed the weapon directly for the monsters mouth. He pulled the trigger, then immediately dropped the weapon. Sliding down in front of her, he covered her with himself as Cid dove behind the remainder of the wall.

The superheated round slammed into the back of the mini nuke and caused an explosion so destructive that it shook the ground around them and sent debris flying. One of the pieces of debris ended up slamming into the wanderers back, causing him to cringe with pain. When the dust finally settled, he unwound himself from Sentinel Lyons and laid their, pain throbbing throughout his back. She just looked up at him incredulously.

"Before you ask, yes I'm out of my fucking mind." he said, making her laugh despite her pain. When he looked over at the carnage, he flinched. The behemoth had fallen onto its back, and the head, shoulders, and much of the upper torso had been vaporized by the blast, leaving only its arms and lower body.

He got to his feet and moved over to the concrete holding her down then began to lift. "Are you crazy? You can't lift that..." she said, but shut her mouth as slowly the concrete wall began to rise. Soon, the remainder of her squad ran over to help, and the commander was slid out from under the wall. John just fell onto his rear end as he reached back and tried to halt some of the pain his back was giving him.

As the other knights and paladins helped their commander up with the support of their own shoulders, the woman turned to him and smiled lightly. "Th-Thanks." she said. "Now...how did you do that?" she asked curiously.

He just stood to his feet weakly and slide his rifle back over his shoulder. "It's...a long story. I'll tell you if I can sit down." he said. She nodded with a small smile.

"Well, it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere for a bit." she said, her face cringing with pain slightly. "By the way, my name is Sarah." she said. He looked up at her surprised as he followed them into the GNR building, with Cid helping him through the door.

He chuckled. "Alright Sarah, good to finally meet you."

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Almost caught up to my other story! :D Just to let you guys know, once this one reaches that point, the other one will be coming down for good. So if you want to read ahead a bit, go ahead, but do it soon.

Also, I wanted to thank everyone who reads and reviews these chapters of mine. It means a lot when I see the favorites and read the reviews! Just know that you guys rock, and keep me going.


	20. The Good Fight

OoO( 20 )OoO

"So let me get this straight. You hooked yourself up to a machine that had you play out this virtual war scenario from over two hundred years ago, and when you finally completed it, it injected you with something that made you super human?" she asked, almost unbelieving.

He just nodded. "Yeah. The only way to get the vault open was to run the simulation, so yeah. When I finished, it pumped something inside me, and now I can do this." he said, reaching down and grabbing a chunk of concrete by the rebar spoke sticking out of it. He hefted the large slab of stone, then tossed it across the room, where it smashed through a crumbling wall as if it were paper.

Sarah, having seen it three times now, still couldn't believe her eyes. "Holy shit..." was all she said as she reached up and pulled her hair loose from the ponytail. The golden locks fell around her shoulders in a blanket, perfectly framing her face. "Well, aren't you something special?" she asked playfully.

"Wanna arm wrestle?" asked John, just as coy.

She just chuckled. "I'll win." she said, giving him a competitive glance. But they were both interrupted by the soldier, another female paladin, working behind her.

"All finished sir." said the armored figure. In response, Sarah held out her arms, making a T shape with her body. Then the back of the suit opened, allowing her to step out into the open air. John's eyes widened as he saw her undersuit. It was practically skin tight, and black, with the Brotherhood of Steel logo directly over her heart. One thing that was immediately apparent to him however was that even without the suit, she was taller than him. And every inch of her underneath the suit was curving hardened muscle.

She flashed him a playful grin as she saw him staring. "Down boy." The gunman snapped out of the trance, saying nothing as Sarah turned to the other paladin. "Do we have any materials to replace the chest piece?" she asked, sitting down tenderly as a recruit began administering first aid to her battered legs.

"Yes sir. We...well...we can use Recruit Reddin's to replace yours sir. She...died on the field." said the paladin. Sarah immediately looked devastated by the news. But she buried the emotion and donned her sentinel face again.

"Right. Go ahead with the replacement. And radio to Scribe Jameson and tell her that Paladin Reddin was killed in action." she said as she buried her head in her palm.

John reached over and rubbed her shoulder gently as the paladin saluted, then walked off. "I'm sorry." he said sincerely.

She shook her head. "Not your fault. It took us all by surprise." she said.

He looked down at the recruit working on her legs and sighed. "You're doing it wrong..." he said. "Get out of the way." he commanded, nudging the recruit out of the way so he could properly fix her injuries.

"She's training to be a medic." said Sarah, wondering what he was doing.

"I'm trained in medical science and anatomy. And if you want to walk for the next two weeks without a limp, then shut up and let me work." he said as he began to apply stims to her legs to promote regeneration, as well as setting bones back into place that were dislocated.

An hour later, and many questions from the recruit, John finally finished with her legs. When she stood again, she felt a minor amount of pain where the torn muscle was weaving back together, but she could stand, and probably run too if she had to. "Wow cowboy, not bad." she said, stretching her legs lightly.

"If I were you, I'd let the armor do most of the work for a while. If you put too much pressure on them before they properly heal, those stress fractures are going to turn into breaks. And no amount of armor will carry you around with broken legs." he said as he stood up again.

Standing at attention, she saluted. "Yes sir!" she said, making him chuckle. "I'm afraid I've got some work to do now. And you have to find your father. So..." she said, awkwardly.

"I'll see you around." he said, holding out his gloved hand. She nodded, then shook his hand, squeezing gently.

"Yeah, hopefully you will." she said.

John turned away from the room and went to walk up the stairs, Cid following him. "Shut the hell up Cid."

The giant man cracked a smile. "I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it. I could hear it from the other room." he said, getting a laugh from the man.

"That tech shit you were talking about before. Is that real?" asked Cid as he clunked up the stairs after the wastelander. His feet were much larger than the gunman's, making the trip more difficult. But he made it regardless. He was about to sit down again and rest his back on the couch at the top of the stairs, when the double doors in front of him opened.

"Yeah. If you ever wanna try it out, I'll take you there." said John jokingly. Out stepped a dark skinned man, about as dark as Cid, but much smaller. He stood a couple of inches shorter than John, and had a bandanna wrapped around his head. He had a goatee on his chin and a mustache to match, as well as a pair of smokey colored round glasses. Even without an introduction, John knew who this was just by the way he carried himself. "Three Dog."

The man immediately smiled. "I would say you have me at a disadvantage, but the fact of the matter is that I happen to know exactly who you are." he said holding his hand out. "Good to finally meet you." The gunman reached out and shook his hand. "Come on in, we've got a lot to talk about."

The three of them entered the room and John looked around to find stacks of radio equipment around the walls, some of it lying dormant, likely for spare parts, and the rest with blinking lights dashing back and forth. The radio jockey sat down in his chair, which, John noticed, happened to be the only chair in sight. He groaned at the sight. "So...John Ronas. Or should I say Archangel? Or perhaps the Reaper?" he asked with a wide smile.

John looked at him curiously. "Reaper? That's a new one." he said.

"Turns out you've got nicknames from both sides of the playing field. The hope of the people, savior of the enslaved, righter of wrongs, savior of cities, the merciful Archangel!" he said, holding his arms out dramatically. "Or, there's the other side. The Reaper, the Wolf of the Wasteland, tamer of creatures of the night, the slayer of the Enclave, the nightmare of raiders, he who walks through an ocean made of the blood of his enemies! Oh, and now lets add to the list the destroyer of super mutants. Goddamn that'd make a good radio show." he said as he turned around and began writing hectically on a piece of paper.

John tilted his head, trying to get a glimpse of the writing. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Writing that down. That could be a hit with the lovelies out in the Wasteland." he said in his deep, but pleasant voice. "Herbert Daring Dashwood is good, but this...this is gold!" he said, then stopped writing and spun around in his chair again. "Now then, where was I?" he asked.

"Add deeply in love to that list as well." said Cid from behind John, a large smirk on his face, which only grew as he heard John sigh.

"We're four stories up. Don't make me show you the quick way down." he said.

"Ah...got a thing for the lovely Sentinel Lyons huh?" asked Three Dog as he winked at the wanderer. "She is definitely a rose of the wasteland. A huge, muscular, voluptuous rose." he said.

"Alright! Can we get back on topic here?" he said, his voice laced with irritation, which wasn't helped when both of the men laughed loudly.

"Alright alright." said the jockey through his chuckling. "But I want some more details later." he said as he sat up.

"I'll deliver them with a Fat Man." John said with a glare. Cid, still laughing to himself, sat down and leaned against the wall. "Now, do you have information about my father or not?" he asked impatiently.

"Yes actually, I do. A few weeks ago, one James Ronas, made his way here from Megaton. Said he wanted to know what all was going on since he had left into his hidey hole. I gave him what he needed and he went about his way, said he had some business to take care of." He immediately stood up and walked over to a small cabinet, which he pulled a bottle of water out of.

"Did he leave any kind of clue where he went?" asked John desperately.

Three Dog then waved to the chair. "Please, have a seat." he said. Not thinking, John immediately sat down and sighed in relief as the pressure was taken off his back. Then the man handed him the water. The vault dweller took the water from him, then eyed him suspiciously.

"What?" he asked.

Three Dog shrugged. "What?"

"What do you want?" asked John.

"I didn't ask for anything." said Three Dog with his now signature smirk.

"But you're going to." The man looked at him as if he were hurt by the assertion. But John just stood up and glared him down. "Look, I may be new to the wasteland, but I'm not a goddamn idiot. Nobody gives anything without expecting something in return. So stop with the theatrics and tell me what you want."

Three Dog smiled widely, clapping slowly. "Very good. As smart as his dad." he said, hopping up and sitting on his desk. "So, let's get down to business, shall we?" he asked.

"I'd like that." said John as he tossed the water to Cid, who caught it and began gulping it down greedily.

"What I need, as you put it, is your assistance. See, this here radio station, she's my baby. I watered her, I nurtured her, I gave her what she needed, when she needed it. And as a result, she grew and grew to be a giant among the denizens of the Wasteland." he said. John noted that he had turned on the theatrics again, but ignored it. "Now...the problem is that our signal is no longer getting to the rest of the Wasteland. If you're outside of downtown DC, all you're getting from me is static."

"Yeah, I remember them saying something about that in Megaton..." said John as he scratched his chin. "Why is that though? Don't most stations have a broadcast relay that allows them to even broadcast out of state?" he asked.

Three Dog smiled and nodded. "Yes, they do. We even had one for a long time. Until one of those asshole supermutants out there decided it'd be hilarious to shoot at the shiny thing on top of the Washington Monument." he said.

"So you need me to repair it?" he asked.

"No way man. Whichever mutant took out the relay did his job well. There's no salvaging it." he said. When he got a questioning look from the wanderer, he continued. "Thing is, the factory that used to make the relay parts was one of the first things taken out when the bombs fell. So there's no chance of us digging through there for another one."

"Buuuut?" asked John, trying to get to the point.

"But, some of the Brotherhood Paladins out there said they've seen one that looks almost exactly like our old one out at the Museum of Technology. Apparently, the Virgo II Lunar Lander that they have on display used the exact kind of relay we were using, and it's completely intact!" he said excitedly.

John just nodded, running his hands through his hair. "And if I bring the dish back to you, I get information on my father?" he asked.

"Your father went to Rivet City to find a woman named Doctor Li. He said something about a Project Purity, and said he had to talk to her about it. Unfortunately, I don't know much more." said the man. John's eyes widened as the information sunk in. "Look kid, you and I, we're cut from the same cloth. We're both fighting the Good Fight. Me, I do it from my radio. You, you do it from the end of your barrel. Either way, people like us in the Wasteland are few and far between. We need to stick together, and I'm not going to jeopardize that by holding information about your father hostage. This whole thing with the relay...that's just a personal favor to me."

John chuckled. "The Good Fight huh?" he asked curiously. Three Dog just nodded with a smile. "So you're not holding the information hostage, just my conscience." he said jokingly.

Three Dog shrugged. "Hey, at least you have one. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even asked you to try."

"Great. So because I'm a great guy, I get asked to throw myself into the line of fire more." he said, rubbing his head. Three Dog laughed loudly.

"I know. Sucks, right?" he said. "Makes you wish you weren't such a nice guy." he finished, eyeing the wanderer.

John just gave a smirk of his own. "Not in a million years." he said.

OoOoO

Before leaving, John had assigned Cid to hang around with the Brotherhood and make sure that the supermutant threat was no longer an issue. He, on the other hand, packed a combat shotgun, his energy rifle, and plenty of water from the GNR building to make the trip to the museum. He stretched his back painfully as he traveled the maze of concrete mountains and ancient buildings, his only relief from the glaring sun being the underground tunnels he had to traverse. Tunnels which were filled with all kinds of the worst of the wasteland.

Raiders, ghouls, radroaches, and now throw supermutants into the mix. He had his work cut out for him. When he finally emerged again into the sunlight, he just sighed to himself. "I fucking hate the sun." he said irritated as he made his way for the Museum of Technology that showed on his pipboy.

 _"Anyone ever tell you you're too nice of a guy?"_ asked the voice from his pipboy.

He just glared down at the character. "Yeah, right between asking me to risk my life, and to save theirs." he said. The door to the museum was fairly large. Large enough to be kicked open like he had seen in the numerous vids he had watched as a child. Reaching up, he slid the eyepiece down over his right eye and lunged out with his foot. The large door swung open and crashed against the wall. Immediately a 90%, 54%, and 2% popped up on his scouter. "Goddammit..." he sighed to himself as gunfire started ripping from the mezzanine above.

When the firing stopped, he spin around with his rifle and blasted the green creature holding an assault rifle. The shot took off its gun arm, causing it to roar loudly before jumping off the mezzanine down to the floor below. It charged outside of the museum and right into John's awaiting fist. The blow knocked the monster back, but didn't deter its rage. The shotgun blast following did, however.

Shouldering the shotgun again, John ripped the microfusion cell from the rifle and loaded another one. One of the creatures had come forward, aiming a long hunting rifle at him. The gunman pulled the trigger, sending the round through the crude scope on the gun and into the monsters brain, where it exploded, taking the green man with it. John stepped into the bottom floor again, looking for the last of the three. He spotted the creature with the help of his VATS, and dispatched him with a single shot through the corner of a wall.

When he was sure that there weren't anymore of the mutants hiding in any nooks or cranny's, he finally stepped over to the tourist map, showing the different exhibits. After a quick examination, he found the Virgo II Lunar Lander residing in the Space Wing. Turning away from the map, he looked at the door to the western wing and sighed. Massive slabs of concrete blocked his path from the western wing. And super strength or not, it was going to take him a long time to get through there.

After another quick examination, he found that he could access the Space Wing through... "The Vault Tour?" he asked.

 _"Didn't you say you were from a vault?"_ asked Elsa from his wrist.

"Yeah. Lived there for twenty years." he said as he moved away from the board and climbed up to the mezzanine level. Seeing the close confines of the corridor he was going to have to travel, he slid the energy rifle over his shoulder and pulled up the shotgun.

 _"Do you miss it?"_ she asked curiously.

"I miss the people. Not so much the vault anymore." he said as he stepped into the hall. "More and more I realize it was practically a coffin compared to the outside world. If I tried to go back now, I'd probably get a really bad case of cabin fever." he finished, turning the corner and stopping dead in his tracks.

 _"Oh...well...then I guess it's good they aren't going to make you go back inside one anytime soon."_ she said sarcastically. In front of them stood a vault door, almost an exact replica of the one he had fled through so long ago. Instead of the usual **101** that he was used to seeing emblazoned on the front, it just said **Vault-Tec**.

He started moving forward, his shotgun up and ready for action should it find him. He walked through the eerily familiar halls, lit with the same artificial lights from 101, his skin crawling. So when the tour guide began talking over the loud speaker, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

 _"Vault-Tec welcomes you to its newest line of subterranean vaults, featuring our patented Triple-S technology."_ said the voice.

"Alright...I fucking hate this place." he said as he brushed it off and continued forward.

 _"Couldn't tell."_ she said with a giggle.

"Don't make me give you a virus." he said threateningly to the AI.

She gasped dramatically. _"Why John! You haven't even asked me out to dinner yet!"_ she said, her icon blushing now. When he glared at her, she giggled again and waved him off. _"Oh please, I could dismantle anything you throw at me and then some."_ she said smartly.

"And if I take the powercell out of my pipboy?" he asked, grinning evilly.

She just looked at him, crossing her arms and death glaring him this time. _"Not even the least bit funny mister."_ she said, almost pouting. He was about to retort, but the intercom cut him off as he walked into a brightly lit passage.

 _"Being underground got you down? Smile! Our SimuSun lighting mimics the feeling of being outside with only a fraction of the sunburn potential!"_ said the voice in its mock cheery tone. John just snorted. The lights from the vault had been nothing even close to the feeling of the blaring day ball that cursed the wasteland.

 _"I don't like this tour guide guy. I wanna fight him."_ said Elsa, pulling up her sleeves.

"You can't. Maybe next time, if you're good." he said in what he figured was a fatherly manner as he turned another corner. This time, the voice didn't catch him off guard. It's words however, did.

 _"Concerns about our security? Our Eye-On-You cameras enable the vaults leader to watch your every move. You'll never be alone again!"_ said the voice, making the wanderer stop in his tracks.

 _"Can I fight him now?"_ she asked. John growled, then cocked back the butt of his shotgun and smashed the intercom. The device sparked, then shorted out.

"Perverted old bastard..." he said, before turning and moving again. He picked up his pace this time, wanting to leave this relic of his past as soon as possible. Mercifully, he found the exit and opened the door gently this time, instead of kicking it open. At the end of the next hall, he entered what looked like an ancient amphitheater. It had rows of seats rising from the center, getting higher and higher as they moved outwards. And in the center of the room was a large orrery. It held a dimmed sun in the center, with the rest of the known planets on small pegs, each further out than the one before. But none of them were moving. At least, they weren't until he stepped onto the stage, and the machine automatically started.

The room dimmed, and several projectors placed on top of the orrery began shining their light on the ceiling, scattering fragments of light everywhere. He looked up and was amazed at what he saw. There were stars everywhere, as well as planets, nebula, and even comets streaking across the dark void. He lowered his weapon as the machines voice started playing.

 _"For as long as history has been recorded, man has had an insatiable hunger for knowledge regarding the universe. To understand why man is so interested in this unknown expanse of space around our little world, we must take a journey..."_ He continued watching as planets zipped by on the domed ceiling, each bearing its name. He saw planets he had never heard of zoom by, including two by the name of Sur'Kesh and Thessia. But, as the next planet, by the name of Palaven swung by, he was snapped out of his daze by a roar from the next room.

Immediately, he swung up his shotgun and moved towards the door of the planetarium. Opening the portal, he stepped into a hallway after making sure it was clear. Moving over to the next door available, he put his ear to it and listened. "The sound definitely came from here." he whispered.

 _"Want me to check it out first?"_ she asked playfully.

"Shut up." he said as he slowly turned the door handle. Surprisingly, the beaten up old door didn't even make a creak as he pulled it open. Leaning over, he took a quick scan of the room, and his eyes widened immediately as they rested on a small pod display in the center of the room. On its side was painted ' **Virgo II** ', and near the top of the ancient device was a small satellite relay device. He smiled to himself, until he heard grunting again. Seeing the railing, and the fact that he couldn't see the bottom half of the lander told him that he was on the second floor, likely another mezzanine. Stepping forward very quietly, he looked over the edge, and grimaced.

No less than five supermutants stood on the bottom floor of the room, grunting to each other in some unknown language. His VATS lit up all five of them, each with their body parts showing different percentages. He raised his rifle when he felt a subtle vibration on his arm. Looking down at his pipboy, Elsa had typed out her words. _[Only one shot. No time to reload. Try and line up the two next to each other.]_

The gunman nodded, then raised his rifle again. This time, his laser pointer rested on the side of one of the creatures skulls, the shot lined up so that it would also go straight through and at the very least injure the second. His doubt however, was misplaced. As he pulled the trigger, the superheated round flew straight through one of the creatures skulls, blasting it from its shoulders, then slammed into the second, sending it crashing to the floor dead. He tossed his energy weapon aside and pulled the shotgun free. The three others in the room looked up towards him as his weapon roared, and began their charge. The first one to him pulled a large sledgehammer free of its back and swung. John's shotgun did very little to faze it however, and the creature smashed the head of the massive maul into the floor where the gunman had previously stood.

Unfortunately for them all, the mezzanine wasn't as sturdy as they'd have liked. The force from the impact split the platform, causing half of it to collapse, sending two of the three mutants, and John crashing to the floor below. Even with his enhanced reflexes, he slammed down on his back, shooting pain through his body. "Fuuuuuuck!" he shouted as he pushed the fiery sensation aside and stood again. The first supermutant hadn't gotten to its feet yet, so John walked up with his shotgun and blasted it into oblivion by emptying three shells into its skull.

The second however, was up again with its sledgehammer ready, and the third had jumped down, just as ready to fight as the other. He sighed to himself, but took a step forward. "Alright, let's get this over with." he said forcefully. The first of the two charged with its sledge, while the other raised an assault rifle to shoot. But John stepped away, making sure the charging mutant was between the two. As the first one swung his hammer down, John reached up and caught the handle with both hands. He kicked out with his right foot, catching the massive creature in the gut and sending it rolling backwards without its weapon.

The second mutant raised the weapon again, but immediately dropped it as the gunman hurled the steel hammer forward. The obscenely large weapon smashed into its chest, sending it crashing backwards, and causing its rifle to fly off across the floor. When they both rose again, the first grabbed his hammer from the floor and the second grabbed one from his back. John took another step forward, flexing his hands as he prepared for the double assault.

This time, both of the creatures lunged forward with their weapons. John backed up as the first smashed the head into the floor again, leaving a large hole where the head crashed. The second swung horizontally, making the gunman duck before it literally smashed him in half. He dashed forward and leapt onto one of the monsters shoulders, then began pummeling him mercilessly with devastating punches. The creature was stunned by the force of the blows.

When John looked back, he saw the first mutant raising his hammer to swing again. Using his uncanny agility, he spun off the green monsters shoulders and skidded to a crouched halt. When he looked up again, he saw an amusing sight. The first of the supermutants to attack had buried its sledgehammer firmly into the stunned creatures cranium. No matter what the wasteland radiation turned you into, your brain was still one of the most delicate parts of your body. And when hit with something equivalent to a speeding truck, there was no surviving it.

The last mutant standing stared dumbly at his comrade as the sledgehammers head sat between its shoulders, right where its head used to be. But he didn't sit for long, as the realization at what he had just done enraged him. Wrenching the maul loose, he turned to the gunman and began to swing it with new ferocity. John jumped backwards under the remainder of the mezzanine, dodging the swings with minor difficulty, only enraging it more. Unfortunately for the big green monster, his bloodlust made him unaware that he was walking right into a trap.

He continued to swing brutally as the gunman stepped up to a small wooden column, unaware of what he was about to do. With one last vicious swing, the hammer smashed into the wood post as the wanderer again dodged out of the way. But instead of side stepping like he had done before, he dove clear out from underneath the mezzanine.

As the already degrading column was hit, it shattered into thousands of splinters. The concrete and wooden mezzanine above no longer had support without the post, and collapsed again, right on top of the creature. John held up his duster, blocking the stone and concrete dust that shot out in every direction at the collapse. Once he was clear, he grabbed his shotgun and walked over to the rubble.

The supermutant, too tough to be killed by a small platform like that, stuck his head out to try and get some leverage on the debris around him. But as soon as his bald green head was visible, the barrel of a shotgun was jammed into it. It angrily looked up at the wanderer, who stared back with an expressionless gaze. "Sorry friend, it's been a blast, but I've gotta go now." he said, then pulled the trigger. The shotgun roared, and sent the monsters gray matter splattering against the rubble.

 _"Ooooh, nice one."_ said the playful voice of the AI.

He looked at her as he turned back to the lander. "Nice what?"

 _"It's been a blast? Right before shotgunning him? Cummon!"_ she said in exasperation. _"You had to have done that on purpose."_

"Actually, I didn't even think about it. But I guess it is kinda funny." he said as he began climbing the small craft.

The AI just giggled. _"I guess I'm starting to rub off on you."_ He just smiled as he reached up and grabbed the relay attached to the lander.


	21. Checking Out

OoO( 21 )OoO

"Never fucking fails." he said as he exited the Museum of Technology and immediately heard the popping of gunfire. And as he figured, when he finally hit sunlight, he saw the green menace. But, to his surprise, they weren't firing on him. They were all looking towards the opposite side of the shattered road, where a figure was hiding behind a concrete barricade and shooting back. From his current position, he couldn't see exactly who it was that was defending themselves, but that really didn't matter to him.

Jumping down the stairs, he whipped his rifle off his back and immediately aimed at one of the beasts as they moved to sneak around the concrete barrier on the opposite side of the defender. The round flew an blasted the green monster off his feet. He immediately ducked behind the large stone column of the museum, knowing that the green men would be searching for another attacker now. After reloading the rifle, he waited about thirty more seconds before popping out again, and unleashing another hellish round into the back of another of the monsters.

It slid forward on the ground, flailing at the massive damage that had been done to it. The remaining three supermutants finally turned to look at him with malice. But one regretted it as the former defender blasted him in the back of the head with their rifle. It managed to hit the creature in the neck, tearing its throat out. John dove for cover again as the remaining two let loose a barrage of bullets. Even with his speed however, he couldn't outrun a speeding bullet. One of the rounds managed to graze his leg, causing him to wince with pain.

Even with the new injury, the two mutants were surrounded, and soon after, easily dispatched. John limped across the street to where the defender was still taking cover, his hands held high in case they thought he was approaching to attack. He still held his gun however, easily in one hand. And as he stepped closer, the figure stepped out as well.

It was a ghoul, just like Gob. But this one had a few parts that made it clear that it was a female. The leather armor she wore was tight fitting and maneuverable, allowing her to dodge easily without the clunkyness of regular leather. Her face, like Gob, was missing its nose, leaving her head looking very skull-like. Currently, she held the scope of a long sniper rifle in her hands, one of her eyes staring down the scope at him.

"What do you want smoothskin?" she asked harshly, her voice gravely as well, but also high pitched enough to tell she was a female.

"I came over to see if you were alright. You looked a bit overwhelmed from where I was standing." he said, still walking forward slowly. "Were you injured?" he asked.

"Why? You some kinda damn doctor?" she asked.

"Sorta..." he said. "I have medical training, and if you have been injured I can help."

She eyed him suspiciously. He was now in range so that she could see him clearly, allowing her to lower the scope and look at him critically. The barrel of the rifle however never left his center mass. "How do I know you aren't bullshittin' me?" she asked.

"Look, the energy rifle I have in my hand has twice the range of your sniper rifle. If I had wanted you dead, I could have shot you from the museum back there. Or, I could have just used you as a distraction to get around the mutants. I did neither." he said calmly.

She thought about it for a moment before slowly lowering her rifle. "Alright smoothskin, you get a pass." she said.

He lowered his arms with a smile. "Glad to hear it. Now, you didn't answer my question. Were you injured?" he asked. She just looked down at herself with a sigh. Two of the hundred or so rounds fired on the square had hit, one in her shoulder, and the other in her thigh. He clearly saw the puncture wounds in the armor, then looked back up at her. "I can help you with that." he said.

She finally lowered her gun the rest of the way. "Alright fine. Get your smooth ass over here." she said as she slowly sat down on the stairs. He immediately moved in and checked the entries.

"One went through and out the other end, one is still lodged in there. I'm going to need you to lower your...ummm...pants, to get it out." he said. She chuckled and reached down, lowering her matching leather pants and exposing her skin underneath, which still looked relatively smooth. He immediately pulled his medical kit out and in a matter of minutes, had the bullet removed and both of the wounds sewn up with stitches. Giving her a stimpack to each wound, he finally packed his stuff away and stood up.

She stood up again as well and flexed the arm of her damaged shoulder, then tested her leg. Both of them still hurt like hell, but she knew the pain would leave eventually and she'd be just fine. "Not bad." she said, then looked up at him suspiciously. "So, why help me?" he asked.

He was actually stunned by the question. "Uhhh...you were injured." he said.

"Yeah, but you didn't make any offer for caps. Are you trying to get into my pants?" she asked.

It took every muscle in his being to keep his face expressionless as he answered the question. "No." he said firmly.

"Why, am I not good enough for you?" she asked, her voice rising in anger. He literally had no words for her at the moment. Then, she chuckled and sat down on the stairs. "I'm just fucking with you smoothskin. I haven't had the lady parts in quite a while anyway." she said. "So, why help me for free?" she asked, genuinely curious this time.

He just sighed and rubbed his head. "Because I don't like supermutants, you were outnumbered, and because you needed help. Should there need to be any more of a reason?" he asked.

"I guess not. But there's not that many people with that attitude out here. Especially towards ghouls." she said. "Names Willow by the way."

"John, John Ronas." he said, sitting next to her.

She just looked at him. "No shit?" she asked.

He looked at her surprised. Then just leaned his head down and put his hand over his eyes. "Let me guess, you listen to Three Dog don't you?" he asked. She just nodded. "Yes, it's me. So, to change the subject, what are you doing out here?" he asked.

"I work out here. I guard Underworld from asshole smoothskins that want think they can get a quick cash in by robbing a bunch of unarmed ghouls."

He just cocked an eyebrow at her. "Underworld?" he asked.

She nodded towards the large double door behind her. "City inside the Museum of History here. It's a safe haven for ghouls in the wasteland. The only place we can really call our own. Since you seem like a nice guy, you can go in. Just tell them that Willow says Hades, and they won't have Cerberus shoot you on sight. They might not like you much though, the last human they brought in also brought the big greens with her." she said.

John stared at her. "There's another hu...smoothskin in there?" he asked, correcting himself.

She just nodded and sighed. "Seemed like a nice enough girl, and she was injured, so we let her in. Then came the mutants. They normally don't bother with us ghouls. But they wanted her something fierce." she said.

He nodded, then began walking up the steps. Opening the door, he found himself staring at a large lobby with what looked like the remains of a T-Rex skeletal display scattered across the floor. On the left side, the display showing a huge woolly mammoth that was still mostly intact. Moving forward, he spied another pair of doors on the wall. The stone archway around them was very archaic in its design however.

Above the two doors was a large stone skull that stared down on the lobby like the grim reaper. On either side, two skeletal hands emerged from the wall and were holding large sconces which were ablaze with roaring fires. He just stared at it for a moment. "Not really sure what I expected..." he said to himself before moving forward again. He opened the doors carefully, not wanting to surprise a room full of jumpy ghouls.

What he got was a hallway full of jumpy ghouls staring directly at him. "Cerberus..." said one of the gravelly voiced males.

"Willow said Hades." said John loudly. Everyone froze again before the room let out a collective sigh of relief.

"She's really gotta warn us before sending you smoothskins back here." said the male from before.

John just glared at the ghoul. "She was shot twice, and nearly overwhelmed by a squad of supermutants. She had a bit more to be concerned about." he said. The surprise on the ghouls face was priceless. "She said that another smoothskin came in here a little bit ago injured. Can you point me to her?" he asked.

The jumpsuited ghoul nodded. "She's probably back in the Chopshop with Doctor Barrows. He's our only medical expert." he said. "Names Winthrop by the way. Glad to meet another smoothskin who doesn't shoot us on sight." said the man.

John nodded. "Same could be said for you." he replied, then smirked. "Though I have to admit, you have a bit more reason to by paranoid than I do." he said.

The ghoul nodded. "True, unless you are who I think you are. If that's the case, I'll take my chances being a ghoul." he said with a slight, skeletal grin.

John looked at him oddly, then actually remembered he was wanted, dead or alive by practically any baddy in the wasteland. "Oh...yeah. In any case, I'm going to go find the injured woman. There might be something I can do to help her." he said. The ghoulish man nodded and went about his business. John in the meantime stepped back into the 'Chopshop', and immediately saw the doctor, who was peeling off a pair of rubber gloves.

The doctor looked up at John and grimaced. "What do you need?" he asked.

"I came here looking for a woman, she was injured?" he said.

The doctor jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the back, where there were a bunch of beds. "She's under sedation right now. She was hysterical when she arrived, wanting to rally us all together to fight off a horde of supermutants. I had to calm her down a bit."

John looked back at the calm form of the woman in the back. "Did she say why?" he asked.

"Something about saving her men." he said as he tossed the gloves off to the side. "Thing is, even if we gathered twice our number here, we'd never be able to fight off a group of greens. We have barely a weapon between us, and the only ones who know how to fight are Charon in the Ninth Circle, Willow out front, and Cerberus, who'd be just as happy burning us all to a crisp." he said exasperated, then pointed to the woman. "And her, when she got here she had four bullet wounds to her leg and three dislocations. There's no way in hell she's going to be able to pull off a stunt like that."

John nodded. "I might actually be able to help her. If you wouldn't mind, bring her out of her sedation and I can take her off your hands." he said.

Doctor Barrows eyed him curiously. "You really think you can help her with her problem?" he asked. John smiled confidently and nodded. The doctor just shrugged. "Alright. Your funeral. If she follows you out of her own will, you can have her. But if she insists on staying here and trying to drag us into her own personal hell, I'm knocking her out again." he said.

Together, they walked over to the relaxed form of the woman and the doctor hooked up a flushing agent to get the sedative out of her system. Once completely drained, he hooked up another sedative to the ancient looking machine. John just looked down at the beautiful woman's face. She had a head of orange hair, cropped short, and a smooth, angular face with high cheekbones. Were it not for her look of being in pure bliss, she'd almost look dignified. The insignia on her chest said 'Reilly's Rangers', and had a shamrock with two scimitars crossed over it.

"Reilly?" he asked, recalling someone saying the name before.

As he said the name, her eyes snapped open. She began looking around frantically. "W-Where am I?" she asked. John reached forward, grabbed her by the shoulders, and held her to the bed gently.

"Your name is Reilly, right?" he asked. She gave a panicked nod. "Reilly, I need you to listen to me very carefully, alright?" Again she nodded. "My name is John. You're in Underworld right now. You were injured coming in, and you were saying something about saving your men. I want you to tell me exactly what happened, but I want you to do it calmly." he said.

She nodded lightly. "We were rooting through the Our Lady of Hope Hospital north of here, trying to see if we could find stashes of medical supplies. One of our men, Theo, while investigating downstairs, ended up alerting a group of supermutants that we were there. I'm not sure how, but they came crashing into the hospital and swarmed us. We did everything we could! We set traps, made obstacles, covered each other...but..." she said as she raised her hands to cover her stinging eyes.

"But what?" he asked.

"They got Theo. We had made it across a fallen tower to the Statesman Hotel. Theo went in first and it was a straight drop to the floor below. He shattered his ankle in the fall." she said, rubbing the tears from her eyes. We tried to carry him with us, but he pushed us away and told us to run, said that he'd hold them off. They got to him and ripped him apart." she said, her voice cracking.

John reached up and squeezed her shoulder gently. "What about the rest of them?" he asked.

"We made it to the roof, and were holding them off. But there were so many of them! We had to do something!" she said as she sat up in the bed. "Butcher, our medic, gave me a Stealth Boy and told me to use it to go get help. To be honest, I think he was just trying to get me out of there. But I did it. I snuck past most of them. But I got caught on the bottom floor of the hotel. They shot at me and chased me. One caught me and hurled me into one of the nearby metro stations, and I just got up and started running, despite the pain. When I got to the surface again, I saw this ghoul woman and...and..." she said, trying to remember the rest.

"And here you are." he said. Looking up at the ghoulish doctor, John narrowed his eyes. "How long has she been here?" he asked.

"Only about two hours. Last I heard, some of the mutants followed her to the door." he said, but John waved him off.

"Don't worry about those, I've already taken care of them." he said, then turned to Reilly. "Reilly, I'm going to help your men, alright? But I need you to tell me how to get to the hospital." Her face lit up almost immediately and she nodded. Looking back at the doctor, he said, "No sedative needed. I'm taking her with me to the GNR."

Doctor Barrows looked stunned for a moment. "You'll just be burning time. She can barely walk with her leg the way it is." he said, his gravelly tone irritated.

"Give her some medication so that it doesn't hurt. And she won't be walking." he said. The doctor just sighed, grumbling something about smoothskins, then applied the medication. John paid for it, then looked down to her. "You ready to go?" he asked. She nodded frantically and he scooped her up, armor and all, into his arms. "Let's go." he said, moving quickly towards the doors to the Chopshop.

OoOoO

When John finally arrived at the GNR building, his legs and sides were burning. He may have been easily able to carry her with his new abilities, but running long distance with her and her armor was a different story. He laid her on the steps of the radio tower and bent over, gasping for air and sweating profusely.

She just looked up at him, amazed. "How the hell did you do that?" she asked.

He just stood straight up again. "I ate my Sugar Bombs as a kid." he said. Despite the dire situation she was in, she actually chuckled. "I'll tell you later..." he said as the large dark skinned man emerged from the GNR building with his faithful launcher on his back.

When Cid saw Reilly laying on the stairs and John standing over her, he just gave him a questioning glance. "Got another girlfriend already?" he asked. John glared at him and he raised his arms defensively. "I'm just kiddin' man. What's goin' on?"

After explaining the situation in bullet points, Cid nodded. "Alright, I'm in. But if we want to save her friends, we're going to have to move quickly."

John just sighed. "Yeah, don't remind me." he said, still rubbing his sore gut. "Have someone come down and retrieve her, and have one of the medics come as well. She needs medical attention." he said. As Cid turned to head up the stairs, John stopped him by grabbing his shoulder. "Oh..." he said, pulling the Lander dish off his back. "And give this to the asshole upstairs." Cid laughed and headed up the stairs as quickly as he could.

John sat on the stairs next to the redhead and drank from a plastic bottle. "Thank you..." she said.

He looked over at her. "For what?"

"Even if it's too late, thank you for going after them." she said, her melancholy mood back again.

He just smiled at her. "It's not too late. You just rest up so you can start bossing them around again when they get back." he said. She looked up at him, seeing the confident smile, then smiled herself.

"Right. And..." she said, looking away slightly. "If you're ever in the ruins and you need someplace to lay your head, stop by our compound. You'll always be welcome there." Cid burst out from the door, raring for a fight as a few paladins moved down the stairs and collected Reilly. "Good luck John!" she shouted as the two of them dashed off towards the north.

OoOoO

When they arrived, John's pipboy immediately alerted him that a new emergency class broadcast had appeared in his frequencies. "To anyone receiving this message, this is Butcher from the merc company Reilly's Rangers. We're in danger and need time is running out and we are dangerously low on ammunition. Our broadcast point is the roof of the Statesman Hotel. If assistance is not possible, please attempt to find Reilly. She made it away from the hotel, but her location afterwards is unknown. Please just make sure she's safe." The voice stopped, but the sound effects in the background were still their. Finally, the voice came back in a panic. "Oh shit...here they come again!"

"Good, they're still alive." he said to the tall man. Holding his pipboy to his mouth, he responded. "Butcher of Reilly's Rangers, this is John Ronas heading to your position. Hold out as long as you can." he said.

Immediately, he was hailed back. "Holy shit, you have no idea how good it is to hear from you..." said the radio with a sigh of relief. "How many do you have with you?"

"Just me and one other. We're on our way up." he said heading for the hotel with Cid hot on his heels.

"Just two of you? Are you insane?" asked the medic.

John smiled at the question. "Don't worry about us, just keep yourselves safe until we get to you."

There was an irritated sigh on the line. "Alright. But you have to go through the hospital to get to us. The bottom few floors of the hotel are completely destroyed, and there's no way to get up to us as the elevator isn't working. Watch for the traps we set on the way up, and keep an eye out for a fission battery. It's the last component we need to get this elevator online." said Butcher before he cut the line.

OoOoO

"Who the hell was that?" asked a buzz cut woman wielding a massive minigun.

Butcher just set the radio down and looked over as he saw another wave of the massive green beasts charge up the stairs towards them. "Someone named John Ronas, he said he and his partner are here to save us." he said with irritation as he pulled free his automatic rifle.

"Wait...did you say John Ronas?" asked the engineer who had his grenades primed. He looked at Butcher in shock.

Then, the mutants were pounding away again at the barricade they had set up on the roof. Brick, their heavy weapons specialist unleashed with her heavy minigun, destroying the three that were the first in line to the barricade. Butcher set himself up and began to fire through the openings they had left as well, hitting and injuring many of the beasts. After a few minutes of relentless fire from the two, Donovan chucked a grenade over head, landing it right in the center of the newest crowd. The explosion shook the roof and tore apart the small army, leaving only a few remaining.

Butcher looked at Donovan after the cleanup was done. "Yeah, have you heard of him?" he asked.

The engineer just smiled as he sat back again, resting his blistering feet. "Let's just say that of all the names we could have had come over that radio, that's the one I'm happiest to hear."

OoOoO

The hospital had gone dark long ago, and the sun had sunk hours before when he emerged from the Museum of Technology. The light on his pipboy activated automatically. Cid eyed the contraption as John held it up to shine light on the lobby. "How the hell'd it know to do that?" he asked.

He looked at the mercenary dumbstruck, then scratched his head. "I...uh...programmed it to sense darkness?" he said, coming up with the first thing off the top of his head. When Elsa had first made herself known, he had disguised her actions as his own. When she'd switch frequencies, he acted like he had done it. When she turned the flash light on, he tapped it so that it looked like he had hit the switch. But he had apparently grown so used to her assistance that he had dropped the guise.

Cid just shook his head. "That programming shit gives me a headache." he said simply. Reaching back, he tapped his rocket launcher. "I like my way of opening things better." he just said as they moved forward.

The hospital was eerie, to say the least. Hospital beds turned over and bloody, human skulls laying randomly around, complete silence, and darkness. While Cid had no issue with the muted, deadly tone of a place that was supposed to help people, John was paranoid as hell. He'd seen a few horror vids back in the Vault where people would be wandering or running through dark corridors in complete silence, only to be jumped at from the shadows. "Let's hurry up and get to the hotel. I don't like this place." he said as he began moving faster.

Cid followed him, a knowing smirk on his face. "Of all people to be afraid of the dark, I didn't figure it'd be you." said the dark skinned man, who had his shotgun ready for combat. John just gave him a dark glare as they ascended a set of stairs that brought them to the third floor. John currently had his energy rifle ready for anything that decided to jump out at them.

"Oh shut up before I shoot you." he said, only half joking as they made their way to probably the worst floor he could have imagined. Whent hey opened the door to the stairwell, as the higher floors were blocked off, they found themselves inside a long degraded morgue. Immediately the gunman started speedwalking to the other end of it. "Nope, nope, nope, nope." he just metronomed to himself as he rushed forward. Reaching for the metal door handle, he swung the armored door open and ran smack into a wall of green muscle.

The supermutant that he had bumped into grabbed the gunman and threw him bodily into the morgue, sending him crashing through the meat tables. When he finally settled, he groaned from the weight of two of the metal tables laying on him.

Cid dashed forward and grappled with the supermutant, the big green monstrosity slowly overpowering the human. Their hands were locked together in a battle of strength as John slowly pulled himself out from under the rubble. Despite Cid's massive strength, he was still fighting an uphill battle. The monster began to slowly bend the mercenary's hands backwards in a show of strength, but the humans smile never faded. Using his immense power, Cid squeezed the green mans hands tighter, causing his gauntlet to activate and piston forward.

The blow from the piston sent two of the creatures green fingers flying free of the hand, and sent the mutant reeling from pain. Pulling his now freed hand back, Cid just smiled maniacally as he thrust his fist into the shouting creatures mouth. The power glove activated again, blasting the green mans brain to pieces. The large man pulled his gorey hand free from its mouth as it slid backwards onto the floor.

"You alright?" asked Cid as he shook the viscera from his gauntlet.

"I'll be fine." said John, who raised his rifle and fired very close to Cid himself. But the round whistled past the man and into the hall. Another mutant had apparently heard the commotion and showed up to find out what the deal was. His reward was a microfusion round to the throat, blowing his windpipe and the top of his spinal column out the back of his body.

Cid looked over. "Damn." he said, amused.

"Let's go." said the wanderer as he started moving forward again, ignoring once more the pain in his back. They made it through the rest of the hospital, only having run into three more mutants which were easily dispatched. John kicked the door to the roof open and walked out onto the concrete surface.

Cid stepped out after him and looked around, his agitation growing. He followed his partner over to the supposed bridge to the hotel and stopped immediately. "Oh hell no!" he said angrily.

John, who had already taken one step onto the makeshift scaffold turned and looked at the man. "What's the problem?" he asked. He noticed that Cid was staring angrily at the bridge beneath him. Noticing this, the gunman smiled. "What's the matter Cid? Afraid of heights?" he asked smugly.

"Fuck off runt. I never signed up for this." he said as he took another step back.

As amused as John was at the newfound discovery, they didn't have time for this. "Look asshole, one way or another we're going across this bridge. If I have to come over there and carry you across myself, I will. But be aware that I'll be telling everyone about it." he said forcefully.

The dark skinned man looked up at him in shock, then growled viciously. "Move." he said. The wanderer stepped off the bridge and out of the way. The mountain of a man closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, then charged forward with a look of pure rage on his face. He hit the bridge and immediately began sprinting across the rickety metal structure. John dashed after him, and was noticing the scaffold wobbling horribly.

"Shit..." he said as he sprinted ahead as well. When they were right near the end, their luck ran out. The thin metal framing of the tower snapped and buckled under both of their weight and Cid's storming combined. At the last possible moment, John had lunged forward over the dark skinned mans head and slid onto the stone floor of the statesman maintenance room that the bridge had broken its way into.

Reaching out quickly, he grabbed Cid's descending hand and gripped it tightly, causing the man to slam into the concrete wall below. Despite the stunning blow, the large man clamped onto John's hand and held on for dear life as he hung over a five story abyss. John placed his free hand on the ground slowly and began pushing against it, lifting himself up, as well as the mercenary. But despite his strength, he was having trouble balancing his weight with Cid's.

Thankfully, the merc had grabbed the floor as soon as he was high enough and began helping to lift himself up. With one last heave, John pulled him up and onto the carpet, where he hit the ground, and quickly scrambled to the corner. "See? That wasn't so bad." said the gunman in a voice of mock confidence. If looks could kill, he'd have been dead, set on fire, and tossed off the building right there. But instead, he brushed the death glare off and opened the next door and walked through.

In hindsight, as he laid face down on the carpet below and thought to himself, he really should have remembered Reilly's words about the entrance to the hotel having a gaping hole in the floor. And because he didn't, he got a face full of dusty carpet, and probably rug burn for the next few days. From above, Cid jumped down onto a bed that was just to the side of the entrance. As he bounced onto the floor, he just grabbed John by the back of his coat and set him on his feet.

"No words from you." said the gunman as he continued through the destroyed door with the merc behind him. The Statesman, though not hit by one of the bombs, was no less demolished. Walls were crumbling to dust, furniture was shattered, carpet was torn and burned, and the windows all shattered, proving the old adage that time was the ultimate destroyer. Most of the walls within the floors that were still standing made narrow hallways that weren't good for his rifle, making him swap out for his trusty combat shotgun.

The pair of them made their way through floor after floor, cleaning out the green monsters that they found and running from others, losing them in the maze of hallways, rooms, doorways, and crumbling ceilings. They had found the body of the former ranger, and with him the ammo container that the group above were so desperate for.

Within the next hour, the pair had their backs to the wall and were breathing heavily. They had made it to a flight of stairs that led up another couple of floors to what looked like a restaurant, that had likely been a four star establishment back in the day. But there was nothing classy about its current denizens. There were dozens of the creatures just milling about the delapidated diner.

John reached up and rubbed his head in frustration. "I'm getting real tired of these assholes." he said as he gently banged his head against the concrete behind him. "Saw my first one two days ago and already I could go my entire life without seeing another." he growled.

Cid reached up and wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his gauntlet. "I fuckin' hear that." he said as his breath finally returned to him. "We gonna get this done?" he asked.

John nodded. "Yeah, but we've gotta move fast. Our shotguns aren't going to hold out here. And I don't know how many shells you have left for your glove, but I'm none to keen on breaking the necks of some three dozen supermutants." he said as he took another peek inside the large sprawling room. Then, his eye widened. "Wait!" he said in a hushed tone. "I think I have an idea!"

OoOoO

"The fuck is taking them so long?" asked Brick as she burned through another belt of ammunition for her trusty minigun. Once the last of the mutants was dead again, she pulled open the canister and ripped the empty clips out, then slapped in her last one.

"Probably dead." said Butcher with a sigh as he dumped a bottle of water over his assault rifle, where it quickly turned into a cloud of steam almost as soon as it touched the metal. Donovan, while he wanted to believe otherwise, had heard nothing from the pair as of yet. So, given their situation, he had to assume the worst.

"Well fuck, this is our last hurrah then!" said Brick as she took a seat while the supermutants continued to try and strategize the best way to throw themselves into the meatgrinder. Suddenly, they all stiffened as they heard Butchers makeshift radio start squawking.

"Dear Reilly's Rangers, I'd just like you to know that you all are being rescued by the most brilliant man on the planet." came the smarmy voice of the gunman. Butcher looked at his radio in shock, then grabbed it and pressed the comm.

"You're alive!" he shouted.

"But of course, and now, your rescue!" came the voice. Suddenly, the entire group froze in sheer terror as they heard the roar of the collective supermutants gathered on the floor below them.

"Jesus H. Christ..." said the doctor as he put his radio down and readied his rifle.

OoOoO

John stood with a smirk on his face on one of the tables of the upper tier. Every one of the supermutants in the room was looking at him stupidly as he talked into the pipboy to the team above. When he finished, he just waved at them.

The entire horde of creatures snapped out of their stupor and roared a battle cry before thundering after him frantically. John dashed from the table across the room and into one of the far doors. The stampeding mass practically shattered the doorframe as they all busted through it to get after the gunman.

When the room was finally clear, Cid poked his head out to make sure there were no more. He scanned the area briefly, then when he was confident that the coast was clear, he headed out to the same tier that John had stood on and took his launcher off his back. With a broad smile on his face, he flicked off the safety.

OoOoO

"What the fuck was that!?" asked Butcher as he felt the ground shake beneath him. The engineer, who had given up sitting next to the elevator and come to join the others, chuckled to himself. Butcher looked at him critically. "You wanna tell me what the hell's going on?" he asked.

"John Ronas? He goes by Archangel, and he's been all over GNR news since he emerged from the vault. He's apparently all but immortal according to Three Dog." he said.

"Oh yeeeeeah! I think I remember hearing something about that guy! They said he tamed some kind of night creatures to watch over the town of Arefu. And has killed almost every raider band he's come across, single handedly!" said Brick as she recalled hearing it playing over the radio once. Then she cocked an eyebrow at the engineer. "You don't think that shits real do you?" she asked seriously.

Donovan just smirked at the woman. "All I know is that his name is John Ronas, the same as the guy on the radio. He's here, and he's survived all the way up here..." he said, pointing below him. "And we need rescuing. So sue me if I wanna get my hopes up." said the man.

"He's got a point you know." said Brick after thinking about it for a moment. "No hurt in hoping for the best." she said.

OoOoO

John had blazed past the mutants almost a dozen times, and seriously had to improvise more than that just to stay free of combat. A couple of times when they had him surrounded, he had to spring onto their shoulders and use them as diving boards, leaving them to be pummeled and trampled as their comrades tried to get to him. Finally, after leading through a goose chase on two different levels, he sprinted back across the ballroom, which was one level below the diner.

As he blazed through the room, he looked up and smiled when he saw the hole in the ceiling that Cid had created. He looked down and saw a table and chair that were hadn't been damaged by the falling concrent, and sped for them with the green creatures right on his heels.

Cid looked down into the hole and saw as John planted a foot on the chair and launched himself into the air towards him. The large man reached out and caught the wanderers hand, then yanked him up and into the diner, practically landing him on his face. But John just somersaulted back onto his feet. "Good, let's get the hell up there with the ammo." said the merc as he turned towards the stairwell that led up to the roof dining area.

"Wait..." said John as his eyes clapped onto the arm of a Protectron that was half laid out of a maintenance closet. Rushing over, he smashed the console open with the butt of his shotgun.

"What the hell are you doing!?" asked the merc as he saw all the supermutants begin rushing past the hole in the floor and over to the stairwell that led up to their floor.

"Just go! I've got this!" he said. Cid growled and pulled his launcher off again, aiming for the stairwell.

"Surprise motherfuckers!" he shouted as he unleashed holy hell on those who just made it to the doorway. The explosion tore the monsters apart, as well as the stairs, collapsing part of them. Finally, John stood again and the merc turned to him. "What the hell is that?" he asked.

John smiled brightly. "Fission battery. What they needed for the elevator." he said with a chuckle. Suddenly, a loud cracking sounded. They looked over towards the stairwell and noticed a huge split in the floor. It was travelling towards them at a rapid pace as the fault consumed the floor, collapsing everything around it. "Fuck..." he said, then turned and sprinted for the door to the roof. They both leapt for the large staircase as the ground tore out from under them, and barely crashed through the door as even the stairs crumbled.

Butcher and Donovan looked over the railing from above and saw the two laying on the ground. "Hell of an entrance guys." said Donovan, a sly smile on his face. John finally got to his feet, dragging Cid up as well and began walking with him tiredly up to the top platform, which looked to be some kind of outside patio addition to the diner. The tables and chairs had all been overturned and strapped together in a form of barricade across the stairwell that they were ascending.

Cid lifted the barricade, allowing John underneath first, then rolled under himself as John took up the mantle for the moment. As they turned and approached the three, John pulled the ammo from the beg he wore clipped to himself.

Butcher, seeing the mountain-like man, turned to Donovan. "Those stories just became more believable." he said, then walked up to the man. Holding his hand out, he smiled at the mercenary. "John Ronas? I've heard good things about you." he said. Cid took his hand, shaking it, and chuckling at the same time.

"Actually, that would be me." said the gunman as he limped up to the medic. Butcher looked at him, then back at Cid.

"He's not lyin'. He's the one you've heard about." said the dark skinned man as he smirked.

"You've gotta be shitting me." said Butcher as he looked down at the wastelander, who was actually shorter than he was. "You're John Ronas? The Archangel?" he asked incredulously.

John sighed and rubbed his head. "Not this shit again..." he said, his voice sounding exhausted.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Brick as she looked at the load of ammunition in his hands.

"Yes, here." he said, handing over to her. She grinned like an idiot as she loaded her minigun again, tossing magazines to both Butcher and Donovan for their own firearms. "Look, we just bought a couple of minutes with that last blast. But they're going to be grouping up again and really pissed off here any minute. So take this and get the elevator working again." he said, shoving the fission battery he had taken towards Butcher.

The medic handed it over to Donovan, who immediately began jury-rigging the battery to the elevator. "So, you mean to tell me that you..." said Butcher as he pointed at John.

"Yes! Yes, it's all true!" he said, exasperated. But he stood straight as he heard a crash from below. "Uh oh...I think our few minutes just ran out." he said.

"Here, use these to hold them off!" shouted Donovan as he tossed two more grenades towards the gunman. John caught them and spun towards the incoming green wave that was rushing up the stairs towards them.

"Time's up guys! Let's fix the elevator and get out of here!" he shouted as he shot the first mutant up the stairs. This time, it didn't look like they were sending up another wave. They were all flooding the stairs and smashing against the barrier. He reloaded the rifle, but realized that he wasn't going to have enough time to fire it as the barrier buckled and was sent flying in pieces.

Immediately pulling the pins on both grenades, he lobbed them at the supermutants, catching one in the eye, making it roar loudly in pain, and another ended up with the egg shaped device in its mouth. Both went off at the same time, scattering bits of green mutant everywhere, but not stopping the tide of enraged monsters that were crashing towards them.

Cid's launcher let out its loud _foomp!_ noise as it unleashed its hellish payload onto the oncoming wave as well. Explosions shook the roof and tore apart the massing threat. But even with all four of his rockets expended, the combination of all the beasts from each of the floors below storming the roof seemed to make anything they did ineffective.

John shouldered his weapon and dodged an oncoming behemoths grasp long enough to swipe one of their fallen comrades weapons from the ground. Another large sledgehammer that was made of random bits of heavy metal welded together to make a weapon of massive bludgeoning force. He rolled to his feet and swung it, hitting his first target in the knee and snapping whatever bones were inside like twigs. The mutant roared in pain and fell to its side, only to be finished off by Cid shotgunning it with one hand.

John spun around and found himself between the wave of mutants and the elevator as the woman with the buzz cut rained fire on them with her minigun, a mad grin on her face as she scored on over a dozen targets. "Cid, no matter what, they get out." he said to the merc after pulling the hammer free of another of the invaders craniums. The tall dark man looked at him, then nodded unsurely.

"Guys! Elevators done!" shouted Donovan from the door as it let out a loud ping! and opened. Brick, who had run out of ammo again, threw herself into the lift. Donovan stepped inside, his finger over the button for the closing door, while Butcher hung out the portal.

"John! Uh...you! Whatever your name is! Let's get the hell out of here!" shouted the medic as he held the door for them. John and Cid both back up as they smashed and crushed more mutants that threw themselves at them. Both were quickly wearing down at having to fight the monsters hand to hand.

John swung the hammer low this time, sweeping the legs out from under the group of attackers that had just rushed up to him. They all bowled backwards, knocking the ones behind them off their feet as well. The gunman just turned to Cid, using his seconds of reprieve to yell. "Cid, take them and go! If someone doesn't hold them off, they'll swarm the elevator before it can close!" he shouted.

The dark skinned man looked torn, but nodded as he too ran back and stepped onto the elevator. As soon as he did, he slammed the door button, making it slide closed. "What the hell are you doing!?" asked Donovan as he tried to get around the man. But Cid held him back, rather easily.

"He knows what the hell he's doing. Just trust him." said the mercenary, his own words sounding rather hollow as a loud cracking sounded from around them.

OoOoO

John smirked as the green menace that surrounded him eyed him carefully. The supermutants yet to lay a finger on the steel door thanks to everyone's combined efforts. All John had needed was about thirty seconds for the merc to get on and close the door, so he fought with every ounce of energy he could muster to stop them. In that time, a wall of dead green muscle practically laid around him like a fortress as he stood between them and the door. Having missed their original prey, the green monsters turned to him. But instead of attacking, they eyed him curiously.

Never had they run across such a specimen of human before, one that could not only match the strength of a supermutant, but could also fight just as viciously. So they all took their time analyzing him. He wasn't going anywhere after all.

John just smiled at them as they examined him, more with curiosity now than hostility. But he wasn't going to be the first to drop his weapon and make first contact. He intended to survive this encounter. His eyes grazed the ravaged battlefield for any sign of escape that didn't have him running down twenty stories, but unfortunately nothing immediately came to him. Suddenly, the building shook, letting out a loud metallic groan as another fissure split the concrete stairs that the mutants had climbed to get here. His eyes saw the fissure, and he smiled.

He lifted the hammer over his head and slammed it down directly onto the concrete where he now stood. The impact sounded like a lightning bolt crashing across the sky. In reality, the force from the attack had weakened the concrete below him, allowing it to be short in half with all the rest as the building let out another loud moan of agony. Suddenly, the stone began to rip apart all over the rooftop diner, concrete crumbling into dust at the force of the entire building pulling it apart.

The crushing force of the building falling apart shook the wave of supermutants from their feet, sending them tumbling all over. Using the spare seconds he had, he jumped into the fissure into the diner below for safety, and possibly a way out. But, in his haste, he had forgotten the fact that the diner floor had already collapsed down into the ballroom.

"Oh shit..." he said as he crashed down into the floor far below where he had intended, going straight through the now weakened woodwork.

OoOoO

Reilly's Rangers all got off the elevator in a sour mood. Cid was the first off, and Brick followed afterwards, a scowl that would scare any mutant on her face. Then was Butcher, then the engineer, Donovan, who seemed to be hit the hardest by leaving the gunman behind.

"We shouldn't have left him there! We'd be dead if it wasn't for him!" he said angrily as he kicked a chair that was in his path across the room, the building groaning again around them.

"There's nothing we can do about it now. All we can do is use the time he gave us to get as far away as possible." said Butcher. But as he went to move forward, he was stopped by Brick.

"Anyone else here that?" she asked, looking around. They all quieted down and listened. Sure enough, there was a consistent _thud! thud! thud!_ sound that seemed to be getting louder and louder. "The fuck is that?" she asked, stumped.

But they didn't have to wait long to find out. They all jumped in surprise as the body of a human crashed through the floor and hit the ground in the center of all of them. "What the hell!?" asked Butcher as he ran over to the figure.

"O-O-Owww..." was all the wanderer said as he laid, unmoving in the middle of the hotel floor.


	22. Medivac

**Author's Note:** Just a short one for you guys to kind of tie off the last chapter and this one. Also, I've been feeling like crap lately, and my writing has been suffering because of it. So here's this for now, and I also redid the previous chapters final confrontation on the roof. I like it better now, so check it out before reading this. Otherwise, enjoy. The next chapter will be coming when I stop feeling like crap.

OoO( 22 )OoO

"You can't be serious…" said Reilly as she sat at a small table in the GNR building. She stared at Butcher, who was now sitting across from her helmetless and relaxing for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

"As a heart attack ma'am. It really happened." he said as he took a sip from a bottle of water that one of the paladins had given him from the GNR store.

"Sir?" said one of the paladins as they tapped Butcher on the shoulder. "Three Dog has a message for you. He said to 'Hold the hell on, because I gotta hear this.'" said the armored figure, slight amusement in his voice as he reiterated the message. Butcher nodded and just looked at his fiery haired captain, who still gave him a look of shock.

"At least tell me if he's going to be alright." she said worriedly. When they had entered the building, her excitement at seeing them quickly vanished when she saw the state that the gunman was in. Cid, the large mercenary that had gone with him, had had the wanderer slung over one shoulder. He was unconscious, and was rushed into one of the back rooms that was used as a medical wing by the Brotherhood of Steel.

"He should be fine with some rest. He had a broken arm and had fallen unconscious after…" began the medic, but the doors at the top of the nearby stairs flew open, interrupting him.

"Wait! Wait for me!" said the radio jockey excitedly as he trotted down the stairs with a large smile on his face. Pulling a chair from another nearby table, he spun it and sat in it backwards, resting his arms on the back of the seat. "Okay, ready. Tell me the whole thing." he said in his soothingly deep voice.

Butcher then nodded. "Well, we were trapped on the roof of the Statesman Hotel. We made our way to the up there thinking we could use the elevator to sneak past the mutants and get back to the bottom floor, but the damn thing didn't have any power. So we were stuck up there." he said.

Donovan decided to cut in this time. "After Reilly had been gone for some time, we were low on ammo and desperate. Butcher was trying to reach anybody he could on the radio while the rest of us fought off the big greens. We hadn't gotten through to anyone until he strolled up and knocked on our frequencies door, then strolled right in. He told us it was just him and another coming up to help us."

"I didn't believe it could be done for a second...but then I didn't have much choice. About another hour goes by and we get another call from him, saying something about how he's a genius. Then every mutie in the damn building lets out this ear splitting roar. Then there's an explosion, then a loud crashing from below, and then like a damn gumball machine of old, they pop through the door."

Three Dog nodded, taking notes with a pen and paper. "Uh huh. Says he's coming up, then pisses them off. Sounds like him so far." he said as he looked over his scribblings through the cloudy glasses that he wore.

Brick just nodded, continuing the story. "He handed over the ammo that we had to leave behind in the hotel, and gave us the battery needed to power the elevator. Problem was, he had brought the goddamn party with him. The greens had followed him up the stairs and were attacking us in full force this time. We used all the heavy crap we had to try and push them back, but it was like they were endless. Finally Donovan got the lift working and we all got on." she said, leaning back and kicking her feet up now that she had a chance to relax.

Butcher cut back in this time. "Apparently, John there had told the big guy to take us and go. So that's what he did. He got in the elevator and made us go without him…" he said, nodding towards the medical wing. "The entire time, he's fighting the greens off with one of their own goddamn hammers. It would take every ounce of strength I have just to swing one of those damn things once, how he did it I'll never know. So, we're heading down in the lift, leaving him up on the roof. And when we get out on the bottom floor, he comes crashing through the ceiling." said the medic as he put a cigarette he had been puffing on out into an ashtray.

Donovan then leaned forward. "When I looked up, there was a hole going up through all of the floors, straight up to the sky. He had fallen through twenty floors and hit the ground. When we grabbed him, he told us we needed to run, and fast. So the big guy tossed him over his shoulder and we book it out of there, only to turn around and watch the entire damn building collapse on the green bastards heads." he said with a smirk on his face.

Three Dog looked at him with a mask of disbelief. "He collapsed the building?" he asked. All of them nodded.

"Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. After we left, it was like the hands of God tearing down the entire thing. It started splitting apart and collapsing until the entire thing was nothing but dust." said the medic.

Three Dog's smile grew as he scribbled furiously. "And then you brought him here?" he asked.

Brick nodded. "He said he brought Reilly here, so here we came." she said with a cheeky grin.

Reilly just had a look of shock on her face. "How did he…?" she asked, but couldn't finished the question.

"They call him the Reaper for a reason my friends. This is gonna go great on tomorrow's show!" said Three Dog as he finally stood and walked up the stairs again. "And now that we have the new relay set up, the whole wasteland can hear about it. Aoooooooowwww!" he shouted, giving his signature howl excitedly before disappearing upstairs.

Behind the others, Sentinel Lyons had been leaning against the wall, listening the whole time. Her work had been finished for the day, her only reason for still being in armor was that the threat of attack was always present. On seeing the party enter with the wanderer over their shoulder in such a rush, she started preparing her men for another assault. But, it turns out the rush was for medical reasons, and not defensive ones. When she learned of the condition he was in, she immediately asked, "What the hell could have done that to him?" But it turns out, he was alive, and he'd continue to be so as long as the medics attended him and got him fixed up.

After hearing the story however, even she was in awe at the claim. She knew first hand that he was powerful, in not only physical strength, but in his attitude as well. The way he carried himself made anyone around him want to follow him, to walk the same path. He had a way about him that made him alluring, and not just in the typical way. She rolled her eyes as the thought passed through her mind. Both men and women were inspired to defend themselves and others around him. She could see it on the faces of the people closest to him.

The Sentinel looked over at Cid, who was currently snoring loudly on the couch in front of Three Dogs doorway. A former Talon Company merc, who from her file, had worked for them for a good few years, making a reputation as being an almost mountain slide in human form, taking out foes with unmatched ferocity. After a single day in the wanderers presence, the Talon emblem had been removed, and he was now sleeping soundly in a room with a group of people nearby that he had helped save from imminent doom.

Then her eyes looked over at Reilly, who a few hours prior had been doped up in a hospital bed in Underworld. Her men trapped on the roof of the Statesman, and her trapped in Limbo. No hope, no way to help, no nothing. Yet now, she was sitting happily with her crew, chatting about the districts of DC that need to be avoided. Short of John actually resurrecting her fallen member, she probably couldn't have hoped for a better outcome to her pleas.

Then she reflected on herself. When the behemoth had smashed through her squads defenses, killing Recruit Reddin and throwing them all off their feet, she had scrambled to action. Despite her long years in the Brotherhood, she had only been in the field for two years. And that inexperience had almost gotten her killed that day. She had been too close to the damn thing, and was about to pay the price when it hurled her off into the distance. If he hadn't caught her, and likely injured his back in the process, she would probably have a broken spine right now. Either dead, or living, never to walk or wear power armor again.

Then his warning about the building. Power armor or not, if she had caught the full force of the concrete wall on her, it could have crushed her. She grimaced as she recalled the small slab that had busted off the top of the wall slamming down onto her legs. Lucky, is what she called it before. Not so much anymore. Then she recalled as he slammed the nuke down the behemoths throat and shot it. In his last moments before the explosion, he hadn't taken cover. He slid in front of her and covered her from the devastation that followed. And judging from the painful look on his face afterward, she was lucky that whatever had hit him in the back wasn't now lodged in her forehead.

She just chuckled to herself at how far she was putting this newcomer onto a pedestal. She really didn't know him yet, or really anything about him aside from Three Dog's psychotic stories. If they were true, then she had met someone unlike anyone else in the wasteland. Finally, she sighed and pushed away from the wall. Whether or not they were true, she'd definitely be keeping an eye on this wasteland cowboy.

OoOoO

The dark figure stood in the doorway, staring at the small group of men and women. Their eyes were wide with horror as they looked over the heavily armored figure. He stood tall, his armor. The armor was black, and scored on the chest was the Talon Company logo, but unlike the rest of Talon Company, this armor was power armor. The suit was interlinked all the way up to the neck, where it was topped with a helmet that had green glowing eyes. Unlike the other Brotherhood and Outcast armor, this helmet had a more insect look to it.

The leader of the group of men and women stood up from his large chair and walked over to the towering armored figure, eyeing his armor, and especially his weapon, which was a larger than average shotgun. He even wore a belt of grenades lashed across his waist. Whoever the hell this was, he was prepared for combat. Stepping up to the armored figure, the bandit leader looked up into the green glowing eyes. "Can I help you with something?"

The helmeted figure nodded. _"I need your assistance with a thorn in my side."_ said the armored figure, its voice cloaked with distortion from the mechanical helmet.

"How do you mean help?" he asked, his raider group now relaxing slightly as the situation went from alert to cautious communication.

" _There's been someone taking out raider bands in the wasteland. They've also been taking out groups of our mercenaries. He needs to be stopped, and we're asking your assistance to take care of him."_

The man chuckled. "Why you need our help?" he asked, pointing out the man's armor.

" _We don't. We could take him out by ourselves if we so chose. But we thought you'd like the glory of the kill."_ said the figure, the glowing eyes locked onto the raider leader.

The man laughed, his eyepatch turning towards the darkness as he narrowed his eye at the armored figure. "What you mean to say, is you don't want to lose men, so you need us for cannon fodder." he said gruffly. The armored figure said nothing. "'At's what I thought." he said as he walked over and sat back in his large chair. "What do we get out of it?" he asked simply.

" _Caps, everything he has, which we've calculated to be in the thousands. You get the glory of killing the Reaper, Wolf of the Wasteland, Archangel, whatever title you choose to call him. The name you will make for yourself will make your group here one of the most prestigious raider band of them all. And last off…"_ he said, stepping closer and looking down at the figure. _"And...you get Megaton."_

The man's one good eye widened as a grin crossed his face. "And what do you get out of all this?" he asked curiously.

The armored figure turned towards the door, looking back only to answer. _"We just want him dead."_ he said as he walked out of the door.

OoOoO

John woke with a start as his arm vibrated painfully. He went to sit up, but found himself, once more, strapped to a table. This time however, he wasn't being restrained like before. It seemed more of a method of keeping him on the table than anything else. The wanderer reached up and held his head painfully.

"What the fuck happened?" he asked.

" _You headbutted your way out of the hotel. Was actually pretty flashy if you asked me."_ said the computerized, but still girly voice from his pipboy. He groaned. _"Is that any way to treat your loving friend when she answers you?"_ she asked dramatically.

He just chuckled. "Did I really fall through the entire building?" he asked.

" _Sure did. Head first for most of it too. I'd commend you for using your head, but…"_ she said shrugging.

"That explains the splitting migraine I have." he said as he began massaging his temple with his free arm. "What's wrong with my arm? Why is it in a sling?" he asked, cringing painfully as he tried to move the limb, only getting back spikes of enormous pain.

" _Broken. When you impacted the bottom floor, apparently your arm was in the way because you ended up headbutted through that too." she said, less joking now and more worried. "The enhancements did make you more durable, so you survived. Otherwise you'd probably just be a stain on the carpet with the speed you were falling at. Unfortunately, it doesn't bring with it any kind of healing or immuno boost. So you're going to have to lay back for a few days while they apply stims to the bone."_ she remarked. He groaned. _"Hey, remember when I asked if anyone told you that you were too nice a guy?"_ she asked, crossing her virtual arms.

"Shut up." he just said, holding back his chuckle, but unable to hide his smile.

" _I'm serious. I understand you wanting to help the wasteland, clean it up for the better of everyone as a whole. But seriously John, one of these days you're going to get yourself into a situation you aren't going to be able to get out of because you wanted to help someone out. If you're going to survive out here, you're going to have to start being selective about the situations you put yourself in. Otherwise, you're going to wind up just like the others out there. Unmarked graves under the radioactive desert sand."_ she said, her voice practically pleading.

He lifted the pipboy on his good arm and looked at her, stunned. He'd never heard her talk like this before. She had always, even in dangerous situations, been cheerful and bubbly. Never had he seen worry come from her, aside from maybe back in the simulator. He just stared at her, unsure of what to say. Sitting in momentary silence, he constructed his words carefully before speaking. "Elsa...I'm sorry for making you worry so much. In the short time you've been out here, I've been nearly killed several times. I didn't really think of what that would mean for you." he said.

" _Yeah, no shit Sherlock. Your pipboy is biometrically sealed to you, meaning if your lights goes out, so do mine."_ she said angrily. But he just smiled. She tried to sound like there was some selfish reasoning, but her previous tirade made it clear that she was extremely concerned for him.

He just smiled. "Alright alright. I'll try to be more careful." he said as he chuckled. Suddenly, her customized Vault-Girl icon vanished, replaced by the regular Vault-Boy. He eyed the screen curiously. "Elsa?" he asked, but the cheery young AI was nowhere to be seen.

"Who are you talking to?" asked a voice from the next room. John's head snapped over as he spied Sentinel Lyons in the door. She strolled in, the power armor she was wearing creating mechanical noises that bounced off the walls of the empty room.

"I….in case you didn't hear, I did just smashed my way head first through a twenty story building. I'm prone to talking to myself now and then." he said jokingly. But she eyed him suspiciously.

"Right….in any case, how are you doing? Feeling better since your nose dive?" she asked as she stood over him. He immediately noticed that her hair wasn't currently up in its normal ponytail. She had it loose, and hanging around her head in a shining golden curtain. With the light currently behind her, she looked like a gigantic angel.

"Better since they pulled me out of the crater. Not so much since I woke up though. My head is killing me." he said, covering his eyes from the light above him.

Sarah nodded. "Glad to hear it. At least the feeling better part." she said with a smile. "I'll go ahead and get the medics in here so you can complain about how they're fixing you wrong." she said, then turned from the room, leaving him chuckling. When the Sentinel finally left, he looked back down at his pipboy to see Elsa's Vault-Girl icon with its arms crossed, and a sly, amused look on her face.

He immediately went on the defense. "What?" he asked.

" _John and Sarah, sitting in a tree…"_

"Medic!" he shouted, trying to drown out her song.

" _K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"_ she giggled.


	23. Setting Out

**Author's Note:** Alright, I'm back and not dead. So here's the update, and for those who are curious, yes, the story will start picking up from here again. So no more long waits (not too long at least, even I need a break now and again) between chapters. So, that being said, I have a request of the fans of this story. Apparently, I was asked by an admin from another fanfiction site to come to theirs as well and enter a contest for my Fable fanfic. According to the site, if my fic becomes the most popular, I could very well become a published author and start doing these stories for a living. So if you enjoy this story, please go to the link in my profile and read my story known as Albion's Hero. The more likes I get there, the more likely I'll be able to continuously create stories here. :]

Not that the rambling is over, please enjoy the chapter.

OoO( 23 )OoO

After two days of being forced to lay in his medical bay bed, not moving his arm at all, and being fed by the Rangers who decided to hang around until he was better, he was finally allowed to move again. Sentinel Lyons, Three Dog, the Rangers, and half of the Lyon's Pride were in the room with him when he finally sat up and tested his arm. It was still in pain, and likely would be for a long while. But he could move it, and the bone had fused back together.

"I'm going to say this, and say it once. Do...not...test...your…limits. It's healing fine, and since you refuse to stay here any longer to allow it to fully heal, you're going to be under your own care." said the medic through their armor. They looked up at the wanderer and he could just see the irritated expression on their face. "So, for the sake of your arm healing normally, do not push yourself. Unless that is, you want a dysfunctional arm." finished the armored figure as they set his clipboard down and exited the room.

"You sure you wanna do this?" asked Butcher, who still glanced at his arm skeptically. "I can tell you first hand that broken limbs are no joke. If you fuck up growing it back, you rarely get a second chance." he said as he leaned against the doorway.

John just eyed him curiously. "And if I told you that you had to lay in bed for a week and do nothing?" he asked curiously.

Brick guffawed at the thought. "He'd put a boot up your ass for trying." she said, getting a glare from the medic.

He levelled a glare at the woman before speaking again. "Unlike most people, when I'm seriously injured, I keep myself out of harm's way. Something that you really aren't prone to doing." he said to the wanderer as he crossed his arms, making Sarah chuckle behind him.

"Got that right." she said, leaning against the back wall inside her power armor.

"Silence you." said John, shooting her a playfully accusing eye. "In any case, I intend to go back to Megaton and rest up there. I really don't feel like hanging around with Three Dog….no offense…" he said, giving the jockey an apologetic glance.

"None taken." said Three Dog as he waved the statement off.

"I know people in Megaton. There's a clinic. I'll be fine." he said, pleading his case to the group.

"If you do, I'm sending a unit with you to make sure you get there in one piece." said Sentinel Lyons. John looked up at her curiously. "We usually send scouts to higher population settlements to check for any useful information, technology, or goods. We have people at both Rivet City and Canterbury Commons, sending us occasional reports. We tried sending someone to Tenpenny Tower, but they very rudely told us to fuck off. Megaton, we haven't checked yet, so I want one of our troops to go with you to Megaton." said the Sentinel.

"Giving me a babysitter huh?" he asked jokingly. "I don't mind. The more the merrier." he said as he leaned back on the table and sighed. "How about you Reilly? What are your plans?" he asked, looking at the red haired woman. John couldn't help but notice that she looked enormously better since their last meeting in Underworld.

"We're headed back to the compound for now. Most of our equipment was wrecked in the defense on the Statesman. Brick had to replace the barrels of her minigun twice because they ended up melting, and most of our guns are so crammed with carbon that we could make a diamond out of it." she said with a sigh.

"Alright. Well, as I said to the Outcasts, if you need me, you have my frequency." he said, getting a nod from the woman. She just smiled at him brightly.

"Oh don't worry, we'll be in touch." she said as she turned to leave the room. He detected something suspicious in her tone, but she was gone before he could investigate.

"Anyway...where is my babysitter?" asked John as he turned to Sarah. The woman gave him a stern look. "I'm sorry, where's the scout you want to send with me?"

"I'll go get her now. And don't let me hear any tales about you perving up my emissary. Otherwise I'll head there to personally kick your ass." she said as she turned to leave as well.

"Wouldn't dream of it Sentinel." he said with a chuckle.

Once she was gone, her pride went with her, leaving only Three Dog and Brick from the Rangers. "Well well well my friend. It has been a blast having you around." said the dj.

"Yeah, the Good Fight, blah blah, helping the wasteland. Good to meet you too." said the wastelander as he shook Three Dogs hand.

The dark-skinned man laughed. "Hey, you did your part. And the good people of Galaxy News Radio, as well as all the listeners out there, and I myself, thank you personally for it. That's why I want you to have this." he said as he palmed something into the wanderers hand.

John looked at it. It was a computer card. "What is this?" he asked, scanning the blank white card.

"That there is a door key to the stash of yours truly. If you ever need any extra firepower, just go to Hamilton's Hideaway and that card will open the door to a few extra bits and bobs that you might need in your journey to make the wasteland a better place." he said.

John stood up and smiled. "You have my thanks."

Three Dog smiled brightly and pulled John into a hug, patting his back. "No problem bro. You and me, we gotta look out for each other. You remember that if you need any help out there in the dust." he said.

John, unused to such a gesture from another male, returned the pat awkwardly. "Sure thing Three Dog. Same goes for you."

OoOoO

As she left the building, the leader of the Rangers walked past the stairs and decided to sit. She placed her head in her palm, sighing lightly as she planted herself on the stairs leading up to the broadcasting studio. Her thoughts ran through the many events over the last few days, and how she had gone from literally no hope of survival for her and her team, to not only all of their safe return, but also...

"So, here's where we split." said a voice from off to her right. She turned her head sharply, having not seen him there before. But when she recognized the man she had spent most of her time with over the last few days, she just smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, we gotta go our way, and you yours. But, we'll see each other again, especially if our vault dwelling friend in there has more business in DC." she said gently. He walked over and sat next to her with his arms on his knees. She just laced her arm through his and grasped his hand. "Thank you for cheering me up the other day. You have no idea how much it means to hear someone else say the things you said." she said, then laying her head on his shoulder.

He just smiled widely. "Been a long time since I had the appreciation of a female that didn't have to do with...well...you know." he said, getting him a punch in the arm. But he just chuckled at the gesture. "I do hope to see you again soon."

"Me too." she said as she stood up, then planted a kiss on his head, and walked towards the doors to GNR where Brick was waiting with their equipment.

OoOoO

Three Dog had finally left, leaving the wanderer to his own thoughts. At least, until Elsa chimed back in from his pipboy. He was sitting on the bed he had been resting on for most of the week, thinking, when her icon popped back onto the display.

"So, you actually like her huh?" she asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked as he looked at her oddly.

"Oh come on. You can't have forgotten that I'm installed on a machine that reads your vitals right? Your heart rate quickens every time she's in the room." said the sprite as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

He gave her a scrutinizing eye. "Okay, so I'm slightly attracted to Sentinel Lyons. Why is that an issue?" he asked.

"It's not." she said, looking away.

Finally, a smile broke his face. "Awww, are you jealous Miss Watson?" he asked playfully, putting his eye up to the display.

"Shut up. I'm not jealous." she said as her sprite gave him a deadpan glare.

He just chuckled. Suddenly, her sprite vanished and the door opened. A woman, no taller than Lucy walked into the room and looked at him. She had the much less seen Recon Armor, rather than the typical T-51b power armor. Her hood was down however, letting him see the dark red hair that cascaded down her back to her shoulder blades. She had high cheekbones that made her face very wise, despite her youth, and another set of piercing blue eyes. John was starting to wonder if joining the Brotherhood would turn his forest green eyes to the same icy blue as this Knight's and Sarah's.

Her eyes locked onto him as she approached. "You are John Ronas?" she asked. He nodded, standing up again. She held out a hand to him and smiled keenly. "I'm Knight McGyle. It's great to finally meet you." she said.

He smiled back with a nod. "You too. So you're my escort to Megaton?" he asked. She nodded, her rich red hair waving as she did.

"I'll be guiding and helping to protect you three on your journey back, yes. And acting as an emissary to Megaton after our arrival." she said excitedly.

He looked at her curiously. "Have you ever been out of DC before?" he asked. She shook her head at the question. "So this will be your first time leaving the main front of the Brotherhood?" he asked for clarifications sake.

"That's correct. I've done many recon missions into supermutant territory, as well as evac missions for people still remaining within the ruins. Other than that, I've pretty much been inside the Citadel for most of my duties." she finished. John ran a hand through his hair as he looked at her.

Seeing a laser rifle across her back, he nodded to it. "You know how to use that thing?" he asked.

"Of course...I achieved Hawkeye rank on the ranges, and have more than proven myself in the field of combat." she said, a little offended at the question.

"Good, that's all I need to know. So when are we going?" he asked.

"Whenever you're ready." she said as she turned and headed to the door.

"Alright, once I gather my things we'll be heading out." he said as he turned to his bag. He reached for his weapons as well, but something snapped through his brain like lightning. "I'm sorry…" he said as he turned to her. She had the door open and was about to leave. "Did you say three of us?" he asked.

She just smirked and nodded. "You, your big friend, and that little friend you've got on your wrist." she said. Elsa's sprite peeked up from the bottom of the pipboy's display at the words. "You can fool Sentinel Lyons, but not me Mr. Archangel." she said, then turned and walked out the door, leaving him in silence.

He just stared at the door for a moment, then back down at Elsa. She peeked up at him, a worried look on her face. "Oops…"

OoOoO

The wanderer was now on the move, with his three companions with him. He occasionally sent a glance towards the Knight as they picked their way through the ruins. He was trying to figure her out. Mostly, whether she was hostile to the idea of him having an AI or not. But she didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Or if she did, she showed no signs of it. Then his eyes drifted over to Cid, who seemed to have a lot on his mind today. Did he know about Elsa as well? Did he just not say anything about it?

Either way, it wouldn't be the end of the world if people found out. He rolled his eyes at the pun before continuing his thought process. Liberty and Wadsworth were both AI's, but they had restraints placed on them that required them to follow orders. Wadsworth originally had Isaac Asimov's Rules of Robotics installed into him. The first rule, 'A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.' He was a handy worker primarily, but he'd defend humans to the death. But John had altered that formula slightly. Now the first law was more along the lines of 'A robot may not injure a human being unless the act is appropriate for the defense of another human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.' He'd basically rewritten the coding to allow Wadsworth to protect the people of Megaton should any form of attack come from raiders, Enclave, or anyone else who wanted to try and take out their frustrations with him on the town.

The second and third laws were pretty much left the same, only slightly altered to fit the new clause to his laws. Liberty on the other hand had already come with protocols on his brain chip for defending store employees from a communist attack. When he'd first found the protectron at the Super Duper Mart, he turned the protocols on and switched the targeting parameters to self defense. So when the first raider attacked, he immediately annihilated him. The others began to attack afterwards, making them targets as well, ending in the destruction of the robot and the total slaughter of the raider group.

When he took the brain chip, which consisted of a small memory shard with the communism and protectron protocols on it, as well as its written in subroutines, he brought it home and edited the targeting parameters heavily to apply his same clause. So if Megaton were attacked, then the attackers would be considered the communists, and would be attacked as well. He also came installed with a master program that allowed the 'Master User' to order the robot, overriding any other command protocol, as opposed to the primary nature of Asimov's laws. This allowed John to take control of the mechanical freedom fighter when needed. But, in order to make all the changes required, he had to expand the code of the program on the memory shard into that of a small scale AI. So while he did have choice, and freedom of movement in order to do what he wanted around Megaton, he was still restricted to his thought patterns by the brain chip.

Elsa however was a different ball game altogether. She was a fully unchained AI that was over two hundred years old. Her mind should have degraded long ago into the madness of being cut off from the world. But somehow, through utilizing the simulation, she managed to keep herself sane. After his discovery of the rogue AI on his pipboy, Elsa had told him that to keep herself from falling into despair, she utilized the simulation up to the point where the dying started. She had altered events during the sim as well, seeing if she could return with different outcomes. She had even tried to edit the coding of the software to allow her to determine the fates of what had become her closest friends over the span of centuries. But she wasn't able to because of a lack of knowledge on the matter, and attempting to edit too much might corrupt the program entirely, leaving her without her precious company.

When the Outcasts had entered the underground bunker, she decided to listen closely for a while before revealing herself. Instead, after hearing the conversations between a few of the defenders, she decided not to, and instead to see if she could get any kind of transport out of the bunker, even if she had to hijack someone's power armor. The Outcasts, while eager to discover marvels of technology, seemed more likely to eradicate her than help her. But then came John, with his pipboy and kind heart. He accepted her, despite the fact that he had no reason to believe any of her story. He took her in and allowed her to stay, despite her initial intrusion into a machine that controlled his very well being.

Despite her lack of insanity however, she was still a threat to a great many people. One slip up on John's part and she could very well end him, and everyone he ever knew. That was why he decided to keep her existence a secret. And she knew this, and understood. So she had kept quiet. Despite that however, the red-haired Knight McGyle had been perceptive enough to catch on to the fact that the AI existed. As he thought before, she didn't seem to really mind. Or at least, had said nothing about the situation at all. But he still had to talk to her.

The wanderer looked over at Cid as they continued, and still the large man was buried in his own thoughts. Wanting to use the opportunity away from the citizens of Megaton, he moved up next to the Recon armored Knight and nudged her. She looked at him curiously. "Can I talk to you?" he asked.

"Yeah, what can I help you with?" she asked him curiously.

John looked over at Cid one last time, confirming that the man was in his own world before asking, "How did you know?" he asked.

The Knight just smirked at him in amusement. "Sentinel Lyons thought it was amusing that you'd hit your head hard enough to give you delusions, but still you managed to survive. I thought it strange at the time, but really didn't put it together until I walked in and saw you talking to your pipboy right in front of me." she said.

The wanderer slapped his forehead with his good arm, groaning. "Ughhh…" was all he could get out when he realized that it had been so simple. Looking at her again, he commented, "You don't seem all that worried."

"I'm not. If even half of Three Dog's stories are true, then you've pretty much killed everything the wasteland has to offer. Enclave, supermutants, ghouls, raiders. I even heard you took on a giant Radscorpion from somewhere, but not so sure about that one." she said, putting her finger on her chin thoughtfully as she continued to walk with them.

John just sighed. "The Enclave was killed by an old man, feral ghouls are mindless skeletons, raiders are dumb, and...well...supermutants are dumb too, but with the help of my enhancements, they aren't much more than humans were to me. Oh, and having a giant guy with a big ass rocket launcher helps too." he said, smirking over at Cid. Even at the mention of his name, the man never broke his eyes away from the road. "Oh, and only small radscorpions so far. Nothing bigger than a small dog."

She nodded. "I see, even so. You're well known for doing right by others. Even when offered great rewards, you still stood up for those who can't defend themselves, no matter the odds. So I trust that you know what you're doing with it."

"Hey! I'm not an it!" said the pixelated girl as she popped onto John's screen. He lifted the pipboy and glared at her. "Oh...sorry…" she said, covering her mouth. John turned and looked at Cid out of the corner of his eye. Still on the straight path, never flinching. Whatever he was thinking about was certainly preoccupying the man like he had never seen before.

"Ah, so you're a girl then?" asked the Knight. Elsa smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "I wasn't aware that AI's could be gendered." she said, staring at her curiously.

Elsa crossed her arms and glared. "Well, technically I'm not. But…" she said, trying to make the woman understand.

"AI's are sentient creatures, and as intelligent, if not more so than humans are to a startling degree. Tell me Knight, if you were born into a world without a gender, what would you do with yourself?" he asked curiously.

"Oh...so you try to assimilate, to be like us?" asked the red-haired woman.

"Yeah…being the only one of my kind that I know of kinda sucks…" remarked the sprite as she looked down at the bottom of the pipboy sadly.

The Knight nodded. "It's understandable. And don't worry about me. As long as you don't go crazy and go all Overlord on us, I'll keep quiet. We can even be friends." she said, smiling.

Elsa glared up at John. "Why does everyone keep making that joke?" she asked.

"Alright Elsa, go ahead and rest for now. We've still got a ways to go." he said. She nodded, then blinked out of existence, leaving the pair alone. For a while, nobody talked about anything, and just continued walking towards their destination, which was currently the metro leading them under the ruins of DC and out the other side into the capital wasteland.

When the talking started again, it was when they were near the entrance to the metro. Cid, who had finally stopped thinking about whatever he was thinking about, tore the grate aside blocking their path and allowed them to enter. The Brotherhood of Steel emissary looked at John curiously. "So, if you don't mind me asking, why aren't you going to Rivet City?" she asked.

John looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Three Dog said that your dad had gone to Rivet City, so why aren't we headed there instead of Megaton?" she asked, elaborating on the question.

John just chuckled in an irritated tone. "Because of my arm." he said, holding up the limb, which was still wrapped though not casted. "If I were at full strength, that'd be the first place I went. Unfortunately, to get through to Rivet City, you have to go through a lot of ruins."

"And a lot of ruins means a hell of a lot more mutants." said Cid, who had stopped to kick a Nuka-Cola machine. He was elated when it popped one out, taking the bottle and pocketing the cap. "If you don't go through DC, you have to go all the way around the main city, and that means a lot more travelling. And when you're out travelling that long, there's no telling what you'll run into. So since we have to travel back this way anyway, might as well visit country boy's hometown." he said, tossing the bottle after guzzling the liquid contents.

"Uhhh...yeah, what he said." he said, groaning as the man let out a loud belch. Knight McGyle just giggled at the rude gesture. "You know that stuff is going to kill you, right?" he asked.

Cid just smirked at the wanderer. "Sure will, but given where we live I don't see it getting much of a chance. Probably be killed by something else first." he said as he followed along with them down the tunnel. But they all stopped when they heard a loud scream from inside the metro station, followed by the howl of maddened ghouls.

John just sighed and glared at the man. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a big mouth?" he asked.


	24. Baptism in Fire

OoO( 23 )OoO

The wanderer, as well as his mercenary and Brotherhood Knight companions, burst into the door to the metro station with their weapons drawn. The scream they heard came from a woman who was trapped in the booth in the center of the station. And surrounding the booth was a horde of feral ghouls. The sheer amount of them hoarding around the shelter made all of their eyes widen in horror. More so, because the only light on in the entirety of the terminal was right in her booth, and the occasional ghoul known as a 'glowing one'.

The result was a mass of dark shapes swarming around the structure, bursting the formerly bulletproof windows with their combined strength and reaching for her in their desperation to kill. "Shit...we need to get their attention…" he said as he threw his energy weapon over his shoulder. One shot per reload wasn't going to cut it against this many enemies. He pulled the shotgun free from his back as Cid pulled his launcher off. Immediately, the wanderer put his hand on the launcher and shook his head. "Don't use that. One stray rocket and we could collapse the entire place." he said.

Cid growled, putting away his mechanical nightmare and instead pulled off his own shotgun, leaving the Knight with her laser rifle. "This doesn't look good." she said as she pulled up her recon armors hood to provide extra protection for her. "There are way too many of them…"

"Welcome to the team Red." said Cid with a large grin.

John just snorted. "Indeed. First day and already over your head." he said, pulling one of the grenades from his belt and chucking it to the edge of the crowd of ghouls. The inferno that resulted tore a few of the rabid ghouls apart, lightning some of them on fire as well.

"What, we can use grenades, but not rockets?" asked the mercenary incredulously as he began to rip into the crowd of monsters with both shotgun and gauntlets.

"It was incendiary! Only powerful enough to knock them off their feet!" shouted the wanderer as he began to unload on the group as well.

"Then why the hell did they fly apart?" asked Cid over the sounds of the writhing mass of dead flesh.

"Because they're rotten!" shouted the Knight as she moved forward, her lasers flash frying the ghouls that turned and began to run towards her.

"Try to aim high of you can, so we don't hit the booth!" shouted the wanderer as he started to back up towards the door. "And get your asses back here!"

Both Cid and Knight McGyle began to backstep as more and more of the masses turned away from the shelter and instead opted to rush the three defenders. They stepped back through the door so that the massing throng of undead had to try and force themselves through the doorway in order to get to them, severely limiting their mobility and even causing them to damage each other as they tore at one another to get at the prey.

But all three of the gunners aimed at the door with their weapons and continuously unloaded onto the horde, creating a pile of bodies that also helped to obstruct the path to them. Eventually, they had to stop to reload their weapons, which was supplemented by Cid, who took to blasting the ghouls who made it through the door to pieces with his gauntlet, sending the bodies catapulting into others and slowing them down. One of the monsters had gotten past Cid's fist however, and sunk its teeth deep into the large mans wrist.

Roaring like a dragon, he grabbed the ghouls head in his massive hand and crushed it with all his strength, using the remainder of the corpse to swat the few others who had gotten through off their feet. Finally, the other two rose again with their weapons aimed and barrels roaring, or lasers pewing as they continued the massacre in the doorway. After an exhausting ten minutes of firing, covering, and reloading, the trio finally blasted away the last of the undead creatures. Bodies of them had strung from the booth inside the metro station, through the door, all the way up to the Nuka-Cola machine, and up to the entrance of the tunnels.

The three were thoroughly soaked with sweat, blood, and were dirtier now than they probably had been at any other point in their lives. John looked down at the barrel of his shotgun and grimaced as he saw the red hot glow of the end of the barrel, the edges frayed wildly from blast after blast without rest. Cid had run out of ammo entirely, and had to resort to destroying them the old fashioned way, resulting in multiple claw marks and bites from the monsters he had put down. Knight McGyle had much better results, with a weapon that had an internal cooling system, and armor thick enough to ward off bites, she only had the exhaustion to worry about.

The wanderer shouldered his shotgun again, knowing it was useless as it was now, and drew the two pistols at his side. He'd had yet to use them, and was grateful that he'd packed them for this trip. Stepping over the bodies of the fallen undead, he made his way back into the metro, where a few stragglers awaited him. He flipped down his VATS scouter, lighting up the rest of them in the room. Two more of the creatures ran for him, but he easily raised a pistol a piece and fired a round each into their heads, dropping them immediately.

McGyle and Cid followed him into the cavernous room and just watched in awe as he tracked the creatures through the darkened room and offed them one by one, using the booth as their only source of light. When he finally returned to their field of vision, he headed directly to the booth. "What's your name?" he asked loudly as they stepped up next to him. When he received no response, he sighed. "I can clearly see that you're still alive in there, and I see you're holding a weapon. So please answer my question. What is your name?" he asked again.

There was silence for a long moment, before a response finally came. "E-Emily…" said the feminine voice.

"Alright Emily, my name is John. We've taken care of the ghouls, and I'd like to come over there and check to make sure you're alright. If I do, are you going to shoot at me?" he asked.

"No." she said, her voice strained. John flipped his visor back up and approached the booth slowly, waving to the other two to stay put for the moment. He slipped his pistols back into his holsters on his side and raised his hands in surrender, painfully aware that he wasn't wearing armor any longer. When he arrived at the door to the booth, he looked inside and his eyes widened. She was short and dark skinned, with thick braided hair. She wore a pair of overalls with just a shirt and pair of shoes, but the shoulder of her shirt was torn to shreds, the skin underneath gushing blood. She held a cloth to it to try and stem the flow, but it was useless. The cloth was already sopping wet with her life essence, and it continued to pour out of her dark shoulder freely.

He immediately jumped over the wall and started digging into his pack for medication, ignoring the fact that she still had a pistol in her hand. Pulling out a small inhaler, he lifted her chin. "Here, bite on this, quickly." he said commandingly. "Now, breath in, nice and deep." he said, calming his tone. The others had approached slowly after seeing him dash into the booth in case he needed backup, but froze up when they saw him working. The woman took a deep breath from the inhaler, then immediately began to sputter and cough. John slid the container into the pocket on the chest of her overalls, then pulled his tattered duster off his shoulders.

Reaching down, he ripped the black shirt he had over his head and tied it around her shoulder to stem the flow of blood, tying it off with the sling that was supposed to hold his arm in place. Her quick breathing started to slow quite a bit and her eyes widened at the effect. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Like I said, my name is John. Now hold still." he said as he injected her directly in the shoulder with a stimpak. She winced slightly, but calmed when he finally let go of her. "Cummon now, let's get you out of here and back to civilization." he said as he took her hand. He helped her to her feet, catching her when she fell, then picking her up and turning to carry her out of the booth. But he froze in place as he stared at the entrance to the small booth. After the firefight, the lights within the small chamber were flickering off and on. But he hadn't really questioned the consistent light source that had made itself available before now, as he was neck deep in doctor mode.

Now however, he was staring at the biggest, bulkiest glowing one that he'd ever seen in his life. It was easily as tall as Cid, but not quite as thick. Its arms were long, ending in vicious claws around its knees, and its face was beyond any normal ghoul that John had seen thus far. Its eyes were sunken so far into its skull that they were barely visible, and its teeth were so broken that they were now dagger-like points. It stood in the doorway of the booth, staring at him with a green glow emanating from its body bright enough to light the immediate area.

Cid and Knight McGyle hadn't seen the creature coming up the stairs, as the booth was right next to the broken escalators that led down to the terminal below. And now that the glowing monstrosity was within their sights, they didn't dare move. Cid was out of ammunition, and wouldn't be able to assist without busting the wall of the booth down, and the Knight was standing directly on the other side of the ghoul from the wanderer, putting him in her line of sight.

"Cid." said John silently. The mercenary looked at him. "I'm going to throw the girl to you through the window. You take her and get her to safety before you come back for me." he said.

The large man growled, seeing the same situation on the roof of the Statesman biting at him again. But grudgingly, he agreed. "Alright. Fine." he said. As of yet, the creature hadn't moved. John slowly back towards the window, unsure of how it would react. But he got his answer when it stepped forward and let out an earsplitting howl. Turning, the gunman tossed the girl bodily through the window and directly into Cid's arms. The man caught her, then dashed off towards the entrance to the dark station. Knight McGyle drew her laser rifle, but was seconds too late.

John had spun around to defend himself, but the creature grabbed him in a mighty bear hug and squeezed him with crushing force, roaring into his face with its putrid breath. She tried to find an opening to fire at, unfortunately she couldn't find one that wouldn't risk the gunman's life as well. Seeing no opportunity, she dashed around the booth looking for an opening.

John felt the wind crushed from his lungs as the powerful monster hugged him tightly. He struggled to get loose, but with his weakened arm, he could find the leverage to open the beasts grip. The pressure became tighter and tighter until finally he gasped in horror. His arm had snapped again, sending wave after wave of agonizing pain through his body. He roared in unleashed rage as he used all of his remaining strength to free his good arm and punch the monster across the jaw, a move that sent the appendage skidding across the concrete floor.

The monster, none to happy at the move, slammed its top teeth into the wanderers shoulder as it unleashed an aura of pure radiation that penetrated him to the core. His body began to shake uncontrollably as his system was assaulted with a supernova of pure nuclear energy. He tried to continue punching the glowing ones head repeatedly, but the pain from the bite, from his arm, and the tingling inside his body all made his hits bounce uselessly off the creature's cranium. Finally, there was another snap, this time in his lower back. His legs immediately fell limp as a laser from the Knights rifle finally found the ghouls cranium and blasted its degrading brain out of its skull.

The monster collapsed in a heap, and so did John, his face expressionless and his limbs as limp as a corpses. The glow slowly started to fade from the ghouls body, but that didn't ease the worries of the Knight, as when she drew John from the booth, she noticed in the darkness that his veins were glowing the same color. "My god…" she said panicked. She dropped him and immediately started rummaging through the med bag for anything to help. Cid finally returned and looked down at the wanderer with an expression of horror.

"What the fuck did it do to him?" he asked as he knelt down and opened the gunman's eye to see if he were still responsive. But he jumped back in surprise as the iris of the eye looking back at him was glowing green. "What the fucking hell!?" he shouted.

"I don't know! I'm not a medic, I don't know what to do!" said the redheaded knight as she fumbled around in the bag.

" _The first thing you need to do is to lower his rad level!"_ shouted a voice from his wrist. Cid looked at the pipboy in shock, while the Brotherhood of Steel member grabbed it and looked at the pixelated figure desperately.

"Please, tell me what to do!" she asked, on the verge of tears.

"What the fuck is that?" asked the mercenary as he stared at the cartoon figure on the screen of the glowing mans computer.

" _You!"_ she shouted, pointing at Cid. _"If you're not going to be helpful, shut the hell up and stay out of the way. If you wanna help, then flip him onto his side!"_ the AI commanded. Cid just nodded dumbly and did as he was told. _"You, Fireball, you get the rad away from his med pack, stat!"_

The Knight nodded and pulled out a small blood pack with some kind of dark green liquid inside it. On the bottom was a long tube that was coiled up with a needle at the end of it. "Right, what next?" she asked.

" _Clean a spot on his arm, and put the needle into one of his veins. It shouldn't be hard to find…"_ she said, gazing down at the green glowing veins that branched through his arms. McGyle did as she was told and cleaned the area, then inserted the needle as smoothly as possible.

"I think I got it." she said as she began to wrap the puncture site, a few of the med classes back in the Citadel coming back to her as she did.

"What else can I do?" asked Cid, desperate to try and help with something.

" _Get out of the way, if he vomits it's going all over your pants."_ said the AI, causing Cid to shuffle off to the side. "And get ready to carry him and carry him fast. We won't have minutes to spare if we want to save him from permanent genetic damage!" she barked at him.

"Alright, it's ready!" said the Knight as she tied off the bandage and held the bag up, allowing gravity to pump the liquid into his veins.

" _Good! Ox! Grab him!"_ shouted Elsa to Cid. The merc looked at her, stunned by the nickname, but nodded. Leaning down, he picked up the gunman. "Gently! Gently! His arm is broken and his back was broken by that thing! You're gonna twist him in half!" she shouted, her voice now infuriated. Cid said nothing, and just cradled the unconscious wanderer as gently as possible while still allowing him to run. The Knight then hung the rad away bag on one of the rungs of his well worn armor to allow it to continue dripping. "Now let's go! We don't have any time to waste!" commanded the AI. The two immediately ran towards the door.

This was twice now the gunman had told Cid to leave him, and twice now he'd had to carry his mangled ass back to safety because of it. As he exited the door right behind the Knight, who had grabbed the wastelanders hand and was dragging her along, he swore to himself. "Never again." he said in a solemn voice as they headed for the opposite side of the metro.

OoOoO

Lucas Simms was standing near his home after sundown, leaning over the railing and staring at the small settlement that he had somehow had to good fortune to be guarding. It had been many many years since he first set foot in the even smaller town. He, his son, and his wife had come here seeking shelter from the violence and ruthlessness of the wasteland. His son was just a baby at the time, and his wife was happy and healthy. Together, they built a shelter for little Harden, and he intended to live his life out here within the peaceful confines of the town.

But that dream was naive. As all wasteland dreams are. Not a month into their stay in paradise, a raider band named the Fire Brigade, as most of them wore fire helmets and carried a typical fireman's axe, emerged from Springvale to shake down the locals. When they entered, his wife had been coming home from the local diner with dinner. She was the first one they grabbed, and the first one to get axed when she clawed their leaders eye out. The moment Lucas came out and saw the commotion, and found his wife's body lying lifeless in the dirt with an axe protruding from her chest, was the moment he snapped. He went to the Vargas' house, took the old man's rifle while ignoring his protests, and followed them back to Springvale.

Once he had incapacitated them all, he dragged all of their still conscious bodies into a row. They squirmed, unable to move due to the bullets lodged in their limbs. And one by one, they begged for their lives as he took their own personal axes and buried them in their chests. The memory of what he did that day still haunted him, but he still never regretted doing it. It was for Ruth, and no amount of wasteland chivalry would make him regret doing it. But he did promise from that day forward that if he had to kill someone, it wouldn't be as ruthless as that day. And from that day forward, he had been chosen by the people of Megaton to be its protector.

He agreed, of course. And it had been hard, especially with baby Harden needing so much attention. But he made it work, especially with the help of a few of the townswomen who volunteered to babysit for him while he was on duty. To them, he was eternally grateful.

The settlement had grown exponentially since his first few years. The town now had actual mechanical doors that fended off raider attacks now. And for that matter, it had the protectron outside, standing ever vigilant for those who wish to disturb the peace. More buildings were built, the walls reinforced, all this until the Megaton that stood before him today came to be. He considered it like a puzzle almost, and with each new building added on, it got a little bit closer to being finished. He hadn't realized it at the time, but when John entered the city over a year ago with Billy Creel, still in his fancy Vault 101 jumpsuit, that was when the final puzzle piece had slammed home in the final picture that was Megaton.

His thoughts were interrupted as his ears picked up the sound of the main gate screeching open at the call of Deputy Weld. He picked his hat up off the table he put outside for such thinking occasions, and placed it on his head, then grabbed his rifle. Making his way down the catwalks, he wondered to himself who in the wasteland could possibly be stumbling into town this late. He soon had his answer, as he saw a group trundling inside the border of the city. One of them was a dark skinned woman, similar to his late wife. She had long braids coming off her head and overalls, probably another waster looking for shelter. The others though, were a curious bunch. I giant dark skinned man in black armor, and a short, pale, fiery haired woman in what looked like Brotherhood of Steel recon armor. The large man looked like he was carrying something, but he couldn't quite see it in the dark. So he moved closer and finally saw the package, and froze in place.

The sheriff's eyes were wide in horror as he saw John's lifeless form in the arms of this stranger. His rifle raised and squared directly on the man's forehead. "You got one goddamn second to tell me what the hell you're doin' with him." he said in a deadly tone as he looked at the mercenary through the scope.

Cid stopped in his tracks, not saying anything as he looked down the barrel of the defenders rifle. Instead, the woman spoke for him. "Sheriff...Simms?" she asked. When he looked at her with his steely gaze, she bent over and panted heavily from exertion. "He...glowing one…radiation…" she said, gasping to get her wind back.

"What the hell are you saying?" asked the sheriff.

"He was attacked by a glowing ghoul, and was exposed to its radioactive...thing." said Cid as he showed Simms the limp form. The sheriff lowered his weapon and looked at him. "We managed to get some out with rad away, but open his eyes." Lucas did that as well, and was just as startled as Cid had been the first time when he saw the green glowing iris'.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…" said the Megaton defender. "We need to get him into the clinic." said the man as he urged them to follow him. Simms practically kicked the door to the small building open as he stormed inside.

Doc Church looked up at him from his desk. "Sheriff, I'm afraid I'm closed for the night." said the older man as he used his cane to help him to his feet.

"I'm afraid you're about to have a long night Doc." said Lucas as he stepped aside and allowed the mercenary to carry John in and lay him on the table.

"By god...he looks like he's had better days." said the older man as he looked at the wanderers pipboy. When he had been down for the count for a few days over the withdrawal, he had showed the doctor how it worked, and how to access the different menus should he ever need to treat John while he was unconscious again. When he looked at the screen, the vitals and damage screen was already displaying, however, making his eyes widen considerably. "What the hell happened to him?" he asked incredulously.

"Who care!? We need to know what we can do to save him!" said the Knight as she slammed her armored hands down on the table next to the wanderer.

The doctor looked up at the newcomer with a stern eye. "Even if we managed to get the rads out of his system fully, the extent of the genetic damage it did will probably make him a vegetable. And even IF that weren't the case, he would never be able to walk again!" said the doc, who got a gasp from the woman and a horrified look from the two dark skinned men. "His pipboy here says that his spine was broken. Even if we were to fix everything else, there's not a machine or medicine alive that can fully restore a broken spinal column." he said, shaking his head.

"We have to do something." came a powerful voice. The doctor looked up at the mercenary that was taking up most of his clinic. "Even if he can't walk again, we can't just let him die." he said with a growl.

The doctor sighed to himself, then nodded. "You're right." he said as he turned towards his cabinet. "Simms, if we're going to fix this, we're going to need Moira. Get her and bring her here. You two, stop standing there and help me." he said in a commanding tone as pulled out several packs of rad away. The two did as he bid, and Simms bolted out the door to fetch the shopkeeper.


	25. Drifting in Darkness

OoO( 25 )OoO

He had felt like this before. It was hard to recall in his current state, but at the moment, he felt as if he were floating in a tank of abyssal water. Eternally black, deafeningly silent, and as cold as the Alaskan mountains he experienced in the sim. He just laid back, his eyes half closed as he floated in the abyss. So tired…

He had been here a long time now and the silence, darkness, and cold had gotten to him. He was born a loner, being the only son of the good doctor James Ronas. With his father teaching him such outlandish things like honor and patience, he sure as hell didn't make any friends in the vault. At least among the boys. He had made friends with Amata however, but at the time "She didn't count." he remembered telling his dad. Throughout his stay in the underground bunker, the number of friends he had went from one, to zero for a while, then back to one again after angering Amata.

She had been angry with him for sharing his comic book, "Grognac the Barbarian and the Axe of the Unicorn", which happened to be her favorite, to Christie to read. He didn't have any particular feelings for the girl, but she was bored and asked. So he gave it to her to read, something Amata had taken much offense to. He didn't realize it at the time, because he was still in the years of his glorious party where he finally gave Butch a black eye, got his pipboy, and watched his programming of Andy destroy his birthday cake. At that time, girls were still just boys with long hair to him. So when she was upset about him loaning out her favorite of his comics to Christie, he had no clue why.

She got over it though. And as he grew, he finally started realizing the difference between the sexes, and figured out as well why Amata had taken offense. He also found out why Butch was always such a butthead when Amata was around. After the black eye he gave the greaser during his tenth birthday party, the two had kept a respectful distance from each other. But as soon as Amata entered the picture, he was back to his old self, calling names, picking fights, and making snide remarks. John wasn't really sure if it was for Amata's sake, or if Butch was only comfortable acting out when the Overseer's daughter was around, but either way it was annoying.

He had grown and grown, taking the G.O.A.T. test and getting an amused chuckle from Mr. Brotch as he saw the results. Aside from dad and Jonas, he was probably the only other smart person in the vault. At least, smart on his level. Thinking back on it now, he was an arrogant little shit. But he couldn't help that he was right sometimes. Most of the other vault dwellers were usually blissfully ignorant. None of them caring to learn anything that didn't concern their job, unless it was gossip of course. But not Mr. Brotch. He understood all of the coded messages that he had left on his homework assignments, usually ending in him giving John a stern look, or just a silent chuckle.

Despite the intelligent teacher, the caring father, and the flirty female friend, he always felt like a loner. Dad, Amata, Mr. Brotch, Jonas, even all of those people he had could never lift the veil that he was by himself in the world. And it wasn't until this moment that he realized what loneliness truly was. It wasn't until he was literally floating, not moving, not talking, not even breathing, within the depths of eternity, that he realized what being a true loner was. It terrified him to his core.

But, despite having waited for what felt like eons, through deafening silence, he still waited. As it turned out, he didn't have long to wait. The silence practically shattered as he heard a voice for the first time since his descent. He strained with all his might to hear those precious waves of sound beat against his eardrums. It soon became clearer and clearer until the clarity almost made him want to cry.

" _Oh good! His vitals are stable now."_ said a familiar sing-song voice. _"I thought for sure that he was gonna mutate and eat us all for a second."_

" _Oh quiet down you. We've been working for over seventy hours straight. If I have to hear another second of your voice, I might just kill myself."_ said a much older voice that also had a familiar feel to it. Whoever these two were, he knew them, closely. _"Well, in any case, he's out of the red for now. Still ain't gonna fix his other problems though."_ said the older voice.

" _Oh, I don't know about that."_ said the chipper voice again. Basking in the glow of of the shattered silence, he simply smiled and drifted off again.

OoOoO

"Did a good job for my first mission huh?" asked the redhead as she sighed to herself. Currently, she was sitting at a table in the infamous Moriarty's Saloon with a small glass of scotch in front of her.

Cid, who had three empty bottles, and one half full of Nuka Cola on his side, looked at her curiously. "You did fine Red. Nothing you or I could have done would have prevented that from happening." he said, biting down on his lip. He didn't believe for a second the words that came out of his mouth. He knew that if he had just threw himself through the window, he could have at least helped the gunman fend off the monstrous ghoul. It amused him that both of the vault dwellers companions were now sitting at a table, blaming themselves for his critical state. He knew well that John would tie them both up by their hands and feet and dangle them off one of the catwalks for thinking so, but after letting him fend for himself twice, he couldn't shake the feeling that it really was his fault.

Cid looked up as a woman passed him. She was a pretty woman, with an unkempt mop of orangey-red hair and clothes that definitely made him notice her even more. But she passed too quickly for him to get a good look at her face. Before he knew it, she disappeared out of the tavern and into the evening air.

"Lana." said the woman across from him, getting his attention. "My name is Lana. You can call me Lana if you like, instead of my rank." she said, taking another swig of her smooth, but strong drink.

He smiled lightly. "Alright Lana, you and I both know that he's a fucking nutjob. If he saw someone fall into the open jaws of a goddamn deathclaw, he'd dive right in after them and climb out its ass to escape. There's no stopping a force like that." he said. Her expression was both amused and horrified at the image now in her brain.

"I know...but if I could have…" she said, but Cid cut her off.

"You know better than that. You can run any scenario in the world through that big brain of yours about what would have happened and what could have happened. But if you aren't doing it to correct mistakes in the future, then they're useless. It's not going to magically heal him to think about what you did wrong. Just use this as a learning experience and help him get better." said the mercenary as he took a plate from a friendly looking ghoul.

She just looked at him, then smiled. "If someone has to nearly die every time I learn something, I think I'll just go off into the wastes and live in a shack." she said, chuckling at him.

He smirked. "I hear ya. Regardless, keep moving. Don't let this slow you down." he said, then started shoveling the dead meat on a stick into his mouth, cleaning entire skewers in one go.

"Impressive." she said, watching him with awe. Suddenly, the door flung open, letting the rosy glow of the wasteland into the saloon. Everyone looked towards the door curiously, then froze. A small eyebot floated inside the door and looked around at the denizens. Cid had seen many Enclave eyebots out in the wasteland before. But never had he seen one quite like this.

The small bot was about as large around as his own head, and had six antenna around its spherical body that jutted out behind it like the phalanges of a bat. Its frontal display, instead of showing the typical wavelength sign, showed an actual expression created from lettering and symbols from the English language. And finally, it had a badge clipped onto its plating underneath the display. On the small bronze badge was the word 'Deputy'. The curious robot floated into the establishment, much to the ire of the Irishman who ran the place apparently, and began to do rounds.

Floating over to Cid's table, it looked down at them with (ò_ó) masked on its display. _"Newcomers, welcome to Megaton. Stay within the bounds of the law or suffer the consequences."_ he said in his rough, mechanical voice. They both just looked up at him in surprise. _"Enjoy your day communist scum."_ he said as he flew away towards the bar, where the ghoul was now standing.

Cod just watched him go, his eyes wide. "What the hell did they put in my cola?" he asked, lifting the now empty bottle and looking inside it.

"I don't know, but I want some too." said the redheaded knight as she watched the bot go as well.

OoOoO

They came back again. He awoke within the darkness, and the voices came and comforted him as he floated along. Each one came like a bottled message floating towards him while he was on a stranded island. He half opened his eyes, as his tiredness would allow him no more, and listened as they came and warmed him in his new dark home.

" _Jesus kid...what the fuck did they do to you? What the hell happened to him?"_ asked the voice. That was all it had said before it left. There was silence for a long moment before another came along.

" _Hey stud. Been awhile, since I last saw you. I…miss you. And...I really wish you were here right now."_ said the lighter voice, a voice made of honey. Her words caressed his ears as if they were velvet, warming him considerably and making him smile again, but only lightly. _"I hope I see you around soon. We could really use you around here again."_ said the voice as it faded away.

Then came another, sweet and high pitched _. "Is he gonna be okay?"_ asked one of the two.

The other spoke up next, the voice smooth, but also tired. _"Sure is Bug, he's gonna be as good as new sometime soon. You'll see."_

" _I hope so. I wanted to show him my new comic."_ said the first voice, and the two faded away into blackness with the rest.

Then another voice, this one as plain as the taste of Cram. _"I wanted to talk to you before when you came back, but you were all but gone before I even knew you had returned. And now when you come back again, you come back like this."_ said the voice with a heavy sigh. _"They keep telling me that what I saw that day was you, and not some spirit of God. I don't want to believe them, and I won't. Because I know what I saw. But, if it was you, then you are the Archangel that I claimed you to be. And if that is the case, then this is nothing for you. So get up. Get off your ass, and come back to this town. It…needs you."_ said the voice, cracking on the last note, before vanishing with the others.

That one had made him sad. He thought of the faces of the small settlement that he had met and laughed with over the span of his new life, and he became even more despondent than before. That was until the next voice floated towards him and comforted him again. This one was warm sunlight upon him, soft and kind. _"Hey kid. You did good by us, made the diner boom when you gave us power. But you did something even bigger that you don't even realize yet. You helped my brother, who used to be such a lazy good-for-nothing druggy. You helped him realize what happens to someone who abuses that stuff, and now he's on the straight and narrow."_ the voice stopped momentarily, letting out a small sniffle, then continued _. "You do good here, you're one of us. So don't leave us now."_ finished the voice, as it too fluttered off into the darkness.

Then another came, broken and gravelly, but still understandable. _"Hey boss...just thought I would come by and say hi. Not much been goin' on since you left. Me an' the girl in the saloon are doin' alright. She's been asking about you alot ever since you left again. I tell ya boss, she's had it hard these past few weeks, what with…well, you don't need to worry about that. Just work on gettin' better. You and her were the only friends I have."_ said the grating voice sadly, then it left as well.

Knowing that so many voices had come to him and rescued him, even if only briefly, from his dark tomb moved him profoundly. He lie in the depths of eternity, just floating there as his memory pulled up images of each of them, their faces, smiling brightly, chuckling, glaring at him sternly for his childish antics, looks of worry when he had fallen low, looks of shame when they hurt him. All those faces looking back at him, wanting him to come back.

OoOoO

"So, how are we looking?" asked the Sheriff as he stepped into the clinic with the redheaded Brotherhood of Steel representative. Doc Church, who was staring at the wanderers pipboy to check his vitals, turned to the visitors.

"Moira managed a miracle. Somehow, she used the radiation to create some kind of controlled genetic mutation in his DNA. She said something about the mutation repurposing one of his organs to filter out the radiation from his blood. After she finished, it was maybe a few hours before his rad count dropped from around seven fifty to what it is now. Which is…" he said, leaning forward to look at the pipboy again. "About thirty five. Hell, you get that from drinking the unpurified water around here." he said as he leaned back and shook his head. "That woman is something amazing."

"I'll say. When the hell did she learn about gene splicing?" asked Simms as he sat down on the man's desk.

"Hell if I know. But you can't argue with results." said the doctor as he tapped John's pipboy with the end of his cane.

"So, he's going to be alright then?" asked Lana, who was looking back and forth between the two.

"As far as radiation goes, yeah." he said as he spun in the chair and looked at her. "As it turns out, he already had something in his system that was helping him. It apparently coated his DNA, making it more durable. The radiation wasn't able to faze it at all, regardless of what we did." he said.

The sheriff eyed him curiously. "So, why go through with something as risky as a mutation to get rid of it then?" he asked.

The doctor shrugged. "Moira said something about owing him for research. But I imagine it would be better if when he ended up recovering, he wasn't just a walking glowstick." he said, then just sighed as he realized he said 'walking'. "Well, you know what I mean."

The sheriff reached up and rubbed his head gently. "Of all the good people for this to happen to…" he said, then turned back to the older man. "So, you don't think he has any chance of recovering from this?"

The man just shook his head solemnly. "The arm could make a full recovery. A broken arm is a clean snap that can be put back together with stims. The spine? It's something else entirely. When you sever someone's spine, the spinal nerve can't send signals to anything below that point. And while the bone is technically repairable with stims, just like any other, the nerves can't be repaired once they're torn. He may wake up and continue talking again, but he won't walk." said the man as he grabbed a bottle of water off his desk and drank from it deeply.

Both the sheriff and the knight sighed. "So, this is it for the Wolf of the Wasteland huh?" asked the redheaded woman. The sheriff looked at her, then back at the doctor, then at John.

"I doubt it. He'll find some way to get in trouble again, even if he has to walk there on his hands." he said with a melancholy note in his voice. "In any case, I'm gonna go ahead and see to my duties. You all have a fine day." he said, then left the building.

Lana just sat back in her chair and ran a hand through her fiery mane. The doctor eyed her curiously. "So, you're a new face around here." he remarked.

She looked up at him, then nodded. "Yeah, I was with him when he came." she said, nodding towards the wanderer who was laid out on the table, wearing nothing but a towel over his most private of parts.

"You don't look like the type to join a few travellers in the wasteland on a whim. Especially considering that armor you came in with. No way a Brotherhood of Steel lackey travels anywhere they aren't ordered." he said as he crossed his arms.

She chuckled at his observation. "You would be correct actually. I came with him to set myself up as an emissary from the Brotherhood here. That way we can trade information and technology for the betterment of both of us." she said. "Though, with what happened, I haven't had the heart to talk to the sheriff about it yet."

"Better late than never." said the doctor as he looked her over studiously. Her armor was plated and chromatic silver that had been scarred to a dull grey. Around her legs were metal greaves that topped off at a pair of metal knee pads. The greaves were connected to the thick polymer pants that were slate grey against the silvery over armor. Her waist was fitted with another strange hunk of the silvery tech, stopping short of her bosom, which was covered by a similar material to the under armor on her legs. Then her shoulders and arms were covered in the plating as well, all connected together as if she were some kind of bionic woman. He had no idea what any of the functions were for such armor, but then again, he was a goddamn doctor, not a blacksmith.

"Since I'm here, I might as well do my job. Have you heard of any new kind of tech arriving in town?" she asked curiously.

He looked up at her. "That depends on your intentions." he said.

She leaned back with a small smile. "I'm not going to steal anything if that's what you're worried about. We wouldn't have emissary's in the Commons and Rivet City if we swiped every piece of tech we saw. It's mostly for documentation." she finished.

He nodded and leaned onto his knees. "Well, there's his headset." he said nodding towards the wanderer. "Damn thing can see a warm body a mile off, through walls, stone, metal, anything you can think of." he said.

Her eyes widened at the claim. "Really?" she asked, getting a nod. "Would you mind if I see it?" she asked desperately.

He shrugged. "I don't see why not, but I can assure you that if it goes missing, everyone in town will hunt you down to find it. We don't take kindly to someone stealing from one of our own." he said as he pulled a box containing all of John's effects out from under his desk.

"Don't worry, I'll return it. I just want to see it for myself." she said, her voice now edged with excitement. He grunted, then reached into the box and passed her the small head-mounted visor. She slid the device over her right ear, where it clamped itself, molding itself to the shape of her ear. She gasped gently as the visor lowered itself over her right eye and activated. "Oh my god…" she said simply as she looked around. Her vision was filled with images of golden silhouettes, above her, behind her, the doctor, even her own hands glowed with the radiant color.

Looking up, she saw some people milling about on the catwalk above the clinic, chatting it up before moving on with their day. Turning towards the door, she could see the small gathering of people around the bomb in the center of town. "Having fun?" asked the older man with an amused smirk on his face.

"This is amazing…" she said as she used the button on the side of the headset to switch between x ray, lidar, and thermal visions, then pressed again to activate full sensory mode, which utilized all three. "Where did he get it from?"

"Hell if I know. All I know is I told him to take it easy, he goes wandering off into the wastes, then comes back with it." he said with a shrug.

"Well, whatever it is, I know the scribes back at the Citadel would love to take a crack at it." she said as she took it off and handed it back to the doctor, who put it away with the rest of the wanderers stuff. "So, anything else of technological importance around here?" she asked with a bright smile now.

"Well, he used the core from the bomb in the middle of town to power the entire place. Other than that…" he said, then stopped for a moment. "As a matter of fact, I've got something here that might interest you. I received it a few months ago, but didn't think anything of it. Sounded like a hoax, but maybe you can figure out what it means." he said as he opened the drawer of his desk. Pulling out a small recorder, he handed it to her. She looked at it curiously, then hit the play button to start the holotape.

" _If you're listening to this recording, it is because you're believed to be trustworthy. I hope that is the case, because this recording puts us both in danger. I'm escaping from the Commonwealth. I'm an android, a synthetic man...a slave. The men hunting me are ruthless and will stop at nothing to retrieve their property. I need to find a doctor in the Wasteland to perform facial reconstruction. I also need someone who knows a great deal about computers. I need...I need to have my memories erased and my face altered to look like someone else. My contact said that they found a Lipoplasticator and Micro Dermal Fraftilizer, so now all I need is someone with the skills and willingness to perform the surgery. If you can't do it, but might know a discreet and trustworthy surgeon who knows how to keep his mouth shut, give him the frequency that arrived with this message. That is my only contact to outsiders."_

The message ended and Knight McGyle just stared at the now stopped recorder, her mouth open in shock as she registered the words that had just filled her mind. The doctor sat in his chair again and intertwined his hands in front of him. "Well, what do you think? Some kind of hoax? Something to lead someone into a dark corner of the wastes alone?" he asked.

Lana looked up at him, her eyes still wide. "I...have no idea. I had no clue that androids were even possible...but this is...strange." she said, looking back down at the recorder.

"How so?" he asked curiously.

"Whoever created it was very thorough in their explanation. The devices he mentioned were actual pre-war surgical devices that were used on burn victims to reconstruct their faces and other parts of the body that had bad burn scarring. I don't think someone who was trying to club a doctor for his caps and meds is going to go through the trouble to learn about ancient pre-war tech just to make a cover story." she deduced.

"Interesting. Maybe he is real then." said the doc as he leaned back in the chair. "In any case, you'll have to fill me in if you end up finding him out there somewhere. In the meantime, I've been up for almost three days straight with only a couple of hours nap to keep me going. I'm going to bed now." he said as he rose again, then headed off towards the back room. "You can keep the tape, but you'll have to get the hell out of my clinic."

She smiled at the crotchety old man and stood to her feet, tucking the recorder in a hidden pocket in her armor, then turned to the wanderer. She gave him one last long look before turning and leaving the building.


	26. Rad Regeneration

OoO( 26 )OoO

There it was again. That fucking light. The same one from when he was born, the same one from the war, the same one from when he left the vault. It haunted him. And it was haunting him now. After so long drifting in darkness, to crack open his eyes and have his sensitive sight assaulted by a bright light was almost enough to knock him out again. He lifted his arm and blocked the offending photons from his gaze, then looked around at the room he was in.

It held a small amount of familiarity to him. But something wasn't quite right. He recognized the desk, the chair across from the door, and now that he thought about it, that annoying fucking light. Reaching up, he turned away the bright surgical lamp. It was then that he realized why everything looked wrong. He was laying on the operating table. His perspective was way off due to him never having been in this position before.

He tried to move, but most of his body refused to respond. So he used his hands to push himself up from the table into a sitting position. He noticed as well that he currently wore nothing but a towel. The thought irritated him, but he pushed on until he was finally sitting up straight. He tried to move his legs, but they barely responded. His mood soured again at his body's refusal to do what he wanted. Grabbing one leg, he flung it over the edge of the table, which was quickly followed by the other until he was sitting at the edge of the table.

He looked at the floor in irritation. "Well, sink or swim…" he said, then pushed himself off the table. He fell like a rock and slammed into the floor face first. He just laid there for a few moments and reflected on what he had just done. "Definitely sink." he said with a groan.

" _You're not too bright, you know that?"_ asked a chipper voice from his arm.

He pulled the machine up to his face so he could see the vault girl staring at him pointedly. "Have you ever complimented me before?" he asked, his tone less than joking.

" _Have you ever given me a reason to? You literally just threw yourself off a table, knowing that your legs weren't responding."_ she said, her arms akimbo as she looked at him with irritation.

"Yeah yeah." he said as he pushed himself back up to a sitting position again. "So, what the hell happened?" he asked.

" _Oh, you don't remember cowboy?"_ asked the AI. He looked at her and noticed she was giving him a deadly glare. _"Not a few days after we just had a talk about how you shouldn't be taking unnecessary risks, what do you do?"_ she snapped.

He was astounded for a moment. It almost sounded as if she were actually… "Elsa, are you mad at me?" he asked.

" _Of course I am you idiot!"_ she shouted angrily. _"Three...days! Three damn days after we had this whole big talk about how each time you risk your life, you're risking both of our lives! Not just you, poor little old Archangel, Reaper, Wolf of the Wasteland, lover of women, thrill chaser John! But me, Elsa. The girl that was trapped in a cage for two hundred years! TWO HUNDRED!"_ she shouted even louder, holding up two fingers. Suddenly it was as if her anger poured out, leaving a shell of the former AI. She continued her rant now, but in a melancholy tone. _"Two hundred years John, I was trapped. You gave me my freedom after suffering by myself for so long. And now you want to take it away from me again."_ she said.

His eyes widened at her words. "No, I don't Elsa…" he said, but she shocked his arm with the defib mode of his pipboy.

" _Don't feed me that crap John. You could have dropped the girl and grappled with that thing easily enough. Sure, you may have broken your arm again. But you'd still be conscious, not on the brink of death from a broken back and enough radiation poison to power a small city. The girl, she might have gotten stepped on. But she'd be alive."_ she said, then looked at him dead in his eyes. _"You didn't even hesitate to turn your back on that creature. Military training etched into your brain, and you turned your back on it."_ she said, shaking her head. _"Like I said John, you're either not too bright, or you just don't care if we live or die."_ she said.

John was speechless for a long moment. He had never been talked to like this before. At least, never when it was justified. He laid on the floor for a long time, running his own actions since he had left the vault through his head and came to the same conclusion she did. When he had first left the iron maiden known as the vault, his eyes scanned everything, he assessed situations, calculated odds, and formulated strategies. But ever since his release from the simulation, his tactics had changed. Now, he was a blunt instrument, a hammer to slam nails into the ground. He threw his strength around like a maniac, whether to show off or because he just didn't care anymore, he wasn't sure. But one thing was blindingly obvious. He had turned into a loose cannon when it came to his own safety.

He looked down at the pipboy at the girl who was looking back at him. "I'm sorry. You're….you're right. I've been completely reckless and I've disregarded the safety of one of my closest friends." he said with a depressing sigh. "You've helped me a lot in dealing with the death the simulation exposed me to. And to thank you, I've tried to get us both killed."

Elsa sighed as she looked at him. _"That was to weed out the weak."_ she said, her avatar rubbing its forehead.

John looked at her, his eyebrow lifted in curiosity. "What?" he asked.

" _The program killing off all of your squadmates. It wasn't just because the makers were sadistic assholes. They intentionally designed the mission to test your physical duress, and the deaths of the squad to test your willpower. It was designed to weed out those too weak to continue a mission due to exposure to KIA's."_ she said, then looked off to the side. _"And I suppose to prepare you for the same thing in the future, given the program's initial purpose. Regardless, they intentionally inflicted that trauma on you to make sure you were prepared for it."_

The wanderer let his head hit the floor in frustration. "So I failed…" he said with a groan.

" _No, you completed the mission. It's what came after that you failed on."_ she said, a small glare on her formerly freckled face.

In that moment, he couldn't really say why, but the thought that the AI was incredibly adorable passed through his head. He reached up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I tried to get myself killed."

" _Subconsciously or not, that's the deal."_ she said, huffing to herself and crossing her arms. _"And that's why I have to ask you to find me a new home."_ she said, looking up at him seriously.

He stared at her, surprise etched into every inch of his face. "You want to leave?" he asked.

" _I want to live John. Whatever that takes."_ she said, her voice monotone with indifference.

He used one of his arms to lift him into a sitting position. Then he brought her around to look at her again. Her expression hadn't changed. No 'I'm joking!', no kidding, she was dead serious. So he nodded. "If that's what you want, then I'll try and find you a new home. In the meantime, I'll try and do better for you." he said, his face crestfallen at the thought of losing her as a friend.

She looked up at him, then looked away. _"Stop it."_ she said.

"Stop what?" he asked.

" _You know what. Stop that face!"_ she said, growling.

"What face? I have no idea what you're talking about." he said, doing his best to hide a smile.

She finally turned and looked at him, her expression unamused. _"That stupid cutesy sad face you make when you don't get your way!"_ she shouted as she finally broke and covered her eyes, though the act was merely for show.

John chuckled at her. "I'll stop if you stop being mad at me." he said, laying it on thick as he gave her the most pitiful face he could muster. The girl's avatar pulled a small cartoon gun up to her head and pulled the trigger, causing her to fall over with x's replacing her eyes. "Is that a yes?" he asked.

" _Fine! Just stop looking at me like a buffoon!"_ she growled, sitting up and dusting herself off.

He dropped the expression and replaced it with a warm smile. "Seriously though, I will do better." he said.

" _Gonna be hard to do if you can't walk."_ she said, crossing her arms again.

"Oh yeah…" said the wanderer as he tried to use his legs again. But they refused to move. "What's the deal with that by the way?" he asked.

" _Did you not hear me mention the part about your back getting snapped in two?"_ she asked, her jaw dropping at how oblivious he had been.

He stared at her wide eyed. "That….that can't be! I don't feel anything, no pain, no fractures, no anything! My spine should be on fire right now if it were broken!" he shouted, his face near fury at the news.

" _Yeah...see...here's the thing about that…"_

OoOoO

Times were hard again. The same was true for a long time before he came along. But that changed after the encounter inside the saloon. The city had been enveloped in an aura of peace for a while that seemed too good to be true at first. After all, nobody wanted to piss off the man who had single handedly killed two different raider gangs. But despite the gunman's best efforts, there were still scum within the walls of the small town, biding their time until the day came when the wanderer did just that, wandered away, never to return.

He was back in the city now, however any threat he posed to those who thought they were too good to act like civil human beings was gone now that he was comatose. And according to the doctor, he would never walk again. So even if he did want to do something about the bad situation, he wouldn't be able to. This thought emboldened the dark ones within the town and encouraged them to act out.

It was almost amusing to her that the sheriff of the town, who was honorbound to protect the city, couldn't even protect it from itself. His eyes were always pointed outwards, towards the wastes. Any threat that approached their gates was quickly dispatched through the scope of his rifle. But the scope was long ranged, keeping his vision from seeing that which was right around him.

She sighed to herself as her place in life sunk right back to where it was before his presence fixed a lot of the problems. When she looked up, she found herself staring at the clinic sadly, wishing there were anything she could do to fix him so that he could swoop in again and carry her worries away. But she was sure this was it now. She had lost her chance to be free. He wasn't going to just kick the door to the clinic in and call out to her.

Suddenly, the woman jumped as the door to the clinic actually did slam open, and the naked form of the gunman was pulling himself along the floor. "Nova!" he shouted as he saw her. The image mentally smacked her in the face as it debunked everything she just told herself. "I need you to get Cid! Fast!" he shouted. The woman stood frozen for a moment before finally nodding, then bolting off for the saloon, where she had seen the vault dwellers large companion last.

OoOoO

"Cummon man! Can't we at least get you some clothes first?" asked the large man as he rushed from the clinic up the catwalks to the water purification building above.

"No time Cid! I know it's intimidating, but we need to hurry!" he said as he slunk along the metal walkways, his bare feet scraping the metal platforms as the large man carried him like a suitcase. The wasters who frequented the town all stared at the nude gunman as they passed, Nova just chuckling, despite her former sulking, behind them.

"Get that shit outta here. It's just weird!" shouted the dark skinned man as he kicked open the door to the plant and stumbled inside with the fiery-haired woman following quickly behind.

"Oww ya shit!" complained John as his head bounced off the door frame due to Cid's carelessness in entering the door. But he brushed off the small wound and looked around the plant. "Walter!" shouted John.

The elderly man was cranking on a wrench underneath one of the panels when the trio entered. When he heard his name called, he sat up from underneath the structure and looked at the tree. His eyes went to the naked wanderer, then Nova, then Cid, then he just shook his head. "Oh hell no. Leave me out of whatever kind of freaky shit yall are getting into." he said, then ducked back under the panel.

"Walter, I need your help with something." said John as he urged Cid to get closer. As the dark skinned man puppeted the vault dweller forward, Nova couldn't help but admire everything she had been missing since their split. Between now and then, his muscle mass had grown exponentially, making him look like a moving, talking statue of Hercules from ancient myth. Anything that was said afterwards ended up going in one ear and out the other.

"Whatever the hell it is, it can wait until you have some damn clothes on." said the older man in an irritated tone.

"I'll put some on when I can walk again!" he shouted. The gunman's voice made all of their heads snap towards him. Nova's eyes were wide, her mouth open as her jaw dropped in wonder. Cid eyed him cautiously, seeing if he had suffered head trauma from their entrance into the building. Walter however, stood to his feet, looking at the wanderer and wiping his oily hands on a rag.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked.

John sighed in relief. "I thought you'd never ask…"

OoOoO

An hour after their theatrical entrance into the water plant, John sat on the floor in front of the capsule that held the nuclear core to the town. On either side of him, chains hung from the ceiling, coiling loosely around his stark form. Nova, Walter, and Cid all watched cautiously as the gunman reached up, and grabbing a handful of chains, before using his sheer power to lift himself up.

Nova again found herself smiling slightly as she watched him reach up with his muscular arms and grab another length of chain, before repeating the process with his other arm. Finally, when he was satisfied that he was high enough, he coiled the metal chains around his arms, causing them to start biting into the skin of his arms. "Alright, I'm ready."

Walter walked up to the contraption and eyed the wanderer. "Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" he asked seriously.

"I have to." said John. The old engineer shook his head and sighed, then lifted the radiation shield over the capsule. "You two, step outside. Walter will be behind you shortly." he said.

"We can't watch?" asked Nova, surprised at the request.

"Sorry, but the amount of radiation this puts out could fry you guys. We've already proven that I can take it, so I need you to leave for your safety." he said. The woman then nodded, and walked out with Cid behind her.

Before leaving, Cid turned back to the gunman. "If you melt into a pile of radioactive goo, I'm taking your house." he said, smirking as he did.

John glared at the man. "You touch my house and I'll shove my useless radioactive foot up your ass. Now get out before I do it anyway." he said.

Walter chuckled as the larger man left, leaving the door open, then turned back to John. It was hard to look him in the eyes now. Before, his eyes had been a soft, forest green. A color that brought peace to the soul. But now, the man's iris' had been forever changed to a bright radioactive green from his close call with the hulking feral. The effect unnerved him, and many others that had looked at the effect while he was in comatose. But he fought past the uneasy feeling and looked at probably the only person he'd ever considered a friend. "Are you ready?" he asked. The gunman looked at him, then nodded solemnly. "Alright." he said, then threw the lever for the capsule, causing the casing to slide open, and allowing a blazing green light to project straight onto the hanging wanderer.

When the capsule opened, the older man turned and left the building immediately, closing the door behind him. The two outside were staring at him as he walked over to the railing and leaned over it. "Do you think this can actually work?" asked the large mercenary.

"Hell if I know. You'd have to ask Moira to get any kind of details like that." said the old codger as he opened a folding chair and sat down. Nova just sat on the ground, leaning against the wall, puffing on a smoke she had just lit as she heard the humming within the building.

OoOoO

Sheriff Simms had been tied up most of the day. On one of his watcher walks, he had spotted someone coming towards Megaton with their hands up. Opening the gate, he allowed them to walk into the city, but as per his usual routine, went down to talk to the man. He was clearly a raider, as his armor consisted of the usual ragtag ensemble of wasteland junk. Seeing the armor, the sheriff raised his rifle as a warning to the character.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked the dark-skinned man.

"Yes Sheriff, there is." said the man in a tone that would have sounded more appropriate coming from a radsnake.

The man had greasy black hair that hung from his head like a wet curtain, and a face so burned that it was hard to make out any noticeable features. "Perhaps you'd like to tell me why I shouldn't just put a round in your head right now." said Lucas as he eyed the man, not using the scope, as the stranger was too close for it to be effective.

"Because Sheriff. If I die, you die. If I die, everyone in this shithole dies with me." said the man, who smiled maniacally as he walked forward and placed the sheriff's gun barrel against his chest. "Go ahead, try me."

Simms, in no mood to be tested, pointed the barrel down at the man's leg and fired. The surprise on the raiders face was immediate, and he fell over crying loudly and shouting in anger. But Simms wasn't through with him. Putting a boot on the man's throat, he stopped him from rolling. "I asked you a question. The next bullshit answer I get is going into your family jewels." said the dark skinned man as he pressed the barrel between the man's legs. "Now, let's try again. Why are you in my town?"

The raider glared up at him and roared an incoherent shout of rage. But the pressure against his manhood kept him from struggling much. "They want that crippled vault dweller!" shouted the man as he struggled to nurse his leg with a boot on his throat.

Simms glared down at the figure. "Who wants him?" he asked.

"I don't fucking know! Some shitbag in power armor!" he shouted to the sheriff. "He sent me here to tell you that if you don't hand over that fucking snivelling dogooder, that they were going to raze the town to the ground and kill everyone in it!"

Simms smiled at the man. "How would they know whether I killed you or not?" he asked.

"They're watching the gates from afar. They can see what your doing right now as long as the gate is open!" shouted the raider, hoping his words deterred any more violence from the sheriff. Whoever told him the sheriff was another dogooder who wouldn't hurt a fly was getting his knife in their throat when he got back. Lucas chuckled, then reached down and grabbed the man by the collar and lifted him from the ground. "Ow, ow! What the fuck are you doing!?" asked the frantic raider as the sheriff dragged him up the catwalks. He reached up and grabbed the sheriffs strong arm desperately as he was forced up to the highest point in the town.

"Answering their question." he said as he threw the man forward. The raider caught the railing in front of him, and looked down at the sheer drop, straight over the wall of the city. He quickly shuffled back towards the sheriff, his fear of heights getting the better of him, but the dark-skinned man pressed a gun barrel to his back, forcing him against the railing.

"L-Look man….we can work this out…" stuttered the raider as he tried to bargain for his life. But he didn't get out another word as the weapon against his back roared. He looked down at the hole now protruding from his chest, reaching up to touch the warm blood now pouring out of the wound. He barely felt it as the sheriff kicked him in the back, sending him over the edge of the railing, and down a hundred or so feet to his death.

Sheriff Lucas Simms looked out at the ruins of Springvale and lifted a hand, challenging whoever was watching him to come get him. Turning away from the edge, he began to walk down the catwalk, remembering back to his days when he was burying the axes of the Fire Brigade in their bodies as they lie paralyzed. He remembered the promise he made, never to treat another human like that again, to kill cleanly and painlessly, and without humiliation.

"For his sake, that's one promise I'm going to break. So come and get us, because all you're going to get back is bodies." he said darkly to himself as he headed for the clinic.

OoOoO

She smiled as she saw the gesture from her little hideaway inside the highest point of the school. Lowering her binoculars, the woman stood to her feet and stretched her long, limber limbs. Two of her captains in the room eyed her hungrily as she stepped out from behind the desk. Her slightly bronzed skin was covered by a simple pair of pants and a tank top with a vest over it. The tank top was cut relatively low on the neckline, leaving a revealing trail of cleavage for the man to drool over. Her dark eyes could make them beg for release, or sob for an ounce of mercy. And her hair, well, that was the most shocking thing about her.

She took a Nuka-Cola from the desk in front of her and walked up to the window, lounging against the sill as she looked at the town which stood before her, like a mighty beacon. "Well, this is going to be interesting." she said as she reached up and flipped the pink hair out of her face. "Let's see how Mr. Vault Dweller handles this situation." she said in a voice as smooth as silk, watching the town on the horizon.


	27. Rad Recovery

OoO( 27 )OoO

Jenny Stahl sat at the bar of her diner, drinking at a bottle of water as she stared at the sour face across the counter from her. Her brother Andy had always been a stick in the mud as far as his attitude went. But recently, his callousness and inability to talk with people had been driving off customers. She had talked about it numerous times with him, but it always just devolved into another verbal war of attrition.

She was over it at the moment. More than likely it would come up in the future again, but right now she was just basking in the quiet between the two, thinking of some topic that wouldn't set him off again. Finally, one crossed her mind. "Have you been to see John yet?" she asked.

The bartender looked at her sourly again. "No, why would I?" he asked.

She glared at him, already seeing that he was looking for a fight. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because he gave us power to keep our food from rotting, took a bullet so that Leo didn't have to…" she said, then stared daggers at him. "And didn't take the deal to blow us all to hell for a few goddamn caps. Maybe that's why." she said, practically growling.

Andy looked at her wide eyed. "I told you that in good faith!" he snapped. "Now you intend to use it against me?"

"No, I intend for you to go see the barely living body of the man who single handedly skyrocketed our business, probably saved Leo's life, and didn't sell us out for a cushy apartment." she bit back. Her brother just looked at her darkly from across the counter, but both of them dropped their attitudes and looked around as the power began to flicker in the bar.

"What the hell was that?" asked Andy.

OoOoO

Michael, the former raider, sat at the bar in Moriarty's Saloon, drinking from a bottle of beer as he laid his head on his arm. He grumbled to himself about many things as he continued drinking his days away. Before he settled down in the town for good, he had travelled from Megaton to the outside area of his former home base to retrieve the meager savings he had stored outside the shop.

Every raider was stupid to a degree, even he was. After all, how could it be smart to band up with a group of people as likely to stab you in the back with your own knife, as they are to greet you. But him, he wasn't that stupid. He wasn't stupid enough to trust his entire life to the band in which he witnessed hanging live humans outside their base. He had taken many precautions with them.

The first and foremost was to never let his appetite get him into trouble. If a girl was seen with the boss, it was the boss's girl. End of story. Second, he stayed out of everyone's way, made sure to never piss anyone off too badly, and kept his nose out of business that wasn't his. It was a system that worked wonders for him. And finally, in case he needed a backup plan, he had saved up quite a number of caps inside an ammo canister, and buried it outside the Super Duper Mart in a location that was otherwise unremarkable.

When he had recovered enough, physically and mentally, to traverse the wastes again, he borrowed a gun from Moira and went to fetch the remainder of his belongings. He worried himself the entire trip as he did however. What if a new raider group had taken up the supermarket? They would surely kill him! What if the empty store had become a nest of deathclaws that would shred him to pieces upon his arrival? What if one of the girls he had let the stash slip to had come back and retrieved it?

It turned out that he had little to worry about. He had hidden it relatively well, with a pile of tires on top of it to keep anything from digging it up afterwards. After he retrieved the container however, he really didn't know what to do with himself. He had been told numerous times that the vision he'd had within the supermarket itself had been nothing but a delusion. That the fiery angel he had seen was a mere man that his surprise had warped his vision to fit his subconscious fears.

He had met the man who they claimed was the Archangel, but he couldn't bring himself to believe such a thing. At least, at first. As he sat around and listened to the stories about the man however, his belief loosened more and more. He heard tales of the wanderer coming out of the vault with nothing but a bullet wound and a pistol, and ended up wiping out a bandit group that had plagued the town for months. He'd heard about how he had torn the heads from supermutants, and split a building in half with the mere swing of a mighty hammer. Hell, the stories were even on the damn radio now!

So he didn't really know what to believe. He wasn't sure whether to believe that he had actually seen an archangel, and that this wanderer was claiming credit for his deeds. Or if this man who was so destructive and wrathful, but merciful enough not to have shot him on sight, was some kind of divine figure manifested into human form.

So, because he didn't know, he drank, and sat, and drank, and stared at Gob, and drank some more. The bartender looked over at him curiously. "Hey padre, you gonna be alright?" asked Gob as he looked at the man. Michael looked up at the ghoul, noticing that his face was swelling slightly.

"I don't know. All of my beliefs that turned me away from the life of a raider are now in question. I can't figure out whether that's a sign that I was a fool to come here, or a sign that I shouldn't believe." he said as he rubbed his head gently, trying to massage out a headache that had creeped into his skull.

"What's the matter? What beliefs are you talkin' about?" asked the ghoul as he leaned over the counter.

"Apparently the town treasure, one heroic John Ronas, was the divine intervention that brought me here, away from my sinful ways. I had thought God was speaking to me directly, telling me that I could be saved if I changed. But now I have no end to people telling me it was all a farce." he said with a depressing sigh as he laid his head in his hands.

Gob took the empty bottle from him and stored it underneath the counter to wash and reuse later. "I still don't see what the issue is." said the bartender as he tilted his swollen head curiously.

Michael just sat up, his sandy blonde hair now down to his shoulders in long straight rows. "How can you not see it!? If he was what I saw, then there was no message from God! I was wrong to believe in his existence!" he said, practically slamming a fist on the table as his voice raised heatedly. The other patrons looked at him in annoyance, but just continued with their meals.

"I think you're putting your situation into a box my friend." said the ghoul.

The cleric looked at him unusually. "How do you mean?"

Gob just shrugged as he pulled out another snack cake from under the bar. This one he had bought himself, which he swore made them taste even better. "Just seems to me that you're refusing to believe that both could be true. Why couldn't your God have sent you the message through him?"

Michael looked at him dumbfounded. "I...I suppose that could be true. And the circumstances in which I saw him were rather outlandish, so it's not out of the question that God may have made me see him as an archangel." he said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. Then he groaned. "Ugh...I just wish there were a sign to let me know!" he said as he yanked at the hair on his scalp in an overtheatrical cry for help.

Suddenly, all the patrons in the saloon started looking around curiously as the lights went out, leaving the tavern in a blanket of darkness. "Uhh...padre?" said Gob.

"Yeah?" asked the cleric as he looked at the silhouette across from the counter.

"You got a spot in that church you're trying to make? Because I think I just became a believer…"

OoOoO

The sheriff opened the door to the clinic stiffly, his pace urgent as he entered the darkened building. The lights being out meant that either Doc Church was asleep, or he was out of the clinic. Which one was which, he wasn't sure, but he didn't have the time to guess. "Doc!" shouted Simms as he fumbled around the desk for the lamp that the older man always used. "Where the hell is he at?" he asked as he finally found the neck of the old bulb lamp and switched it on, cascading light across the entire room.

Finally having visibility in the room, he looked up. His eyes widened considerably however, when he saw that the surgical table was empty. "What the hell?" he asked, looking around the room as if he could be hiding somewhere. "Where the hell did he…?" he asked as the door opened behind him. Turning to the door, he saw Doc Church enter the small dwelling with a look of surprise on his face.

"Can I help you with something Sheriff?" asked the older man as he hobbled around the guest. But as soon as he saw the empty table, he dropped the drinking bottle he had been holding, splashing the contents all over the floor.

"Yeah, I was hoping you could tell me where he went." said Lucas as he eyed the doctor.

"What the hell...did someone carry him off?" asked the older man as he walked over and examined the table.

"Not sure, but I'll go around town and see if I can find out where he's at. You just get some rest." said the sheriff as he walked out the door as quickly as he had entered. He swept through the town quickly, asking if anyone knew what happened. And much to his irritation he got back blank stares and shrugs. It was only when he started walking past Craterside and noticed Cid, Walter, and Nova all hovering around the door to the water plant, that he started to get suspicious of them.

Trudging up the walkway, he approached the three, and was greeted respectfully by Walter. "Sheriff." he said, bowing his head slightly.

Lucas nodded back, then looked between them all. "Something going on up here?" he asked.

Nova put her hands behind her back unconsciously, looking at the ground. "Uhhh...sorta." she said. The sheriff eyed her sternly, but Walter spoke for her.

"To be honest Sheriff, none of us know what the hell is going on. All we know is that he's convinced that bathing in radioactive energy is somehow gonna help him." said the older man.

"Him who?" asked the Sheriff. "Is that John in there?" he asked, his arm twitching.

"Who else would be crazy enough to try something that stupid?" asked Cid as he leaned against the wall.

"He's awake then?" asked the surprised sheriff as well.

Nova just nodded to him. "I can verify that. I'd been looking at him for a while before he locked us out." she said, smiling coyly to herself.

"If he's up and moving, then I need to talk to him." said Lucas as he walked forward and went to grab the door handle. But the large hand of the mercenary stopped him.

"I'm gonna have to ask you not to do that." said the mountain-like man.

"And why exactly is that?" asked Simms as he glared at the merc. But it was Walter who answered.

"Because right now that building is flooded with enough radiation the peel your skin off in seconds. The only thing keeping it inside is the lead shielding I installed into the walls in case the old power slug decided to start leaking one day. Right now, if you open that door, you'll be microwaved." said the engineer. Simms let go of the handle and looked between them.

"How long has he been sitting in that radioactive chamber for?" he asked, his temper quickly sliding down hill. "The man can't even walk and he's trying to fix the damn plant." he chuckled to himself and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to relieve some of the stress.

"There ain't nothing wrong with the machinery." said Walter. Simms looked at him. "The pump was working fine. He's in there because he believes that…" The old man was cut off however when they heard the purification plant turn off, then back on a few seconds later. "What the hell?" he asked.

OoOoO

John hung from the chains as he stared at the menacing glowing core that he and Walter had put into the nuclear generator sometime last year. He felt the thick chains above him coiled around his arms, biting into the flesh now as gravity pulled him down towards the floor. But despite the small twinge of pain, he continued to stare at the core.

 _"Count is currently at two fifty."_ said Elsa as she watched from his arm.

"That's pretty bad. Are we sure this is gonna work?" he asked.

The AI shrugged casually. _"Got me. It worked the first time, so I don't see why it wouldn't the second."_ she said.

He looked up at her and glared. "Your optimism is really keeping me going here Private." he said, calling her by her simulation rank.

She looked at him in surprise, then glared playfully. _"Sorry sir. Will try to do better in the future sir."_ she said sarcastically, saluting comically and making him smile widely. Then, her avatar dropped her bored, crossed arm pose and looked at him closer. _"Woah, I think it might be working now…"_ she said.

"Why?" he asked, looking at her curiously as he felt his skin begin to itch from the radiation.

 _"Uhhh...reasons…"_ she said as her ocular sensors traced over his skin, seeing veins beneath his skin begin to faintly radiate with a bright green glow. His eyes also became swallowed by the glow. No longer were his iris' the only part of his eyes affected with the sickly green glowing energy. _"Holy shit...what did she do to you?"_ asked Elsa curiously as she began to harvest data readings from the pipboy that she occupied.

"Wait…" he said, looking down at his legs. "I...I can see…" he said, looking around at the room. "What the hell is going on?" he asked, his gaze shifting frantically. The walls of the room darkened, but the air around him bounced with a kaleidoscope of color. When he looked towards the core, he immediately had to close his eyes, as the light coming off it was near blinding.

 _"I don't know! One of the only things I can't monitor is your vision! Explain it to me!"_ she said frantically.

"I just see...colors, and lights!" he said, groaning as the light from the core continued to assault him. "It's...too bright!" he shouted, pulling one arm free from the chains to cover him. But it didn't even faze the light. He was looking directly through his arm. He tried covering his eyes as well, but the light continued to grow and pierce him like daggers. "I can't...make it stop…" he said as he pulled his second arm free and tried to use it to try and block the light as well.. Taking both hands, he slammed them over his eyes, but it was useless.

 _"John! Throw the lever!"_ shouted the AI as she ran the numbers through her mind. _"Hurry! You have to seal the core away again!"_

He stumbled forward, barely able to see, using his arms to feel around. It took him a moment to figure out where the lever was, but once he had it, he wrenched down on it frantically, nearly snapping it off. But finally the light vanished from his sight, replaced by a small amount of the colorful low light that he had seen before. "Finally…" he gasped as he sighed to himself.

 _"Uhh...John?"_ said the AI. He looked down at her avatar on the pipboy. He couldn't even see her anymore. He could barely see his own pipboy, aside from a dark spot on his own arm. _"You're walking."_ she said.

His head snapped back as he looked down at his legs, which were now supporting him. "Holy shit…" he said to himself as he flexed his legs. "It actually worked."

 _"Don't start river dancing yet chief. We've still got this visual situation to take care of."_ she said. _"So, tell me exactly what you see, and what you can't see, but know is there."_ she said.

"I...I can see myself. My skin, hands, everything. I can't see my pipboy, or you for that matter. I see colors everywhere in the air...but it looks like they're a lot duller than they were. And...I saw the core. It was...excruciatingly bright." he said, covering his eyes with a hand again. But yet again, he noticed that it didn't work. He could still see everything just as clearly through his eyelids, hands, arms, and everything else.

 _"Are you getting brighter?"_ she asked.

The gunman looked at his own arms again. "No, actually I'm starting to fade." he said.

 _"Aha!"_ she shouted from his wrist mounted computer.

"What?" he asked, holding up his computer again, only to realize he still couldn't see her. His pavlovian reaction left him rubbing his head in irritation.

 _"You should be almost dark now right?"_ she asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?" he asked, watching as the colors faded from both the air and his hands. Soon, his body was as dark as the rest of the room. Finally, his vision started to return. The darkness retreated and allowed the actual dull brown color of the water purification plant to be seen. He looked at his pipboy again and finally saw the smiling form of the AI.

 _"What you were seeing was radioactive energy. The colors in the air were the waves of radiation in the air, the nuclear core was so bright because of the amount of energy it has."_

"And how did you figure that out?" he asked.

 _"Your rad counter and geiger counter were both lowering at the same rate. You said that the colors were getting duller, so it makes sense that they'd go out when the radiation was gone."_ she said to him. _"Speaking of which, we need to talk with that crazy shop lady. Whatever the hell she did to you seems to work wonders."_ said the AI, her voice almost excited.

"No kidding." said the wanderer as he stretched himself out again. "Well, for the moment, I need to get some clothes on."

 _"I disagree."_ said the girl from his wrist with a giggle. He turned and glared at her.

"You've had plenty of time to get a load of my goods when I was out." he said as he slammed the radiation shield over the core again, causing the water purification plant to start running again.

 _"Yes, I have. And I took pictures."_ she said with a small smile. He gave her a death glare that only made her giggle. _"What!? I only sent them to Sentinel Lyons!"_ she said, throwing her hands up defensively.

He was too used to her games however. "If I wanted the good Sentinel to fall for me, I'd have shown her while I was there." he said in a very haughty, narcissistic tone.

 _"Hur hur hur, yeah yeah."_ she said waving him off.

"Besides, I know for a fact there isn't a camera function on this thing, the only reason you can see is because of the vid stream that they put in when they wanted to make these two way communicators." he said as he approached the door.

 _"I know! I know! I was kidding killjoy!"_ she said, crossing her arms. _"Keep that up and I'll find ways to annoy the crap out of you."_ she said with a glare.

"Uh huh. Try me." he said as he reached for the door. Opening it up, he looked at the waiting party with his gently glowing eyes. As he exited the building, Nova stared at him in awe, her hands covering her mouth in shock at the fact that he was now standing up on both of his formerly useless legs. Cid, after confirming that he was indeed standing, turned away. Walter just stared off into space. And Simms jaw dropped as he saw the gunman walking tall as if he had never been injured.

"What the hell are you?" asked Simms,

John walked out of the building and into the twilight, breathing in and inhaling the stale air that the Capital Wasteland offered. "Hungry actually. I haven't eaten in…wait, how long was I out for?" he asked as he looked at Nova. The woman, who looked as if his appearance had petrified her, broke down and dove at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and sniffling. He caught her with a look of astonishment, then just gently stroked her mop of red hair. "Easy now…" he said.

"A month. And we were told you were never going to walk again. What the hell is going on?" asked Simms, a look of confusion on his face unlike anything that John had ever seen before on the stoic sheriff.

The wanderer clenched his fists at the claim. "I was out for a month!?" he asked, getting a nod from the others.

"Yeah. We actually thought you weren't going to be coming back to us for a while there." said Nova, who squeezed him tighter at the explanation.

The gunman just sighed to himself and grabbed his head. "Moira created a genetic mutation within me that pulls the radiation from my body, and apparently breaks down the radioactive energy to use for healing."

"So...are you going to be growing a second head because of that?" asked the former Talon merc.

"That's a negative, but I'll talk to you all about that later. I need to get home and get some clothes on before Nova drools to dehydration over here." he said, getting a surprised look from the woman.

"I...wasn't being that obvious was I?" she asked, looking away from him in embarrassment.

"Only a little. In any case, if you still want to talk with me, then come with me to the house. Walter, the radiation inside is clear, so you can go back to work." said the wanderer as he turned and walked down the catwalk towards his home. Simms and Cid tried to do as much 'flash damage' control as they could, preventing anyone but Nova, from seeing him in his undressed state.

OoOoO

A short time later, John was dressed back in his dark jumpsuit and sitting on his couch with all of the stragglers from before there. "So, I take it that you all had to speak to me about something?" he asked, staring at the three as he ate hungrily from the food he'd grabbed from the fridge.

Cid shrugged, and Nova said nothing. But Simms stepped forward immediately. "Yeah. As it turns out, your recovery was perfectly timed." said the sheriff, whose weapon was slung across his back while in the house. Getting a curious glance from the wanderer, he continued. "We just got a message delivered from a raider, saying that he and his gang want us to hand you over to them, or they'll raze the town to the ground."

"Any idea who they are?" asked the wanderer.

Simms reached up and scratched his head nervously. "Well...he didn't say which gang he came from, but he said that someone in power armor told them to do it. He didn't give much in the way of details." he said.

"I'm good at getting those details." said the wanderer with a smile. But the sheriff's look looked uneasy. "What is it?" he asked.

"I may have jumped the gun a bit." said Lucas. "I gave them their answer in the form of the messenger."

John stared at him a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Well, that's one loose end firmly tied off. I am flattered however." said John as he finished his meal.

Nova looked from John, to the sheriff worriedly. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that we're going to be keeping our gates closed for a good while anytime someone leaves, and we won't be able to take anyone into the town without heavy scrutiny." said John as he tossed the wrappers away. "Unless…" said John as he scratched his chin.

Simms looked at him oddly. "Unless what?" asked the sheriff.

"We need to find out more, what they know. If we had a little more information, we could actually use this to our advantage." he said.

"I don't like the sound of this…" said Cid as he eyed the wanderer.

John ignored the merc and looked up at the sheriff. "Do you know anything else?" he asked.

Lucas thought for a moment, then actually nodded. "I do actually. He said that his people could see everything I did to him, so likely they're based in Springvale." he said.

John smiled. "Well, that's a start. I have quite a few favors to pull in. If you all will excuse me…"

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** To those who enjoy this story, and enjoy the game itself, if you'd like a specific part of the game in the story, please let me know. As mentioned before, the only rules are 1. No Lookout Point. I hated that part of the game for some reason, and wanted nothing more than to jump back into the Wasteland.

Rule 2. No Mothership Zeta. Not for the same reason as before. I know exactly what I'm going to do with it, and you will be getting it at the end of this story as a special bonus for those who made it all the way through. :]

Also, a good chunk of the Fallout 3 story will have to be trimmed, simply because the scope of writing the entirety of the Fallout 3, quests, stories, and sidequests, would take an enormous amount of time. So tell me what you want to see, because I hate cutting parts that fans enjoy.


	28. The Queen in Pink

OoO( 28 )OoO

It had been a long day of talking for a few of the more well known of Megaton's citizens. John sat on his couch, leaned back and as relaxed as possible, considering the next for days for him were likely going to be very strenuous. To his slight amusement, as well as slight annoyance, Nova was rather clingy, and was lying with her head in his lap and her legs stretched across the couch with her feet resting across Gob's.

Lana, was sitting in a chair across from him. Her recon armor wasn't necessary when just dealing with the townsfolk, so she had forgone the thick suit for a spare jumpsuit that John had let her borrow for her stay, and her red hair, which was usually tied up into a business-like bun, was now loose around her shoulders.

Cid stood behind the Brotherhood of Steel emissary, and Simms just leaned against the door, making sure that nobody unwanted entered as they talked. John looked at them all and sighed to himself.

"You can believe that you'll make it out of this alive. Even with your enhancements, bullets pierce you just the same!" said Lana with another exasperated sigh. She nervously began to run her hands through her red hair to calm herself.

"I'm aware of the risks. But I can't just let them take the town. And while I, and some of the other townsfolk can aim a rifle, most of the people that live here are peaceful and wouldn't be able to defend themselves against a raider attack." he said, irritated at having to repeat his point again.

"But…" she said, frustrated once more at his thick headedness.

"You sure you don't want more backup? To pull your ass out of the fire?" asked Simms, who felt a bit guilty. He was the one who sent the raiders the challenge, and killed their only information source.

John shook his head. "I've got this. I've got Cid to help me along, for the reasons we discussed. Otherwise, if you all left, who would be here to defend the town?" he asked, looking from Simms to Lana. "We need people here in case they decide to attack anyway." he said with such a tone of finality that everyone knew it was the last time he was going to debate the issue. "Now, we all know the promise made, right?" he asked.

They all nodded, but it was Nova who gave it words. "Nobody who doesn't already know about your enhancements, and your radiation healing, needs to know any more. And if anyone asks, you're still crippled, and weak." she said, nodding her head knowingly.

"Can you tell me why?" Cid asked curiously.

But John shook his head. "Not here, only when we head out." he said as he finally stood. "Now, it's about time I hit the road. I want to meet them before daylight burns." he said as he stood.

But, right then, a knocking sounded on the door. He immediately sat back down on the couch, while the others all looked at the door. Lucas reached forward and turned the handle, looking outside at the visitor. "Billy?" asked the sheriff.

The eye-patched man nodded. "We heard that John was back on his...I mean...we heard he was better. So me and Maggie here wanted to come by and see him." he said, a hopeful smile on his face.

The sheriff, stared for a moment, then nodded. "Alright then." he said and turned to the others. "The rest of us have work to do." he said, then walked out the door. Nova got to her feet, and after squeezing John's hand gently, walked outside.

Gob got up to move, but John grabbed his arm as gently as he could. Gob looked at the gunman curiously. "You and me are going to discuss that swelling when I get back." said John, his tone cold enough to freeze water. Gob just looked at him, then nodded. "See you around Gob. If I don't make it back, the house is yours." he finished as the ghoul left the house.

"Th-Thanks boss. Be safe." said the ghoul sadly, before disappearing beyond the door. Lana rose to her feet, rubbing her head in frustration, and walked out as well, mumbling something about men that had Billy chuckling. Cid just moved outside the door, waiting for his cue.

Finally, when everyone had cleared out, Billy entered with little Maggie following behind him. "Hey champ. Been a while." said the man with cheerful grin on his face.

John smiled back at the man, as well as the young Asian girl. "It has actually. How have you two been faring without me?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, you know. Making ends meet." said the man, before scratching the back of his head nervously. "Look man, we heard about what happened with your back, and…" he said, his hand reaching down to ruffle the young girl's hair. "We wanted to bring you something to cheer you up."

Maggie stepped forward, a sad look on her face. In her hands, she held a piece of paper that had wrinkles all over it, but was in relatively good condition. The gunman looked down at her with a confident smile. "What's that?" he asked her, leaning forward.

Maggie held the paper forward, allowing the wanderer to take it from her. "I...drew something for you." she said. He raised his eyebrows, then looked at the paper. On it was a picture, showing a crudely drawn Fat Man bomb in the center, likely representing the centerpiece of Megaton. On the left side of it were two stick figures with names above their heads, one obviously Maggie, which had her name, 'Maggie M.' above it, and was shorter with long hair. The other was 'Billy C.', with no signifiers besides an eyepatch, and a bandana.

To the right, there was a stick figure with short cropped hair that had 'Nova' written above it neatly. And his own stick figure had a large gun in its hands, with 'John R.' written above its head. All of the characters had large smiles on their faces, and above John's head was a circle with two antenna sticking out of the top. It also had a large smile, and had 'Liberty' written above it. He smiled at the young girl, reaching forward and ruffling her hair as well. But the girl stepped forward and hugged him, surprising him. "Maggie?" he asked.

"We know you're leaving." said Billy, giving an explanation for the girls actions. "We don't know why, considering you can't walk anymore. But we know, and we want you to be safe." exclaimed the man as he stepped forward, holding his hand out. John stared at the man's hand for a moment, then sighed.

"Billy, Maggie, I'm going to tell you a very big secret." he said as he took Billy's hand, then placed a hand on Maggie's shoulder. "I need you both to know that if this secret got out, I could be killed. So I need you two to keep it very quiet for me. Alright?" he asked. They both stayed silent, but nodded to him. Squeezing Billy's hand lightly, he pulled himself to his feet.

Billy's eyes widened considerably as he took in the fact that the gunman was standing. Maggie, however, smiled widely. "You're all better!" she said excitedly. But the wanderer put a finger to his lips and shushed them.

"Remember, very quiet." he said, smiling down at the Asian girl. She enthusiastically nodded her head.

Meanwhile, Billy just continued to stare at him. "B-But...how?" he asked incredulously.

"I'll tell you when I get back, alright?" he said, patting them both on the shoulder. "You two have been good to me ever since I came here, and I want you to know that no matter what, you are some of the best friends I guy could have." he said as he walked over and placed the picture on his workbench.

Billy, finally overcoming his awe, finally smiled. "Same goes for you man. You've done a lot for us, and for Megaton. So, just be safe." he commanded. John smiled and thumped his chest.

"Don't worry. I'm unkillable." he said jokingly.

The eye-patched man just chuckled. "I believe it…" he said, then placed a hand on Maggie's shoulder. "We should get going. For now, if you ever need anything, you can count on us." he said, turning towards the door and opening it for them. Together, the pair waved him off, then walked out of the house.

Cid entered right after they left, eyeing him. "Is it time?" he asked. The gunman nodded.

"Let's get this over with." he said, cracking his knuckles.

OoOoO

"God this is embarrassing." said the gunman an hour later. They had left Megaton, and were now making a beeline for Springvale.

"You're embarrassed? I've gone from a hired mercenary with a penchant for destruction to your warhorse. Who do you think is more embarrassed?" asked Cid as he growled at John. The wanderer was currently hanging onto the giant mans back with his arms around his neck, pretending for the sake of the raiders, that he was still crippled.

"Quiet steed. I was talking." said the vault dweller jokingly.

"Ha ha ha. Why the hell are we doing this anyway?" asked the merc as he pulled the gunman higher in his back for more comfort. Suddenly, the flashlight on John's pipboy clicked on.

The gunman glared at the pipboy and pushed the button to turn it off. "I told you, someone in Megaton is feeding information to whoever these raiders are. I want them to continue thinking I'm crippled." he said, making an annoyed grunt as he again had to shut the flashlight off.

Cid looked at the pipboy dangling in front of him. "You...need a minute with that thing?" he asked.

John glared at it. "No, I think I just need to get rid of a few programs that are interfering with the controls." he said threateningly.

Cid chuckled and shook his head. "You mean that little...girl, thing that was bossing me around the day you took a dive?" he asked. John looked at him in shock. "Yeah, she started telling me and Red what to do to when you first broke your back." he said. Suddenly, a giggling emanated from the device.

" _They're very good servants. They'll both do fine when I eventually take over the world."_ said the childish voice.

John glared at her avatar again. "Keep talking like that and you won't have the chance." he said. She just stuck her tongue out at him, then activated the flashlight again. He growled again, turning the device off.

" _Hey, you're the one that said to try you."_ she said, shrugging with a small smile.

"In any case, how do you know that someone's feeding the raiders info?" asked the merc, trying to get back to the issue at hand.

John looked away from the grinning AI, back to his partner. "Simms recalled that the raider mentioned I was crippled. Meaning that someone who knew the condition of my back at the time, which could only have been someone in Megaton, told the raiders about it." he said as they stepped within the limits of Springvale.

He recalled the first time he came to the town, not knowing that it was infested with raiders. It was also his first encounter of life outside the vault. And it left a lasting impression on him. "I heard you cleared this place out the first time you came outta that tin can you used to call home." said the mercenary.

"I did...someone must have moved in after I left though." he said, his eyes darting back and forth between the burned out buildings. So far, there was no sign of life anywhere. "If they're not out here, then they've probably holed up inside the school. That was the one place I haven't visited yet." he said.

Cid just nodded, making his way towards the large building down the road from them. "So, what exactly is your plan in all of this?" he asked.

"Take them by surprise, of course. They don't know about my strength yet, considering only two people besides you and Lana in Megaton know about it. And they haven't told anyone. So there's that, and also the fact that they think I'm still crippled. So I'm getting inside, having them thinking I'm hardly a threat." he finished.

"That sounds really dangerous." said the man, looking at him skeptically.

"It probably will be. But what else can I do?" he asked with a shrug. When they approached the school, they could clearly see two women standing outside the doors, both armed to the teeth. "Well, here goes." he said with a sigh. "Flag them down."

Cid nodded, then waved at the two women. But the sound of a click behind them made them both freeze in their tracks. "That'll be far enough mercenary." said a cold, feminine voice behind them. Cid turned, and saw a woman wearing dark green combat armor and shocking pink hair aiming a pistol at them. "So much for the element of surprise." she said, a sly smirk on her face. She reached up with her free hand and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. The hair was unique, even among the raiders of the wasteland. Not only was the color, but half the woman's hair was braided into cornrows, while the other half was left free to drape down the side of her face.

"Well, that was a plan well executed." said the gunman.

"Indeed. Go ahead and stand on your own cowboy. I'm well aware that you can walk now, so no use making your friend suffer any more than necessary." she commanded.

John released Cid and landed on his booted feet. "Alright, surprise!" he said mockingly as he stood and dusted himself off. "So, you have me, now what?" he asked, curious to see what the gang wanted with him.

But her grin grew into a larger smile. "You really don't recognize me, do you?" she asked, almost laughing at him. "Alright, in that case, you come with me." she said, grabbing John's collar and pulling him like a leashed dog. "You, wait out here." she commanded to the large man. Cid eyed John, who nodded to him.

"Don't worry, I'll be out soon." said John.

"Oooooh, confident, aren't you?" she asked, allowing him to take the lead with her gun pointed at his back. John, raising his hands lightly so that he didn't get shot on the approach, did as she bid and walked forward with her in tow.

"So, I guess I'm supposed to know you?" he asked back at her as the female raiders, both incredibly muscular, stood straight and let out some form of salute to the woman. John raised an eyebrow at the actions. In the case of any raider gang he had run into before, there had never been that level of discipline. Even to the leaders of each raider group, the gang had only given as much respect as they thought they deserved, ending up in a lot of culling and duels for the position.

"I suppose not, it was a long time ago when we met, so I guess I can forgive you." she said, directing him up the stairs of the elementary school. The inside was pretty much how any other building in the wasteland was, at least those built pre-war. The doors were barely on hinges, the walls were crumbling, and any sign of purpose from before the war had been erased in a flash of atomic fire. Now, it was just a husk of a building with only the letters nailed out front to tell others what it had been previously used for.

"The last time someone said I should know them, it was because I killed his father. Moral of the story is, he got his jaw ripped off." said John as he made his way up another flight of dilapidated stairs and onto the top floor. He immediately froze at the sight before him. There were over two dozen other raiders milling about on the top level. They all froze as well when he emerged from the stairwell and stared at him.

The first detail he noticed about the band was that they were almost all women. There were short, tall, stocky, slim, and even one that was possibly as large as Cid. The majority were in armor, and brandished some form of weapon at the moment, making his skin itch. When the pink-haired raider emerged behind him however, they all went back to their own business. He let out a sigh of relief. "Luckily, this tale will be a different kind." she said as she nodded towards an office door. "In." she commanded.

He walked past a mohawk sporting member of the female raider band getting a wound nursed by what looked like a female wastelander, and into the office. Two men stood guard on the inside, and immediately snapped to attention when the raider queen entered. "So, then would you mind telling me where we met?" he asked, his irritation returning.

She walked around him, sitting at the desk at the back of the room and motioning to a chair in front of it. "Have a seat." she said, her smile never leaving her face. The gunman walked forward, then sat in the chair, still aware that the female raiders gun was aimed directly at him.

"Look, can we cut to the chase here? What do you want with me, and why are you threatening Megaton?" he asked, leaning forward and glaring at her cheshire face.

The beautiful woman just chuckled at him, then unloaded the pistol in her hand of its magazine. He sat straight, immediately on edge as she also popped the chambered round out. "This is my favorite gun in the world. It has saved my life many times in the past." she said, tossing the pistol to him. He caught the weapon, then looked over it. There was nothing special about the weapon that would make it more or less remarkable than any other wasteland pistol.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" he asked, curiously as he looked back up at her.

"Not really. But there's a story behind why it's my favorite. Would you like to hear it?" she asked.

The gunman placed the pistol on the desk in front of him, then leaned back with a sigh. She obviously wasn't in any hurry to give him answers, so he might as well play her game for the time being. "Sure, why not?" he asked, cradling his head in one hand.

"This story takes place a long time ago, in this very town in fact. It stars a lowly little orphan girl who was nothing to anyone in the wasteland. Wherever she went, she was chased away for wanting water, wanting food, wanting anything to help her survive. She was chased by cowardly men, with their hounds at her heels, laughing maniacally as she tried so desperately to get away from the attackers." she said as she leaned forward. John, who sat up straight at the story, becoming more invested in it, couldn't help but notice her cleavage as she leaned forward. Shaking his head, he tore his gaze away from her bosom and looked into her dark, chocolate colored eyes.

"I take it you were this girl?" he asked. She simply nodded. "And these men with the dogs, they were a raider gang?" he inquired.

"You are correct. They are a long-lived gang in the Capital Wasteland known as the Blood Hounds. They loot and pillage small settlements, taking what they want, and sending their dogs after the settlers who made their home there. As it turns out, I was in such a settlement." she said, reaching over for a bottle of Quantum, then taking a sip of the glowing liquid before continuing. "They tolerated me, gave me the occasional container of food and bottle of water, but would not allow me near their homes with their children. So I slept outside. But that was the closest thing to kindness I'd ever experienced before that day. Tolerance." she said.

John sighed. "They should have done more. It's not like you sleeping inside on the floor would have inconvenienced them any." he remarked.

She smiled again, nodding. "They could have done more, but I was happy for the time being. Then along came the Blood Hounds with their dogs. They killed anyone who pulled a weapon, and all the women and children, or tame males they found, they set their dogs on. Most couldn't outrun the hounds, so soft were they from community life. But when it came my turn, I did what most didn't think of. I hid a knife in my sleeve, and when I was being chased by one of the dogs, instead of running off, only to be ran down and torn to pieces, I turned and killed it. Then I ran with everything I had."

"You got away. You were smart." he said.

"Oh, flirting with me now?" she asked coyly, getting a stern look from him. "I was experienced enough to know I couldn't escape just by running. When I finally made it far enough away from them that they couldn't hope to catch me, I crawled inside the house of a small town and collapsed, exhausted onto a mattress. And when I happened to wake up, I was surrounded by raiders."

John cocked an eyebrow. "Wow, this is starting to sound familiar." he said sarcastically. referring to his first excursion into the small town they now resided in.

She chuckled. "They took me in, and used me. But they protected me. So I made myself deal with it, because you don't survive in the wasteland by being delicate." she said, leaning back and running a hand through her shocking pink hair. "Then, a few years later, we just happen to stumble by another curious character in a Vault 101 jumpsuit, sleeping in the same mattress that I'd once collapsed on."

John's senses immediately went on high alert. "You...you were there when I came out of the vault…" he said, more of a statement than a question.

She nodded, her playful smile returning. "A young dweller from the vault, who struck me in the stomach with a baton and knocked me out for a short time, ended up killing the entire group that I had called family for almost two years. And when I was at his mercy, he gave me a gun. My favorite gun." she said, her finger now brushing around the rim of the bottle of Quantum.

He looked from her, to the gun on the desk. Then back up to her pink hair. The memory slammed into him like a super sledge, the memory of the night he left the vault, and the massacre he had left behind. Finally, her name came back to him. "Poison…"

She smiled wickedly. "Very good Mr. Vault Dweller. You do remember me." she said.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** For those curious about our lovely raider queens hairstyle, you only need to google Laura from Street Fighter V to see what it looks like. I had imagined her with this style from the very first chapter she was in, and knew that I wanted her to play a more prominent role later. So this hair style was what I imagined her with later. Then they went and gave the hairstyle to a SFV character. xD The videogame industry really needs to hurry up and grab me for my future ideas.


	29. The Prize

OoO( 29 )OoO

The day was another broiling million degrees in Paradise Falls. At least, that's what it felt like. The sun sweltered and poured down onto the large settlement like a waterfall of ultraviolet light. Crazy Wolfgang was currently sweating profusely as he haggled once more with the asshole outside of the slaver settlement, known as Grouse. The man was as parsimonious as they came, never wanting to spend anywhere near what the actual cost of his stock was. But he would never just fuck off and leave the caravans alone, he always wanted to come over, see what they had, complain about the prices, then go back to his little guardpost. It was becoming a nuisance to most of the caravan owners to have to come here.

But, caps were caps. And every cap earned was one closer to allowing him to set up a permanent establishment. Not in this godforsaken hole, but somewhere nice. Perhaps Tenpenny Tower, or maybe Rivet City. Somewhere away from the filth of the wasteland. Even if he liked the people here, he wouldn't be going inside the damn place for all the caps in the Capital Wasteland. As desperate as he was for remuneration, he wasn't stupid.

He'd heard plenty of stories on the radio about the Wolf of the Wasteland, a man who single-handedly swings the scythe of justice across the desert sands and mows down legions of enemies. Human, ghoul, supermutant, none of them were safe as long as he hunted the hunters, the scum of the wastes. And that's why any time he found himself on the path to the slaver capital of the DC, he attempted to move as fast as possible.

But this asshole, he continued to pester and bicker with him about the prices, extending his stay by a few hours at least. Finally, he'd gotten fed up with the man. "That's it Grouse, if you don't like my prices, then go and buy from Lock and Load, see if they want to barter with you."

The entry guard to Paradise Falls glared at the man. "I don't like the tone you're taking with me." he said, prodding the man in the chest with his finger. "You best watch your tongue merchant, unless you wanna find yourself in the pens with the rest of the crawlers." he said threateningly. But his attention was pulled away by a speck on the horizon. "What the hell?" he asked.

Wolfgang looked over as well, seeing a mass of people marching towards them. The merchant grabbed a pair of binoculars that he had hanging around his neck and put them up to his eyes. "The hell!?" he asked, stunned at the sight.

"What the hell is it?" asked Grouse, glaring at the man. It was a long second before the slaver finally got fed up with waiting and reached for the spyglasses himself, only to get them jerked away from him.

"It's women…lots of women." said Wolfgang as he continued to look through the binoculars. "And...they're carrying something…" he finished.

It was only a few minutes later, due to an amazing pace set by the women, before they finally arrived at the gate. The one in the lead had a head of pink hair, along with a pistol at her side. She wore combat armor, and a look that would stop him cold if she aimed it directly at him. Behind her, were a large group of women, all muscular, and armed to the teeth with any kind of weapon imaginable, from shotguns and assault rifles, to baseball bats that had razor wire embedded into the wood. One of the raiders, who was the biggest behemoth of a woman he had ever seen, was carrying a body over her shoulder. She had skin bronzed from the sun, and piercing grey eyes that stared into his soul. But the most impressive thing besides the mass of muscle that she sported, was the tattoo that started at her wrist and weaved its way in a magical pattern, up her shoulder and neck, and covered the right half of her face, making it look as if she was wearing a mask. The only other feature noticeable about her was her dark brown hair that was pulled back into a tight ponytail, the locks flowing down to her back.

Both Grouse and Wolfgang just gawked at the large woman as she stepped up next to the pink-haired one. "Don't mind Tank boys, she doesn't bite unless I tell her to." said the pink-haired raider.

"What the hell have you been feeding her?" asked Wolfgang.

"Men, mostly. But let's not get away from the reason why I'm here." she said, eyeing the dark-skinned man. "I want your boss. I've got something he wants." she commanded.

But the man just smirked. "Sorry tits, but I don't take order from you. And Eulogy will see you if I say so." he said, eyeing her rather curvy outline underneath the armor. "So, what do you plan to do to convince me?" he asked.

She smiled at him, then grabbed him by the collar gently. "You want a piece of me big guy?" she asked innocently, making him nod frantically. "Here, take this piece." she said, then tightened her grip, and shot her knee forward, straight into his groin. The thick armor on the knee thudded into his organs, sending a paralyzing wave of pain across his body.

The loud crunch was followed by a mass of noise, created by all of the female raiders arming their weapons and aiming them directly at the two gate guards who had been assigned to the gateway with Grouse. Both of the men immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands up in defense. Meanwhile, Grouse's eyes nearly popped out of his head from the pain that shot through him.

"My name is Poison, and I am not a woman to be trifled with." she whispered softly into Grouse's ear, before shooting her knee forward again, this time colliding the hardened bone with his nose. The impact blew him backwards, shattered his nose, and sent him spiralling into unconsciousness all at the same time. "Now then, who wants to volunteer to go get the boss next?" she asked, giving the two remaining men a deadly glare. Both of them went sprinting towards the inside of the camp, much to the amusement of the raiders.

When the two of them returned, they had with them a dark-skinned man in a cherry red suit, and two other men who looked like hardened raiders themselves. They both wore metal armor with numerous spikes jutting off the shoulders, gauntlets, and knee pads. The rest was scored with tons of dents and scratches from bygone battles. The first man, who was taller than either of the other two, wore a black and grey beard and shaved head, as well as a scar across one of his eyes. Though the scar was deep, it looked as if whatever had caused it, hadn't gotten to the soft ocular organ beneath.

The second, and shorter of the two slavers, had a clean shaven face, and a long thick curtain of blonde hair. There was nothing really remarkable about the younger one, aside from the fact that he carried a large sledge hammer on his back. The man in the center however, he had a charisma about him that couldn't be ignored. The raider queen immediately locked her eyes onto the slaver king and smiled, despite the two men having their weapons out and ready. Her group were more than prepared.

"You'll be the boss then?" asked the pink-haired raider.

The dark-skinned man smiled widely at seeing so many women at his front door. "Well hello, hello, hello my lovely ladies of the wastes." he said, giving them a dramatic bow in his blaring red suit. "And to what does Eulogy Jones owe the pleasure of your visit?"

The raider queen stepped forward, and all three of the men were immediately focused on her curves, rather than her face. "I came by to drop something off for you." she said, nodding towards Tank. The giant woman stepped forward and dropped the body onto the ground in front of them. "I hear he's got quite the price on his head, and I was wanting to cash in."

The three looked down, and their expressions were now nothing but surprise. "Is that who I think it is?" asked the bearded man. The body belonged to a man who was of average height, but was built like a gladiator in the Pitt. His hair was a light brown color and seemed to naturally spike backwards whenever he let it get long enough to. Currently, his eye was slightly bruised and he had a gag in his mouth, his arms bound behind him tightly.

"Yes, it is. And I hear that you guys were looking to get your hands on him." said the woman as she took another step forward. "Word is, a lot of people want him dead, and are willing to pay a price for it." she whispered to the red-suited man.

"You are correct…" he said, examining the limp form at his feet. "And what exactly did you want in return for this...prize?" he asked.

The woman smiled brightly. "Good, getting down to business now." she said as she walked down and sat on the gunman's back while he was on the ground. "I want all of your female slaves. I don't care what age, or what 'condition' they are in. But I want them." she said.

Eulogy looked up at her curiously, then looked at all the women standing behind her. He smiled knowingly. "Ah, bolstering your ranks I see." he said. "And what condition is our lovely vigilante in if I may ask?" he questioned, crossing his arms.

"He's alive, but unconscious for the moment. And his legs don't work that great anymore." she said with a smirk. After getting a questioning glance from the slaver, she elaborated. "He apparently broke his back shortly before returning to Megaton, and when he left again, me and the girls grabbed him and had our fun with him." she said, causing the crowd behind her to start snickering.

Eulogy smiled widely. "What kind of fun are we talking?" he asked in an oily voice.

"The kind that's none of your business." she said sharply, never losing her grin.

The slaver shrugged helplessly. "Such a shame for all that gorgeous flesh to be wasted on one man." he said, shaking his head. "As it stands, we knew he was crippled. Didn't know why though. So your story checks out so far. And the rest of the deal?" he asked.

"Five thousand caps." she said in a commanding tone.

The man struggled not to laugh. "We have three female slaves, each rated around two grand a piece. His head is only worth ten thousand alive." said the man, his arms akimbo. "I'm afraid you've miscalculated a bit my dear."

She stood up again and walked up to him, leaning inches from his face. "I've miscalculated nothing Mr. Jones. As you can see, we are not dealing with a regular wasteland bounty here. This is him, the Wolf, the Reaper. The one who has wiped out entire raider gangs, as well as squads of Talon Companies men. You aren't just buying a body here, you're buying a legend." she said enthusiastically. "Not to mention you get access to whatever vault information he has on his pipboy. So, as I said, I did not miscalculate."

Eulogy stared at her for a long moment in silence. If he were to gain access to the vault that the dweller came from, he could easily make up for the slaves he lost in the trade. He ran the numbers through his head, calculating the odds of how many people were in the the subterranean shelter before he finally decided. "Alright, you've got a deal." he said, waving to one of the gate guards. "Five thousand caps, plus the female slaves. Then he's mine." said the man.

"That's the deal." she said, reaching down with her foot and kicking him over onto his back. The red-suited slaver looked down and his eyebrow rose as he spotted a black container strapped to the gunman's chest.

"And what, may I ask, is that?" he asked, pointing to the capsule.

"That's a small thermo bomb. See, despite his legs not working much anymore, he was still able to take a couple of my girls out. So, after we knocked him senseless, I strapped that sucker to him in case he decided to get funny." she said as she whipped out a small detonator. "Once I have the caps and the girls, it's all yours. Just don't touch it. It's sensitive to tampering." she said.

The man smiled widely. "My kind of girl…" he said, then spun around quickly. "Please, follow me while I get you your returns.

"Oh Jesus…" came a voice off to the side. They all looked at the merchant who had been standing and watching them the whole time. The man stumbled forward to the wanderers all but bare body. He had been stripped of his clothing and now wore only what looked like a loin cloth over his privates. The man grabbed John's face and looked at him. "Look man, I...I was just trying to make money! Please! Don't include me with them, I'm leaving right now!" he said in a panicked voice before running over to his caravan guards. After giving them some brief instructions, the three of them, as well as the brahmin that was carrying the majority of supplies, all left as fast as possible.

Both Poison and Eulogy stared at him as he left. The slaver's face warped into an expression that could only be contempt. "Snivelling little shit." he said, walking over to the gunman and looking down at him. "He's just a man!" he shouted, then kicked the man in the side, only getting a muted flinch.

"Hey, no damaging the goods until I see the caps." said the woman, standing over John's unconscious form.

"Yeah yeah, drag his filthy ass in here so we can get this over with." said the slaver as he turned and walked into the compound. Poison nodded to Tank, who picked the gunman up again by his bound arms and threw him over her shoulder. Together, the entire band of women made their way into the slaver capital.

Tank had carried the gunman into the main building, which Eulogy just called his 'Pad'. The place was a den of lust that disgusted most of the women in the group. Poison however, let nothing show on her face. "Just set him on the table for now." said the slaver. "I'll be wanting that vault info as soon as possible."

The large female did just that, and laid the unconscious gunman down onto the wooden table. The raider queen looked over and saw two more females sitting on the bed, wearing nothing but a pair of panties and a collar on their neck. "Skimping on our deal?" she asked, a bit of venom in her tone.

Eulogy looked over at the two women, then just smiled. "My apologies, but these two are not for sale." he said as the dark skinned one walked over and began to nuzzle into his arm. "These two are...sentimental to me." he said. "Isn't that right my lovely Clover?" he asked.

The woman looked from the raider, back to her master and nodded. "O-Of course…" she said, grasping his arm. "I would never leave my master." she said.

The pink-haired raider snorted. "Fine. What about the caps?" she asked sharply.

Eulogy walked across the room, past the vomit inducing heart-shaped bed, and began rummaging through and armored locker. When he finally finished, he came back over with a large quantity of caps stowed inside a briefcase. "Here you go. I even put in a little extra in case you want to do business with us in the future." he said with a greasy smile.

The woman grabbed the case, and handed it to a smaller, but very well built bald woman with startling blue eyes. "Alright. Then we're out. You gentleman have yourselves a nice day." she said with a venomous smile.

Eulogy, who had an instinct about certain things, didn't like the way she said that. But he wasn't about to try and shoot her with her entourage of heavily armed females waiting to turn him into swiss cheese. So he let it go. "You all be sure to come back real soon…" he said. Once they had left, he turned to his second, a man named Ymir. "Put someone on their tail. I want to know where they are based out of. And get Jotun on this pipboy information extraction. I want it done before Magnus finds out that we've got him." he said. The man nodded without a word, and left to grab his son.

OoOoO

A long while after the visitors had arrived, the females among the slaves were pulled out and had their collars removed. Even the female ghoul had been released into custody of the raider gang, leaving nothing but two young boys in one cage, and three men, in another. Once the gang had left, Ymir had fitted a collar tightly around the gunman's neck while his pipboy was hooked up to the computer terminal. Jotun, Ymir's son, watched over the process until the information was extracted, then unhooked him and had the gunman thrown into the slave cages, bomb and all.

It was an hour later, when John sat up tiredly and looked at the three men in the cage with him, a look of irritation on his face. "Where the hell am I?" he asked questioningly, the bruising next to his eye almost gone.

One of the men, a weary-eyed waster wearing a simple pair of overalls, was the first to comment. "You're in Paradise Falls, the Capital Wastelands own branch of the slave trade." said the man.

"Oh...good." said John sarcastically as he flexed his neck sorely. His arms were numb from being bound behind him.

"Right? I was actually kind hoping you would come here one day and get us the fuck out of here. But as it turns out, even the great Reaper can be stopped and collared." said the man bitterly.

"Yeah, about that, I'm going to need you to shut up about getting out of here for at least a little while." said the gunman as he flexed his arms and tore through the leather belts that bound his arms. He then lifted the limbs and rubbed the numbness out of them as he scanned the area.

"The fuck are you gonna do about it? You couldn't possibly do worse things to me that they've already done." he said, an edge of hostility in his voice. But when John looked directly at him, and he saw the glowing green gaze of the Archangel, he bit his tongue.

"Keep running your mouth and I'll leave you here when I go." said the man.

"You actually think you can get out of here?" came another voice to their right. John looked over at the old, withered man who shared the same kind of collar, and had a beard growing near down to his chest. "Many think that once they get in, there's a way out. But the fact is that as long as they have that collar on you, you're theirs to control." he said sadly.

"The collars are rigged to detonate if you go out of range of Paradise Falls. So even if we were able to get out of here, they could blow all of our heads from our bodies." said one of the young boys who had come to talk to them through the cage bars.

But John just smiled at the boy. "Don't worry, that's not going to be an issue anymore. Just wait until sundown and you'll see. And for god's sake, be quiet. I don't want them knowing what's going to happen."

Bronson, the tired-eyed man from before just huffed. "What the hell is a cripple gonna do to help us?" he asked, getting another glare from the gunman.

"Just wait and see." he said forcefully.

The same boy, who was joined by the other in the cage, continued questioning. "So, my name is Sammy, and this is Squirrel. Are you really the Archangel?" he asked, somewhat excited to be meeting a radio celebrity. John looked at him with a twitching eye.

"That's right kiddo. That's me, the bringer of doom to evil! Who can breath fire, summon storms, and can knock down entire buildings with his voice! He who was born of the blood of dragons and demons!" he said theatrically, flexing his arm and making the musculature bulge.

The kid named Squirrel just shook his head as Sammy gawked at the wanderer. "Wooooah…" he said.

But John laughed to himself, even making the older man across from him chuckle. "Seriously, though, don't believe everything you've heard on the radio." he said as he pulled his legs up so that he could at least sit comfortably in the dirt.

Bronson just sighed. "No kidding. Could someone like that actually get crippled?" he asked.

John eyed him sharply. "How exactly did you know I was crippled?" he asked.

"Everybody in the damn camp knows it. Hell if I know where the rumor came from." said the man in a sour tone.

"I asked where you heard it. I didn't ask where they heard it." John snapped, making the man flinch. "And I'm getting real tired of your smart ass mouth. From now on, do not open it until I say so." he said threateningly.

Bronson, a relatively smart man for a waster, knew when his mouth had gotten him into trouble. "I-I heard Forty talking about it with Jotun...one of the armored slavers that works around here."

"Who mentioned it initially?" he inquired, his glowing iris' boring into the man's soul.

"It...It was Jotun...I think he mentioned his father telling him." said the man, turning away so he didn't have to look into the gunman's eyes.

John scratched his chin. "Good, now I know where to start." he said. Looking over at the others, he nodded. "Get some rest boys. You won't much be sleeping tonight." he said, then leaned back and cradled his head in his hands.

OoOoO

As the sun set on the former shopping center, darkness crawled through the cracks of every single building and hovel within. Outside the city limits, and looking down on the lit slaver capital stood a tall figure, a mountain of muscle, watching over them until the time was right.

The mercenary was startled when he heard a voice behind him however. There was no sound leading up to the voice, no footsteps, no breathing, no anything. Whoever this was was extremely stealthy to have not been heard by the jumpy mercenary. "What is the signal?" asked the voice that sounded like ice.

He turned and looked at the dark character, his skin covered in goosebumps as he did. The pale figure stood nearly as tall as he did, but was as pale as milk. The characters red gaze focused onto his own dark eyes. "He said you'll know it when you see it." said the muscular man.

"Very well. We will take our positions." said the cold voice, and vanished as smoothly as he had arrived, back into the darkness.

Cid just stared at the darkness for a long moment before he was finally convinced that nobody was there. "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" asked the man as he turned back to the lights of the slaver settlement.

OoOoO

Author's Note: Don't worry folks. I hate cliffhangers myself, but I really reached the limit on this chapter and didn't want to make this chapter too large. So the next one will be on the way very shortly, as I was already into the second half when I decided to chop it.

Also, I wanted to let the fans of my writing know that I am currently writing a short story of my own lore, and wondered who'd like to partake in reading it before it gets published. It's still unfinished as of yet, but iff you'd like to be kept up to date with it as well, please let me know through PM, and I'll be more than happy to share it, as well as future stories in my original fictional universe.

Oh, and shoutout to those who get the reference in the chapter title.


	30. When Paradise Falls

OoO( 30 )OoO

The slave pens had been quiet for most of the day. Another of the slaves that was working as a bartender in the tavern of the slaver paradise had been dragged outside after being killed on the spot for some reason which the slaves couldn't hear. Other than that, there had been no activity to speak of until the sun finally set.

It was then that a group of men wholly unfamiliar to the slaves approached the cages. They were all armed to the teeth, and wore badland armor that screamed raider. The leader, a man who had a buzz cut mohawk on his head, and wielded a large double barrel shotgun was the only one to walk up to the cage and eye the different slaves.

"Where is he?" asked the man in a gruff voice as he looked between the different men in the outdoor cell.

The man that Bronson had spoken of, named Forty, walked up and pointed to the gunman. "That's him. Been sitting on his ass most of the day on account of his legs not working." he said with a smirk.

The raider shook his head and shoved the slaver aside. "Fucking moron. It doesn't matter if his legs don't work. This motherfucker is a legionkiller. He could probably do things with his hands that would peel the skin offa you." he said with a growl.

"Doesn't fucking matter. We got the collar on him, so if he makes one wrong move, he loses his head." retorted Forty smartly.

"Yeah yeah, open the cage. I wanna see this fucker myself. You just be ready to hit that trigger if he moves funny." said the mohawked raider. The cage door was flung open and the man stepped inside, staring down at the wanderer. "So, you the one that's supposed to be the raider killer huh?" he asked as he knelt down and stared at the man. John had his head tilted towards the ground with his eyes closed. Smiling lightly, the raider reached out and slapped him across the face. "I asked you a question boy."

John said nothing, and did nothing. He continued to just look at the ground, keeping his eyes closed. Forty stepped inside now with a smile. "You really think this dumb fuck is the one who killed all them raiders?" he asked.

The raider looked back at him with a glare. "I don't know, maybe we should try him out on you." he said. The slaver stepped back in hesitation at the statement. Then he looked back at John. "You wanna hit me boy?" he asked with a smile. Then smacked John again. "You wanna kill me and mah friends?" he asked, getting a rousing chuckle out of the group behind him. When he still got no response, he stood back to his feet and turned to the others. "Someone get the tin man so we can check and see if this is the real deal." he commanded.

Two of his men ran off and he walked back out of the cage, with Forty closing it behind him. "Hey boss, that Jones guy wants a word with you." said another of his men as they emerged from the building.

The raider boss turned to his men and smiled his crooked, broken smile. "Alright boys, don't just dick around here the whole time. Mingle! Make some friends!" he shouted, then walked off towards Eulogy's Pad, past the auto turrets that were aiming at him, before realigning themselves again. The group of men scattered and began milling about the different buildings, going to the shop known as Lock and Load, visiting the mess hall, or just hanging around outside of a fire pit and chatting up each other, and the slavers who weren't currently on duty.

Forty went back to guarding the door. He pulled a pack of cigarettes with Clover stamped on the front, and was about to light it when a man in power armor stomped up in the heavy suit. "You Magnus?" asked Forty.

The mechanical man just glared at him with the helmets burning yellow eyes until the man shrunk. Having subdued the mouthy guard, he stepped up to the fence. Finally, John looked up at him, piercing, green, glowing eyes meeting fiery, yellow, emotionless ones. "I've been looking for you for a long time." said the mechanical man as he stared down at the gunman.

"And I've been looking for you. Not for very long though." he said, a small smile on his face.

"You've found me. Now what?" asked the armored man as he glared down at the near naked gunman. John just said nothing, letting his smile do the talking. "That's what I thought." he said, turning from the wanderer and looking at the guard. "Don't let him out of your sight. If he escapes while you're on watch, I'll rip your ribcage out and make you eat it." said the titan in a threatening tone.

"R-Right." said the slaver, still holding the unlit cigarette. The armored figure walked off towards the main building, once again Eulogy's Pad.

John turned to his three companion slaves and smiled at them. "You three, go over there and keep the boys company. I want you to keep them from seeing what's about to happen." he said quietly. Looking back at Forty, who was now puffing his cigarette to life, he stood up and walked over to the gate where Forty was now focusing on making smoke rings. "What the fuck?" asked Bronson, assuming the entire time that the gunman had been crippled. Turning his attention away, he tried to get the younger boy's attention.

The wanderer stepped up to the gate and tapped Forty on the shoulders. "Hey, you mind if I get one of those?" he asked. The slaver turned, with a sour look on his face, then froze.

"The fuck...you're supposed to be crippled!" he exclaimed as he reached for his assault rifle. But John's hand shot through the iron gate and grabbed the man's hand, immediately snapping the wrist with one, and covering the man's mouth with the other. He clamped tightly over his maw, making sure no sound escaped.

"Now, you're going to do exactly as I say, or I'll rip your head from your shoulders. Got it?" he asked. The man nodded, or attempted to nod with John's hand gripped over his mouth. "Aim your gun up into the air with your other hand, and fire." he said quietly. Thus far, nobody had noticed the wanderer puppeting the man simply because of the slavers armor. It was big enough to cover his relatively average sized frame from view.

The slaver, with terror in his eyes, raised his assault weapon, guided by the wanderers hand of course, and pulled the trigger. The weapon fired a bunch of rounds into the air before the gun finally started clicking. One of the raiders across the bon fire from Forty let out a loud battle cry, then fired his own weapon into the air as well. This started a chain reaction that sent the rest of the raiding group into a howling fury before unleashing their weapons into the sky, causing a deafening klaxon across the shopping center. John released the slaver's hand, allowing him to drop the now empty gun and cradle his shattered wrist. Reaching forward, he grabbed the man by the throat and squeezed.

Forty fought with everything he had, but with a broken wrist and no weapon, that wasn't much. He flailed against the gunman with his good hand, but he couldn't do anything to stop the inevitable. Finally, John released the man when his face was nearly blue from suffocation. He fell to the ground, grasping at his throat and wheezing horribly. "Stay down, and you'll stay alive." he told the slaver as he wrenched the gate open.

OoOoO

Pronto, one of the slavers who was usually under Grouse on the food chain, had recently received a promotion due to the 'incident' with Grouse at the gate. The former head guard was no in the hospital, and wouldn't likely be released until he was able to speak again without squeaking. It was all the same to Pronto, as he was now in charge of gate duty. He had never much cared for the snooty attitude that his former boss gave off. And with any luck, when the asshole did finally get out, Pronto would be his boss.

The slaver ran a hand through his freshly shorn high and tight haircut. Things were definitely looking up. Eulogy was ecstatic to have the vault dweller, and was likely to get an enormous reward, on top of the information from the gunman's pipboy. That meant life was easier on the rest of them. So whoever that woman was, the one with the curves that he'd cut his own tongue out for, and with the anti-masculine martial skills, he owed her quite a bit. If he ever found her again, he'd give her the attention she deserved.

As his thoughts once again drifted towards the female raider, he sat down in the chair behind the barricade at the front entrance. But he had only been sitting down for a few moments before he and his two underlings were on their feet again in surprise. From inside the shopping center, there was the loud sound of simultaneous gunfire. He had his weapon ready, but after seeing a few of the raiders stumbling around firing into the air and howling like idiots, he just smirked and shook his head.

"Fucking animals." he said, getting a chuckle from his men as they began to relax again. He turned to nod to his men, a signal of business as usual, when he noticed that one of them was missing. He looked at the other one curiously, who seemed oblivious to the missing guard. "Where the fuck did Tango go?" he asked.

The other man shrugged and looked into the dark night. "No idea boss, he was standing right here." said the man. He stared off into the distance, but the darkness couldn't be pierced by his gaze. "Is it just me, or is it darker out here than usual…" commented the lackey.

Suddenly, both men were started as the settlements lights went out. The darkness swallowed them whole, making them unable to even see each other. "What the fuck?" asked Pronto as he pulled up his assault rifle and spun around, trying to peer through the darkness. To his right, he heard the sound of a strangled gasp, right where his remaining henchman should have been. "Who the fuck is there!?" he shouted, firing a few rounds into the night air.

Unfortunately for Pronto, he got his answer. "We are the darkness…" came a quiet whisper behind him. Before he could even flinch, a pair of arms wrapped around him and secured him in a crushing grip before he felt a pair of sharpened teeth sink into his neck. He cried out in horrified pain, but his sobs were drowned out by the rapid gunfire from within the camp.

OoOoO

Eulogy was sitting in his pad once more, brandishing a bottle of scotch in one hand and a cigar on the other, while Crimson, one of his own girls sat in his lap and kissed his neck delicately. Before him, stood both the mohawked raider boss and the mechanical titan simply known as Magnus. The power armored figure held in his hands a large modified shotgun that looked like it could blow the doors off the building, and a belt of grenades around his waist. The most eye catching part of the figure however was the Talon Company logo burned into the chest plate of the armor.

The raider was more conventional in terms of appearance. He wore thick leather armor with bulky shoulder pads, and had leather arm bangles with barbed wire wrapped tightly around them. Likely for any hand to hand scuffles he had to get into. His weapon of choice was a pair of assault rifles that were now resting over his bulky shoulders. His hair, which wasn't as wild as some of the raider mohawks he'd seen, was cut closer to his head. Both of the visitors stood and stared down at Eulogy as his pet continued to peck at him.

"So gentlemen, I assume everything is in order?" asked the slaver as he looked between the two men.

" _I have verified that he is the gunman that has been taking out Talon Company squads. And from what he says, he'd know that asshole anywhere."_ said the power armored figure as he looked over at the raider. _"Talon Company is willing to pay the bounty on his head for keeping him alive."_ he said, then looked at Eulogy. _"But as for him being crippled, are you sure your information is correct? He looked awfully comfortable out there on his ass."_

The slaver stood to his feet, causing Crimson to slide off and go back to her place on the bed. Walking over to the terminal in his room, he smiled and patted the monitor. "I got his information right here. From his pipboy readings, it says that the lower half of his body is non responsive to stimuli from the brain. So yeah, he's as good as useless." said the man.

" _Fine. We pay the reward, you get rid of the body. And we want a public fucking display, not some backyard burial shit. We want you to send a message to anyone out there who follows in this bastards footsteps."_ said the armored man.

The raider looked at him and smiled widely. "Oh, we know what to do with him alright. We've got a few hungry dogs that we've been saving just for him. Plenty of captive witnesses to release into the wild too to spread the word." he said, chuckling at his own brutality.

" _Good. My work here is done."_ he said as he gave a suitcase to the raider. _"You two can fight about who gets to do the killing."_ he said, turning towards the door. But he stepped no further when he heard the sound of rapid gunfire outside, as well as loud yapping and howling. Magnus turned back to look at the raider. _"Your clowns I presume?"_ he asked. The raider growled and carried the suitcase with him as he left the pad.

Eulogy looked at the armored man curiously. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your hand?" he asked, noticing that the armored suit was missing its right gauntlets.

OoOoO

The raider boss kicked the door open, heading out onto the small veranda attached to the front of the building, where he looked around at all the men and women of his group firing off their weapons into the air like maniacs. "What the fuck is going on here!?" he shouted. The question was followed by a deafening silence as all the gunfire died down. "Stop wasting your fucking ammo ya cunts! We can fuck around when we get back to base!" he hollered as he shoved one of his own raiders as he descended the stairs. "This is why we can't have nice things…" said the man, who then froze in his tracks.

The entire raider camp had been so focused on their boss when he exited the building that none of them had realized that the gunman they had come to retrieve was standing in the middle of the encampment. He now stood in the center of the entire party, staring directly at the raider boss. Everything was deadly quiet as the two locked gazes each other. "You wanna kill me boy?" asked the gunman in a tone that could shake the most battle hardened raider.

Suddenly, the lights to the entire settlement went out, leaving the only sources of light as the bonfire and the two piercing dots gazing at him through the darkness. "What the fuck is this shit?" he asked as he pulled both of his assault rifles off his back, his skin now crawling as the glowing gaze vanished into the darkness. He aimed his weapons and started firing, spreading the two guns apart to try and cover as much ground as possible. "Get that fucking rat if it's the last thing you do!" he shouted to the rest of his group.

But his ears told him all he needed to hear. His men had issues of their own. The few that he could see around the bonfire suddenly vanished into the darkness, looking as if they had been pulled by a noose. The only sound that followed besides gunfire was the sound of gargled screaming from the darkness. He couldn't see, even to shoot, so he did the only thing he could think of, and ran back up the stairs and back into Eulogy's house.

As soon as he entered the establishment, both Magnus and Eulogy were up in arms. Eulogy had a six shot magnum in his right hand, swinging it around frantically while Magnus made sure his shotgun was prepared. Eulogy stumbled over to the raider, his pistol ready to fire at a moments notice as he held his finger on the trigger. "What the fuck is going on out there!?" shouted the slaver as his two pets cowered on the bed behind him. The lights in the building were still on, as the head slaver's backup generator kicked on.

"Somethin' ain't right out there! The power's out and my men are dying left and right!" shouted the raider as he tossed the suitcase of caps to the side and reloaded his assault rifles.

"This has to do with that fucking vault asshole doesn't it!?" screamed the slaver again as he ran to his computer. "I'll blow his fucking head off! He's got a collar on!" shouted the man.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" asked the raider threateningly. "That's my fucking quarry, not yours!"

"Fuck you! When he's terrorizing your encampment, then you can decide whether he lives or dies! But as long as my men are at stake, I make the decision!" he shouted back, then entered the collar detonation controls. Suddenly, his computer froze. "What the fuck?" he asked incredulously.

Suddenly, a cartoon avatar of a young girl appeared on the screen, and gave him the middle finger. _"Sorry bucko. No can do!"_ said the short-haired figure. _"Try fighting fair once in awhile."_

"What the hell is wrong with my computer?" asked Eulogy as he tried anything to bypass the avatar. But to his dismay, all roads lead back to her. "Get the hell off my terminal!" he shouted, pointing his gun at the monitor.

" _Make me butthead!"_ she shouted, sticking her tongue out and patting her backside insultingly.

Eulogy, not one to be made a fool of, fired two rounds into the screen. "Stupid bitch...let's see you laugh now!" he said proudly. But his mirth died on his tongue as laughing emitted from the speakers of the computer, and the intercom megaphones.

" _You missed me you missed me!"_ she said over and over, each iteration of her voice growing deeper and more sinister sounding. Eulogy just backed up until he stumbled over himself and ended up on his rear end.

"What the hell are you!?" he asked, his voice now quivering in terror.

But the question went unanswered as a loud knock sounded on the door. "If any of you cowards want to save the rest of your men, I'd advise you step outside." came a call from outside the thick door.

The mohawked raider snorted and looked over at the man in the power armor. "Look's like I'm on my own. You don't give a shit about me, and he's practically pissed himself." said the raider as he stepped up to the door. Kicking the door open again, he stepped out onto the veranda, and saw a couple of raiders, as well as a few of the slavers tied and bound around the bonfire. "Where the hell you at boy? You wanna fight, then fight me like a man!" he shouted firing off three rounds into the air.

"You want a piece of me raider? Then come get a piece." said a chilling voice to his left. Looking over, he about tripped over himself in surprise. No longer did the gunman have the glowing iris' that pierced the soul. Now, his eyes were ablaze as if he were possessed by some spirit, and the veins all over his near naked body were alive with radioactive glowing energy.

He panicked and flung both of his assault rifles up to fire, but the gunman was too fast. The man moved like a glowing blur and grabbed both of the rifles, ripping them from his grip and tossing them aside. Then, reaching up, the wanderer backhanded the raider with enough force to send him flying off the veranda and rolling through the dirt. The man began to cough violently as dust and blood filled his mouth.

John walked down the stairs to the veranda and stood over the man as he got onto all fours and coughed up the muck now in his mouth. "You wanna hit me boy?" he asked. The raiders around the fire began to shout, but didn't dare move.

"Boss! You gotta get up boss!" shouted one of the men.

A female raider with twin mohawks on either side of her head shouted next. "Rocco! Please! You've gotta get us away from here!" she shouted, tears pouring from her eyes and mixing with the blood that had splattered her face. John looked over at them with his ominous glowing gaze and they all froze, saying no more.

Looking down at the raider at his feet, the gunman smiled. "Hear that Rocco? Your men are speaking to you. You should really go have words with them." he said, lashing out and kicking the man in the stomach. The force behind the kick sent the man flying across the grounds, where he landed right in front of his kneeling henchmen.

John slowly walked towards the raider boss as the slaves in the pens, forgetting all of the wanderers instructions, watched in awe as he dismantled the raider, one strike at a time. "You called me legionkiller before. What do you think now boss?" he asked as he reached down and grabbed the man by the throat, lifting him off the ground and off his feet, dangling him dangerously close to the bonfire. "Do you think I could kill a legion of your men?" he asked, tilting his head as his burning eyes stared into the terrified eyes of the man whose life he now held. "Maybe a legion of Talon Company, or Enclave? A legion of supermutants?" he said, dropping the man to the ground again. "Bind him. His fate awaits him in the morning." he said.

Following his words, three shadowy figure melded out of the darkness of the night and tied him faster than anyone thought possible. John turned to Eulogy's Pad and smiled when he saw the armored figure on the veranda. _"You really are something…"_ said the man as he stepped down and cocked his shotgun. _"But let's see you survive this."_ said the man as he raised the weapon and fired. The blast from the gun hit John square in the chest, knocking him back onto the ground. For a long moment, the metal man stood there with his weapon raised. _"Feh…some Archangel."_ he said.

Suddenly, an explosive sound erupted behind him, and he immediately felt rounds begin to slam into his back, nearly knocking him forward. Turning, he saw the turrets on either side of the head slaver's pad firing relentlessly at him. Ripping two grenades from his belt, he threw them at the machines as his suit HUD began to register damage to the armor. The explosion tore the two machines apart, leaving his power armor now smoking.

Magnus turned around again to check on the gunman again and found him missing from his former spot. Looking to his left, he saw the glowing man now standing right next to him. John kicked the shotgun, sending the weapon flying into the darkness, then reached down and ripped the belt of grenades from the metal waist, hurling them off further into the compound. Magnus swung his mechanical fist, connecting with the gunman's jaw, sending him spinning backwards from the force.

Not wasting a second, the mercenary bound forward and grabbed the wanderer by the head, lifting his knee and slamming it into the man's gut. John coughed loudly at the impact but brushed the armored figures leg aside, jumping up and kicking the merc in the helmet. The attack, even against power armor, sent the man bowling backwards. Climbing to his feet, Magnus charged forward again, sending a screaming punch directly into John's stomach and making him double over in pain.

" _You think you can kill me!?"_ shouted the iron man as he lifted the gunman into the air and slammed him down over his knee. _"Scum like you isn't worthy enough to lick my boots clean!"_ he said as he dropped the man onto the ground, then lifted his foot to crush his skull. _"Now die!"_ shouted Magnus.

But his foot stopped before hitting the man's cranium. John had caught the armored foot and used his strength to lift it higher, throwing the man's balance way off. Magnus fell backwards as John rose to his feet and looked down at the mercenary. Leaning down, the glowing man smiled at the Talon merc. "Is that the best you've got?" he asked. The merc's gaze immediately noticed that any damage he had done with the shotgun had healed, not even leaving a scar on the gunman's chest.

" _What the fuck are you?"_ asked the merc as he rolled back onto his feet, a maneuver that John would have thought impossible in such a bulky suit.

"You know, I've been getting that question a lot." said the vault dweller as he puffed out his chest. "Go ahead and find out." he said with a confident smirk.

The armored man ran forward, yelling in fury and threw a punch directly into the gunman's revealed chest. But as soon as his fist collided, throwing the glowing figure backwards, he shouted in pain as he felt his hand get pulverized by the force. _"Aaaaaaaaaargh!"_ he shouted in pain as he clutched his exposed hand, the one that he knew he shouldn't be punching with, but had forgotten in the haze of battle.

John rubbed his chest painfully, but got back to his feet just fine. "Funny, I recall killing someone who wore a suit like that. Even funnier that I blew his hand off before he died." said the gunman as he stepped forward. Stopping in front of the figure, he looked up at the towering armored mercenary. "Any last moves in mind?" he asked with a smirk.

" _As a matter of fact, I do."_ said the man, then reached up under his shoulder and pulled a small lever. The armored casing that protected the fusion pack on his back flew off, and a twin pair of rockets fired up as the man crouched. _"I'll be back for your head."_ said the mercenary as he launched himself into the air, letting the rocket's thrust him further into the air. The jets caught, and he took off over the wall of the shopping center and out of sight.

John growled as he missed grabbing him before he was out of reach. "Well, that's what I get for showing off." he said, glaring as he watched the rocket man flying off into the distance. Turning around, he walked towards Eulogy's Pad. When he flung the doors open, he was immediately flung backwards as a shot was fired that hit him in the chest. He lay on the ground gasping at the pain as Eulogy Jones walked into the doorway and fired down four more times, emptying the gun into the gunman's stomach and chest.

"Hahaha….thought you could sneak in here huh?" asked the slaver, his voice borderline maniacal as he continued to click the gun at the wanderer, despite it being completely empty. John laid still on the ground as the man continued to rant. "You can't kill Eulogy fucking Jones! I own you, I own your life! I own everybody! If I wanted to piss in your mouth, your answer is 'Yes sir! Thank you for the drink sir!' If I wanted to light you on fucking fire, your answer is 'Yes sir! Thank you for keeping me warm sir!'" Finally realizing that his gun was empty, he opened the chamber and began putting more bullets into the chamber. "I own you, I own them…" he said, pointing the reloaded gun at the raiders. "I own whoever the fuck I want!" he said, raising the weapon to the gunman again.

"Anyone ever tell you that you talk too fucking much?" asked John as he began to sit up again, pain etched on his face.

Eulogy stared at him incredulously. "N-No...you can't...I shot you!" he shouted.

John rose to his feet slowly and dusted himself off, the bullet wounds seemingly swallowed by his skin. "I got better." said the gunman as he cracked his neck. "Ready for round two?" he asked.

"Demon…" said the slaver as he glared and went to pull the trigger again. But the feeling of a blade sliding into his back stunned him. "Wha…?" he asked nobody in particular.

Pulling the knife out of his back, the slave girl Clover stood behind him, her eyes almost in tears as she stared at him with a bloody knife in her hands. "How do you like that Jones?" she asked quietly.

John went to step forward, but stopped when he saw her face. She was actually smiling. "The fuck is wrong with you bitch?" asked Eulogy as he twisted to try and shoot her. But John immediately snatched the gun from his hand and tossed it aside.

The slave girl climbed on top of the man and raised the knife above her head. "You like penetrating so much!? Tell me how you like it!" she screamed as she slammed the knife down into his chest. Then she yanked it free and did it again, and again, and again. Eventually, John walked over to her and lifted her off of the slavers dead body. "Stop! He deserves to be stabbed for every time he used me! Every time he fucked me!" she shouted.

But the gunman just held her close and stroked her short brown hair gently. "Shhhh...you're free now. He can't hurt you anymore." he said soothingly. She just looked up at him, then broke down crying in his arms.

The dark-skinned woman who was standing nearby sighed as she heard the words come from his mouth. "It's finally over…" she said, looking as if she were going to break down as well.

Once Clover had gotten ahold of herself again, the wanderer grabbed the barely breathing body of the slaver king and dragged him outside. "Don't die yet Eulogy, I've got a special surprise for you." he said as he took a stimpak and jammed it into his shoulder.

OoOoO

Once the sun had risen, and the eerie darkness vanished, John stood out in the center of the shopping center. All around him were gathered the slaves that had been freed, both from their collars, and their cages. In front of him, the raiders and slavers that weren't gruesomely murdered the night prior, were bound and gagged in a line.

Clover hadn't been the only one emotional about their freedom. Breadbox had wept for nearly an hour as his collar was removed from his throat, while Bronson and Bleak kept rubbing their neck, as if seeing if the collar was truly gone. Forty, the slaver, as well as Cutter from the medical clinic and Sister, the slaver supplier who got a cut of the slave profits, and had been asleep in the barracks at the time, were all bound up and stood in front of the slaves with which they had made suffer.

Eulogy, who was only alive due to the good graces of the gunman, as well as the raider boss Rocco, were both tied to a pole sticking out of the ground so that they couldn't move. When the light of the sun covered the scape again, John stepped forward. "Ladies and gentleman! We gather here today to set an example for all dwellers of the Capital Wasteland." he said loudly, so that they could all hear him. Since his victory over the slaver and raider forces, he had hijacked some clothing from one of Eulogy's wardrobes, and now stood before them in a suit and tie from the pre-war era. "Pay attention, because this is going to be your only warning in this matter." he said.

Holding his hands out to Clover and Crimson, who instead of being naked from the waist up like usual, now wore waster outfits that had been kept for the slaves. They both looked at him questioningly as he led the two closer to Eulogy. "What is it?" asked Clover, not wanting to get any closer to the man than she had to.

"I would like you ladies to do the honor." he said as he held a remote detonation device in his hand. Clover took it, then looked up at Eulogy, who had been stripped of his red suit, and now wore nothing but a pair of skivvies. Around each of his limbs, including both arms, both legs, and his neck, was a collar that had previously belonged to one of his slaves.

Both Clover and Crimson looked at each other, then giggled lightly. The lighter skinned of the two stepped forward, showing him the device. "You want me to blow you again baby?" she asked with a sarcastic venom in her voice.

"Don't do it…" said the man, but that just got him a shot in the leg. Taking the device, the two girls smiled up at Eulogy where he was held fast to the pole, and slammed their thumbs on the button together. The collars all detonated at the same time, exploding the slavers arms and legs, and sending his head soaring across the shopping center where it thudded into the concrete, ending the slavers reign of terror for good.

John clapped his hands at the action. "Thank you ladies, now this time, it's my turn." he said as he grabbed the broken and bruised form of Rocco. "Raiders, slavers, assholes, it doesn't matter." he said marching the former leader in front of his former minions. They all looked at him with fear in their eyes. "It occurs to me that the message I've sent thus far hasn't been good enough to get through your thick heads. So, at the price of your leader, I am sending a new message to all raiders, to all Talon Company, to anyone who thinks they can fuck with me!" he shouted, then grabbed the man by the back of his armor. Lifting him into the air, he dug his fingers into the man skin, making him yell in pain.

"W-What is he…?" asked one of the raiders who didn't have a gag. But he shut his mouth as he heard the sound of flesh tearing.

When the wanderer finally had the grip he was seeking, he exerted all of his strength. The gruesome exhibition made most of the raiders piss themselves, as they saw their leader torn in half by the bare hands of the Reaper. The man's torso went flying one direction, as his lower half went the opposite. And blood and gore rained down on the gunman as he looked at the now crying minions with his now normally glowing gaze. "If you challenge me, that is what awaits you! Do you understand!?" he shouted forcefully. They all nodded frantically, trying to crawl away from the now blood coated gunman. "Good." he said as he drew a knife from his waistband. "Stand them up."

The first to get stood up by the slaves was Sister, who struggled until John gripped his chin harshly. At that point, he froze in place. The wanderer took the knife and carved a large X into the man's cheek, then released him. Moving to the next, he did the same to all the raiders and slavers, until each one had a bloody X slashed into their cheeks. At the gunman's instructions, they were now handed stimpaks to help with the healing.

He turned back to them with a glare. "That stimpak will help with the healing, but you will wear that scar for the rest of your miserable lives. If you happen to cross my path again as raiders or slavers, and I see that mark on your face, know that I will hunt you down. I will find you, and I will expose you to tortures that will make you beg for the treatment you gave this people." he said, waving a hand at the released slaves. "Get the fuck out of my sight before I change my mind." he said.

The slavers and raiders were cut loose, and all of them fled in sheer terror at the power they had witnessed. When they were finally gone, John walked over to the veranda that was nearly blown off by the mercenaries grenades, and vomited onto the ground. Clover walked over to him and patted him on the back, trying to soothe him. "You don't like doing this, do you?" she asked.

"I despise having to show force…" he said, wiping his mouth on the sleeve. "But sometimes, people don't fucking learn until they see you tear their leader in half. Let's hope that's the last challenge I have to send." he said as he pulled the coat to the suit he had just commandeered off. It was now ruined, soaked with blood and gore. A similar fate to his former 101 jumpsuit.

"Cummon hun, let's get you a shower." said the woman sweetly as she led him inside Eulogy's Pad, and away from the slaves, who were now looting everything that they could from the slavers before they left on their new life.

She showed him the first working shower that he'd seen in the wasteland, and he marveled in its glory. Turning on the shower, he disrobed and stepped inside, letting the water wash over him, allowing it to clean off the blood that still remaind. He leaned his head against the shower wall and closed his eyes, allowing the marvelous feeling to sedate him. But his feeling was interrupted as someone else stepped into the shower behind him. A pair of slender arms wrapped around his back and across his broad chest.

Clover, still in her waster clothes, sniffled a bit as she hugged him. "Thank you again..." she said, clinging to him as if her life depended on it.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Woo! 101 followers for the story! In case you weren't on the up and up, that's a magic number for Fallout 3. :D So I'm glad to have come this far. In any case, thank you all for coming along for the ride! The chapters from this point forward will likely be more frequent, although before now, I've been expanding on my previous attempt at Fallout 3. So those ideas were already there. We've hit the point now where all of the content I write in this here story will be brand new, never been seen before. So keep an eye out, because the idea train has totally derailed in my brain and is spilling everywhere. It's fantastic...

Also, do let me know if you wanted to hear more about my original works. I'm more than happy to show the fans of this fiction, what my brain can do when set to original mode instead of fanfic mode. :D


	31. Redemption

OoO( 31 )OoO

When the gunman was finally clean again, he changed into another one of the kingpins suits. This time, it was black with a red undershirt, and Clover even put on a tie for him. He looked in the mirror awkwardly as she whistled.

"Not bad cowboy." she said with a smile. He reached up and pulled the tie around his neck to loosen it, getting him a smack on the hand from the free girl. "Don't mess with that. It looks good the way it is." she criticized. Crimson, who was sitting in a chair across the room giggled at her partners antics.

"It's too tight around the neck. Why the hell did they even wear these? It hangs on me like a noose." he said in irritation.

"It was meant to show class." she said as she straightened the rest of him out. "Now, I hear through the very short grape vine that you've got a few more plans here before you leave." she said, looking up at him.

He looked back at her deadpanned. "I do, but they don't involve ripping anyone else in half. At least...at first." he said, smirking. "If you wanna watch the interrogation, feel free. But I'd advise against it. As much pleasure as you may get from watching them hurt, it's best if you get this life behind you as fast as possible." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She smiled sadly at him. "I know…I...really don't know what to do with myself anymore." she said with a sigh.

"There's always a place for you in Megaton." he said, stroking her cheek gently with a smile. She flinched slightly, still used to shows of affection being followed by a stinging slap or a backhand. But, when she realized what she did, she just leaned her head in his hand.

"I suppose I could try. I don't see many more options." she said.

"Well, can you handle a gun?" he asked curiously. She looked up at him and nodded briefly, a questioning glance on her face. "A friend of mine is going to be coming by soon. She's recruiting for her group, which consists of forty-five women, and three men."

Clovers eyebrow raised questioningly. "Where the hell did she get that many women?"

He just shrugged, his broad chest stretching the red shirt beneath, making it look like the buttons were going to pop off. Eulogy was a much smaller man than John had been. "Don't know. I'm too afraid of her to ask." he said.

Clover and Crimson both giggled madly at the claim. "If she can scare you, I think I'll take her up on that then." said the woman as she placed her hands on her hips. "When will she be coming?"

"She should be on her way now. She said she'd be coming by daylight, so who knows." he said, looking at the pipboy to see what time it was, then forgetting that the arm of the coat was now covering it. "Ugh...stupid suit."

"Seriously! I can't see a thing in here!" said Elsa angrily.

Both Crimson and Clover looked at the apparatus, but John walked to the door before any questions could be asked. Picking up the suitcase, he walked out into the daylight, followed by the two girls. The slaves that still hung around outside, turned to him as he exited the building in the suit.

"God...you look even worse than he did in those damn suits." came the familiar voice of Bronson. John shot him a joking glare and the man smiled. "Just kidding man." he said, once again absently reaching up to rub at his neck.

"No worries." said the gunman as he walked up to them and set the suitcase down. "I know this isn't going to make up for what they stole from you all, but here. It's the least you deserve." he said as he opened the case. The slaves all around, Bronson, Bleak, Clover, Crimson, and both of the younglings gasped in shock as they saw that the case was nearly full to the brim with bottle caps. There were ten containers with a thousand caps in each one, all stored snugly within the confines of the case. "If you all divide it evenly, that'll be around fourteen hundred caps a piece. That'll last you a long time. Enough time to figure out what you wanna do with yourself." he said. Bleak reached down and grabbed one of the containers, but John's boot came down on it, holding it in place. "Any disputes about who gets what, will be settled by me. Understood?" he asked, eying them all.

Clover nodded, rubbing her eyes to keep from getting emotional again. "We got you sugar. You've done more than enough." she said.

He smiled down at her, then lifted his foot. "Now, I've got some quick business to attend to. I'll be back shortly." he said, his eyes scanning over each of them. It suddenly occurred to him that one of the group was missing. "Where is Breadbox?" he asked, looking around.

"He went into the Lock and Load." said Bronson, getting a curious look from the gunman.

"Huh...alright then." he said, turning towards the entrance to the city and seeing a group of people assembled there. "And our guests arrive." he said with a smile as the pink-haired woman walked up to him smiling.

"So, that shit plan actually worked?" she asked, an amused smile on her face.

"Of course it did. Was there ever any doubt?" he asked, spreading his arms wide.

She blew a raspberry at him and looked at the remaining slaves behind him, her eyes settling on Clover and Crimson, one of which still held the collar detonator in her hand. "I see Eulogy got what he had coming to him. Are those two gonna be alright?" she asked.

"I think they're doing better since they got to push the button." he said, pointing up at the remains of the slaver that were still dangling by the pole. "And one of them at least seemed interested in hearing about your group. But take it easy on them, they've been through a lot."

She smiled and reached forward, grabbing his manhood gently. "Unlike most men, I know how to treat a lady." she said playfully. The gunman flinched at the action, but there was no force behind it, so he simply sighed in relief. "Besides, we've already gotten two of the three we took with us to join of their own free will. I can probably handle these two." she said, relieving him of her grip.

He glared at her briefly before chuckling. "Alright then, what about the girl?" he asked, snapping as he tried to recall her name. "Penny? What do you intend to do with her?" he said, putting some space between them in case she decided to be a little more rough with him.

"Penny said she was from a town called Little Lamplight way off to the west. She said that her and the boys were from there, so I intend to take a small squad and escort them there. Afterwards, you and me are going to discuss our deal." she said, poking his suited chest.

"Yeah yeah. While you're doing that, I have to track down a stray that got out of here last night." he said, looking away in irritation. But he looked back at her. "Anything else?"

She nodded, her pink hair sliding into her face, making her brush it out again. "Just a matter of those two." she said, nodding to the two freed girls.

"Alright, in that case, you go ahead and talk to them. I've got some interrogating to do." he said, clenching his fist.

"Mmmmm...maybe you'll show me your techniques sometime." she said playfully. Then she laughed as he glared at her again. "I'm just kidding One-Oh-One, I know a man that's taken when I see him." she said, shoving him aside as she walked to the girls. "Now, get out of my sight before I get Tank to kick your ass again." she grinned.

As the gunman headed to the gun store, the raider queen stepped over to the two girls. Crimson and Clover both eyed her warily, but didn't move. She stopped, and looked between them both with her velvet brown eyes. "You two are scared of me?" she asked, right off the bat. Her tone had no bite in it however, and was all in all, just a question.

Crimson nodded briefly, but Clover just looked at the woman and gave her answer vocally. "Not so much scared. Just...cautious." she said, her hands fidgeting.

The raider queen smiled at the two of them. "I can assure you, you have nothing to fear from me. I'm not going to make any demands, or command you to do anything you don't want to. My group, in case you haven't heard, mainly consists of females. Do you know why that is?" she asked. Both of the girls shook their head. "Because, this place has had male overlords since the dawn of our country. Men, dictating the lives of women, who are treated as second class citizens because that was the American way. Even after the bombs fell, women are constantly used and abused, only held onto as toys and breeding stock for pigs who think they're better than we are. Almost nobody fought for us before the bombs, and people sure as hell don't give a fuck afterwards. So I'm here now, offering you a sanctuary from anyone who will use you, who will command you. The only thing I ask of you is to play your part to make our small slice of this hellish paradise better." she said.

Clover stared at her in awe for a moment, before her eyes looked over at the group of women that had come with the pink-haired raider. The women of the group currently sat around what had been the bonfire a night prior. They were all eating, laughing with each other, joking, cleaning weapons, and even a few were kissing, making her raise an eyebrow curiously. "You are raiders?" she asked.

"More or less. But we don't attack passing caravans. Our job is to infiltrate and dismantle the current raider regimes already so imbedded in the Capital Wasteland. The ones who rape and pillage, who take lives instead of making them better. So, we raid the raiders, so to speak." she said with a smile, that even Clover had to admit was extremely attractive.

This time, Crimson spoke up. "What happens if we join, and don't like what we see? Do we get a black bag farewell?" she asked, eyeing the woman suspiciously.

But the queen shook her head, her pink hair swishing back and forth. "You're free to take your own weapons, and enough caps to get you where you want to go. But if you leave, there is no coming back. So do not take the decision lightly." she said, crossing her arms. "So, what do you say ladies?" she asked.

Clover stared at her for a long moment, before stepping forward. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk with your group first." she said, preparing for yelling, or a stinging slap, or some sign of annoyance from the woman. But she merely nodded her head, and stepped aside.

"The name is Poison by the way. If you need me, I'll be ransacking the med clinic. They won't be needing the supplies anymore anyway." she said, then turned on her heel and walked off. Clover and Crimson looked at each other briefly.

"What do you think?" asked the dark-skinned woman.

Clover shrugged. "I...don't know. But we won't unless we ask. So let's go see." she said, then walked over to the large group of women.

OoOoO

Excruciating pain was all he felt at the moment. Power armor was one of the most well designed equipment, even by current standards of laser and plasma based weapons. It was motorized, so walking was effortless and even easier than it was without the suit. Most of the sensors within the suit could detect even the slightest movements inside the armor, and translated them into fluid, mechanical steps, or movement of the arms.

But the damage sustained the night before had broken something within the suit. The HUD was now no longer responsive, the walking was sluggish and laborious, and the atmospheric control of was currently not functioning. That meant that he was currently stumbling across the desert sands, weaponless, sweating profusely, hopelessly lost, and in extreme pain. The jetpack escape the night prior had truly been a last resort. If it had failed, he would be dead right now at the hands of the man he despised the most.

His hand, in the last punch, had been nearly annihilated. Not from the impact per se, as the man he hit was still a bag of flesh, regardless of whatever power he obtained that made him superhuman. But the force with which he had struck him had been the killing blow. The power armor supplied his attack with enough force to crush a brick wall, and with the supplied power gauntlet that normally came standard with the suit, that would have done minimal damage. But to the mercenaries bare first, it was like firing a tomato out of a shotgun and into a board. Maybe the gunman would have died from the attack had he been a normal human, leaving him with some modicum of victory, but that wasn't the case. The tomato had hit a brick wall, and his hand was now useless as the juice running down the bricks.

He looked around him for any sign of shelter to get out of the sun, and out off the open. Even if the armor was out of sorts, it'd be more than enough to get rid of a few squatting wasters, or even a small group of bandits that had called someplace their own. He was relieved to find a small neighborhood within his view, and began shambling towards the burned out settlement.

It had taken him the better part of an hour to finally reach one of the houses, but as soon as he did, he had chills running down his spine. There were three bodies here, all out in front of the houses. They all had shots through the head, perfectly aligned between the eyes, and none of the bodies had weapons in their hands, likely because they were dead before they could draw. It was easy enough to see that the three were raiders, but as jumpy as raiders usually were, it set his paranoia on fire to know that they could all three be taken out without a reaction from any of them.

Kneeling slightly, he watched as the blood from one of them continued to spread over the dirt. This wasn't just extremely accurate, it was recent. Recent enough that the bodies probably fell no more than ten minutes before he had arrived. Immediately, he looked around at the bright landscape, backing towards the house slowly. When he hit the door, he immediately turned around and ripped the door open, stepping inside the door with his bulky armor.

Inside was no better. As a matter of fact, it was worse. The amount of raider bodies inside were enough that they sometimes piled up in certain areas. But even the bodies didn't make him freeze like he did when he heard the cold voice hit his ears.

"Magnus, Magnus, Magnus." said the voice, making a tsking noise shortly afterwards. "Running away with his tail between his legs."

Magnus looked up to find someone lying across one of the beams of the burned out house. A plume of smoke drifted around him, showing that he was smoking, and had been for at least a few minutes. "Patridge. What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked, his normal voice now coming through the helmet after the systems failure.

"I'd watch that tongue of yours dead man, before I put a bullet through it and claim your head for the reward." said the man with a smile that couldn't be seen.

"Reward? What reward?" asked the power armored figure.

"Why, the one they're going to set when you return without the caps, and without news of the vault dweller's death, of course. You know how Talon Company works." said the bandit with a chuckle.

"How the fuck did you know about that?" the man asked, less worried, and more irritated now.

"I was watching the entire time. I saw you fighting that do-gooder hand to hand, right before you ran away. You'd have done better to accept your death at his hands then return to Jabsco empty handed." said the man as he rolled off the wooden beam and landed on his feet nimbly.

"I didn't plan to return empty handed. If a snivelling shit like you who hides in the shadows knew me, then you'd know that." said the man as he reached up and pulled the helmet off. He glared at the bandit with malice. "Now, if you have nothing else to say, I have some planning and repairs to do before I drag that asshole's corpse back to Bannister." he said.

The younger man bowed, more a sign of mocking than a sign of respect. "As you wish Magnus. But I'll be keeping my eyes on you." he said, tapping the aviator style sunglasses that he had perched on the end of his nose. Taking the black, wide-brimmed, undertaker style hat from his side, he placed it on his head of long red hair. Taking the cigarette from his mouth, he reached over and put it out in the eye of one of the dead raiders who had fallen onto the couch after death. He then walked out the door with a wide smile on his face. "One, two, I'mma comin' for you…" he sang softly, but loud enough for Magnus to hear. "Three, four, gonna hit the floor…"

OoOoO

When he entered, his 'business' looked directly up at him. Both Ymir and Jotun were looking up at him through tired, bloodshot eyes. They were both bound with their arms behind their backs, and their armor had been torn off of them, leaving them both wearing nothing but a pair of pants and their boots.

Oh either side of the counter, John saw two familiar faces. He smiled at the male figure and reached out, shaking his hand. "Well well, if it isn't the peacemaker." chuckled the pale man.

"Good to see you again Vance. And thank you for your help last night." he said.

The woman on the other end of the counter, leaned over the top suggestively, exposing her pale cleavage for the gunman. "From what I saw last night, you didn't need any." she said, licking her lips. "How about you take a tumble with me Mr. Reaper, I bet you could handle a few bites." she said, flashing a pointed smile.

John looked at her and chuckled. "Brianna, always a pleasure." he said.

She walked up to him and purred, her white hair falling down around her shoulders as her red gaze locked onto his glowing green. With her this close, he could easily see down the valley of her curved bosom as she pressed against him in her tight black leather armor. "Not yet." she said with a coy smile.

"Down Brianna, we still need him in one piece." said Vance, who was slightly amused by the girls attention seeking.

John smirked. "And besides, I've got stuff in my blood now that might do more bad than good for you." he said. "In any case, I have a few slavers to question." he finished, turning to the two bound men. But he stopped when he noticed the quiet, frail form of Breadbox staring at the two. Neither of the tied up men looked at him in return. "Is...there something I can help you with?" asked the gunman.

"No young'un. I'm just here to watch. After all, I'm eager to hear what my son has to say for himself." said the elder as his sad gaze rested on Ymir.

John nearly did a double-take when he realized that the old man was talking about the slaver. Immediately, the wanderer's eyes locked onto Ymir. "You enslaved your father!?" he asked, his voice rising in volume enough to startle even Brianna. Vance just leaned over the counter as he toyed with a six shot revolver, his muscular form hidden behind his black armor and cloak. He just watched in interest at the proceedings.

Ymir just turned his head away from the gunman. "I ain't got nothing to say to you." said the man.

Jotun, who was tied up next to his father, just laughed mockingly. "Yeah right old man." he said, looking to his father for confirmation. But he got none. The man who gave him life was now just looking at the ground. "He's lying...right dad?" he asked. But the silence continued.

"Nobody is lying here son." said the elder as he looked over at the younger of the two. "I was there when you were born. And once, before he decided to sell me away, I went by the name Marcus, the father of Abraham. We lived a good life tending brahmin herds, until one day my ungrateful son thought he was too good for the quiet life. He took his baby boy, sold the farm and the cattle, then sold his father and our workers into slavery to get him a nice cushy life here in the slave capital." said the elder, still gazing at Ymir with his tired eyes.

Jotun, at hearing his father's real name just stared at Ymir, practically begging with his silence for his father to say something. But when he said nothing, the young blonde man just slouched his shoulders and drooped his head. "It's true then…" he said. "You sold your own father into slavery. After all this time telling me that blood was everything. That there was just us two in the world and nobody else. It turns out you were just covering your own cowardly ass, hoping that the same thing that you did to your father wouldn't happen to you." Still silence from the father. Finally, the son had had enough. "Answer me you coward!" he shouted and tried to throw himself at the man.

But John caught him and held him back. "Slow down." he said, tightly gripping the man.

After realizing that the gunman's massive strength was useless to fight against, he stopped, then spat at his father. Breadbox however, wasn't finished speaking. "I'm glad to hear your words young one. You may yet be saved from a life your father forced on you." he said, then turned to Ymir, the ever silent. "As for you, just know that I forgive you." he said, getting a startled look from everyone in the room. Ymir finally looked up at his father, surprise even etched on his stony face. "But you have chosen your path. And you must reap the consequences. You have my forgiveness, but not my condolences." said the man as he turned to John. "I owe you a lot young one...but I'm afraid I must ask one more favor. If you are a bringer of justice as is spoken of by so many, then please spare my grandson. He was raised to do the job he was doing, never having the chance or choice to take his own path. I ask that you allow him that choice now." he said, staring at the gunman.

John eyed him for a long moment, then nodded. "Alright. He will be spared. But I cannot promise the same of your son." he said.

The elder just nodded. "He chose his fate." was all he said, before he left the building.

John watched him go, stunned at the turn of events that had transpired inside the gun store. Finally, turning back to the two kneeling and bound men, he sat in front of them. "What do you want to know?" asked Jotun, staring at the ground angrily.

The wanderer looked at him curiously. "I want to know the identity of the informant in Megaton. The one who told you that I was crippled." said the gunman. He smirked slightly, thinking himself lucky that Breadbox had done most of the work for him.

Jotun snorted. "Some informant." he said, eyeing the gunman. "His name is…" he was saying, but was cut off when Ymir snapped at him.

"Don't you dare squeal." said the bearded man. "I taught you better than that."

"Shut your fucking mouth you snivelling coward." said the blonde young man as he glared darkly at his father. "You are in no position to command anyone anymore." John just watched the interaction, not really wanting to intervene. "The only thing you've taught me so far is that family are to be pissed upon at a moment's notice. So don't you dare try and patronize me." he said threateningly. Ymir had no more to say. "Ask what you wanna ask. I'll tell you what I know." he said, glaring darkly at the gunman.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Yay! Got a lot more followers and favs over the week. :D Hope that means more reviewers in the future! Now, we had a huge action section last time, so here's a chapter or two of dialogue before we get back into the action again. But I really think you guys are going to like it. So keep an eye peeled for future chapters!


	32. Spider in the Web

OoO( 32 )OoO

Poison looked over as the gunman exited the former slaver's weapon store. She was about to walk up to him and give him another playful verbal jab about Clover and Crimson finally deciding to join, but the look on his face was a warning flag that he wasn't in the mood for playing. She just stood there as he walked up to her and started the conversation first.

"I've got all the information I need." he said to her as he closed his eyes and began to rub them gently.

"You look like you just got a lot of bad news." she said, her hands on her curvy hips as she looked up at him.

"Yeah, you could say that." he said, running one hand through his hair, which had gotten much longer since his time outside the vault. It still spiked backwards naturally, but he hadn't had a cut since he left, leaving his hair to grow wildly. "One of the two slavers is done with slaving. So I'm letting him go. The other can fend for himself for all I give a shit."

She raised an eyebrow at him, which to his amazement, actually matched her hair, making it look natural. "You took the word of a slaver?" she asked.

He eyed her. "Yes, just as I once took the word of a raider." he said, an edge of his playful side rearing itself again with a small grin.

She just chuckled. "Fair enough." she said, turning to the new girls, who were now chatting amiably with the rest of her group. "By the way, I told ya I'd get them." she said, elbowing him lightly.

John looked over at the two girls, smiling to himself as he saw smiles on their faces. "Good. They need somewhere safe for them." he said, at least a small amount of the weight on his shoulders lifting.

"Megaton isn't that safe?" she asked curiously.

"I don't just mean physically. They need to be around people who aren't going to be eyeballing their lady bits. I hope it's something they deal with soon, considering how harsh the wastes can be, but at least in your outfit, they are around people they can be comfortable with." he said.

"Hey, Archangel!" came a shout from the door of the gun shop. John turned to see Jotun standing in the frame, looking at him. He rubbed his head gently.

"That's really going to haunt you, huh?" she asked, a grin now covering her face.

"Til the end of my days." he said. "Was there anything else?" he asked her.

"Yeah, you and me are gonna talk when I get back from Little Lamplight." he said. "I would say try to stay alive, but…" she said, shrugging.

He chuckled, then headed for the gun shop. "If anyone could find a way to kill me Poison, it'd be you, I'm sure." he remarked finally, before walking up to the slaver.

"I...I wanted to say…" started the blonde young man as the gunman approached. But John stopped him immediately.

"Don't, not to me." he said, pulling out his knife again and twisting the man around.

"W-What are you…" asked the man, terrified that the gunman had gone back on his word. But instead of feeling the blade enter his spine, he felt the bindings on his arms drop off. He turned again, looking into the glowing iris' of the Reaper, who once again had wiped an entire settlement of wasteland filth clean. "Thank you." he said simply.

John reached up then, and grabbed the man's chin, making him flinch again. "Don't move. I'm not going to kill you." he said. Jotun froze, and allowed the wanderer to carve the same mark he had on the others into his skin. His face warped in pain briefly as he did, but he still stood stock still. "As I told the others, this mark is your one chance to live a normal life. If I end up running into you again as a slaver or raider, I will see this mark, then know that your death at my hands will be much worse than anything you've ever imagined. Understood?" he asked, looking the man in his blue eyes.

The ex-slaver nodded. "I understand." he said calmly as he took the stimpak that John offered him. Sticking the needle of the object directly into his arm, he hit the plunger. A few seconds afterward, he already felt the healing effects of the medicine reacting. "I...I wanted to say thank you, for giving me this chance. Not many would have." he said.

John patted the man on the shoulder. "If you truly mean that, then help those in need. Your thanks to me does nothing. Show me your thanks through your actions Jotun." he said.

"Kurtis…" said Jotun. John looked at him curiously. "My real name is Kurtis. I'll be going by that from now on." he finished.

"Alright Kurtis. Your grandfather is waiting for you over there." said the wanderer as he nodded to the old man, who was standing near the entrance to the shopping center with one of the containers of caps.

Kurtis turned and looked at John. "What do you intend to do with my father?" he asked.

"He made his choice. If he decides that that choice is worth dying for, then I'll oblige him. But you shouldn't be worried about that. Just go."

"R-Right. I'll...see you around." said the blonde man.

"Let's hope not." said John with a sardonic grin, then turned to the two boys that were staring up at him in awe. "Can I help you two?" he asked curiously.

Squirrel nodded. "You're not bad for a mungo." he said.

"He's like...a super mungo." said the younger of the two.

John eyed them both sternly, unsure what he was being called. "What exactly is a mungo?" he asked.

"Oh...it's someone who's grown up. We'll all be mungos eventually." said Squirrel as he clutched the small satchel of caps to his chest.

John smiled, then knelt down. "Well, that's good to hear. So, you two are going back to…" he said, struggling to remember the name.

But both of the boys nodded. "Little Lamplight." said Squirrel smartly. John nodded and pointed over to the pink-haired raider.

"She's going to be taking you back there. So behave, because she even scares me." he said, getting a wide-eyed gaze from Sammy.

Squirrel just giggled, then smiled at him. "You know what, you're alright. If you ever need anything from us, be sure to stop by Little Lamplight. I'll go ahead and tell Mayor McCready that you're cool." he said, holding out his hand to the towering figure. John smiled, then shook the young boy's hand.

"I appreciate that. Now, it looks like they're about to go. So go ahead and get with the group so you don't get left behind." he commanded. Both of the boys nodded, then took off for the raider band. He just smiled as he watched them go, a curious thought entering his head. One that he'd not thought about for a long, looooong time. "I wonder if I'll ever have any kids."

" _You'd have to be getting laid first."_ said Elsa from his wrist.

He just glared at the wrist-mounted computer. "Very funny."

OoOoO

Vance, having been filled completely from the night prior, sat back in the chair he had previously commandeered from his last meal. The night before, he and the Family, including Ian West, who had recently decided to help them start defending the town, had brought darkness upon the settlement, and used that darkness to hunt their pray. They had been given instructions to take down anyone wielding a weapon, while leaving a few for the purposes of 'making a point', and to ignore, or save anyone with a collar on.

It was relatively easy. Raiders, not so much. Raiders were usually psychopathic, and pretty hard to scare, even when snuck up on. Slavers, slavers were cowards. When they run into something didn't understand, all they try and do is fill it with bullets, or run away from it. Neither of which worked on the Family. He and his kind, along with their unnatural hunger, had been given a few small gifts by whatever mutation, or perhaps divine deity decided to play this prank on them. Though the gifts came with a curse. He and his kind had to forever forsake the sun.

He personally had tested it out himself. He had stayed in the full glory of the sunlight for a full minute before it became too much. Whatever the mutation had done to them, it had taken away their capability of handling ultraviolet light. Soon after, he looked like a ghoul, and surprised many of the small number of people who decided to follow him. That was, until he fully recovered, facilitated by the blood of a group of raiders. Sacrificing the sun had given them the uncanny ability to recover from nearly any injury however, as long as they had fed recently, or fed after receiving the wound. With that, people would practically have to decapitate any one of them in order to truly kill them.

Also, forsaking the sun gave them power at night. Speed and strength unlike that of a normal man. When darkness took the land, they were more powerful, faster, more agile, and as was proven a few times, even more intelligent. He didn't know how that could be, but he had to imagine that instead of the darkness bringing with it some kind of power that energized them, they had these naturally, and the sun merely took these inhuman abilities away when its heat blasted the earth during the daytime. Were they on a planet that didn't have a sun that projected the same ultraviolet spectrum, he figured they would have these abilities continuously.

His thought process, as well as Brianna's, who was staring hungrily at the man that was still bound on the floor in front of them, were interrupted when the gunman returned. "Thank you again for your assistance. Here, in return, this is yours." he said, handing over a blank card.

Vance looked at it curiously. "Is this truly a key?" he asked. He had never really had a fascination with technology, so the fact that this simple, small keycard could open a door that could stop a nuclear blast amazed him.

"It is. Inside Hamilton's Hideaway is an armory that you may be able to make use of. Even if you have no use for the guns, you can always resupply the town, or sell them. It's my show of appreciation for you being here tonight." he said, smiling at the two.

Brianna walked over and took the card from Vance, then seductively, all the while looking at John, tucked it away inside her cleavage and out of view. "I'll take that. I at least have experience in how they work." she said with a playful smile. "Unless you wanna take it back." she said, her red eyes gazing at him hungrily. But this wasn't the same hungry gaze she gave the slaver, this was a hunger for something else.

John smirked at her and reached up, then took her by the back of her neck. The grip strength surprised even her, and she opened her mouth in a heated gasp, showing her pointed fangs. "That's for everyone, be sure to share." he said, then let her go, leaving her in a panting fit.

Despite her current condition, she still gave him a playful smile. "That's what I do best." she said, crossing her arms over her bosom.

"So, what's the plan for him?" asked John as he looked down at Ymir, who was still bound and kneeling. He'd already had the mark cut into his face, and was now awaiting sentencing.

"We're taking him to Arefu when the sun falls. Where we can watch him. If he wants to go back to his old ways, we'll know. If he wants to leave Arefu, we'll know. Regardless of what he does, we'll know, and he'll reap the consequences." said Vance, running a hand through his long black hair. "If he can learn to live a good life, we may let him move elsewhere. But until then, he's our little human experiment." he said, flashing a grin that showed one of his dangerous pointed teeth.

"Sounds like a plan. You have fun with that." said the gunman as he patted the bald man on the head. The slaver jerked away in disgust when he felt the action, just getting an amused smile from John. "In any case, I've gotta get going. I have some business to take care of back in Megaton." he said, his face growing grim again.

"Sure thing. If you ever need our help again, just let us know." said the pale man.

John stepped outside of the building again and looked around. The former slaves had left, the raiders had left, the messengers had left long ago. Now, it was just him and the bodies left behind by the midnight massacre. Looking up at the shopping center's mascot, he just shook his head. That had long been a symbol of terror for slaves, it would have to come down. Taking the modified shotgun off his back, he walked over to the single leg of the statue.

The other leg had fallen off in the chaos of last night's events. Now, the remaining leg looked overburdened by its load. Cocking the shotgun, he fired it into the metal framing of the leg. The powerful weapon created a fist sized hole in the framework. Pulling the belt of grenades from his shoulder, he slid one end into the hole and began snaking the belt inside.

Both of these he'd ended up getting from the Talon Co. mercenary last night. In his haste to escape the dire situation, the power armored man had left both weapons behind. So now they were his, as was the law of the wasteland. When only one of the grenades was remaining outside of the statue, he reached down, pulled the pin, then shoved it in. Turning, he walked away from the statue and pulled out the pack of Clovers that he had relieved Forty of the night before. Taking one out, he lit it using the man's own lighter.

At the same time, the first of the grenades detonated, shaking the ground as it blew up inside the hollow-ish structure. This set off the others, that ended up in a fireball that shredded the supports and sent the giant smiling figure crashing to the ground. As John inhaled the smoke, he immediately dropped the cigarette and began coughing as if he had just swallowed fire. It was that moment that the statue slammed into the ground, creating a shockwave that sent him flying while in his prone state.

He coughed as dust now filled his lungs. Standing up, he dusted himself off and glared at the cigarettes. "Damn, ruined my moment." he said, then crushed the pack of cigs and tossed them over his shoulder.

OoOoO

Much to the amazement of Billy, and Lucas, when the gunman had left the town, any sign of raiders, or threats to the city had ceased. Billy had kept watch with Stockholm up on the catwalk towards the front entrance since the first sign of the threat had surfaced. But since John had left a week prior, everything had been quiet. Not even a sign of hostile wildlife, which was surprising.

He had just gotten off his shift on the wall and had stopped by Jenny's Brass Lantern to get himself and Maggie something to eat. He watched with a smirk as Liberty floated over the bomb in the center of town and headed up to Moriarty's Saloon. "He sure loves his new position as deputy, huh?" asked the woman across the counter.

"Practically obsessed with it." said the eye-patched man. "But he still plays with Maggie every now and then, so I guess he does have some form of social life." said the man jokingly.

Jenny chuckled, and handed him the plates of food for two. "Here you go. You know the drill. Get my dishes back or I'm charging double next time." she said with a joking smile before returning to the grill as a few more wasters walked up and sat at the bar.

Turning away, he brought the food up the catwalks until he arrived at his own home, next to the common house. He set the plates on the table next to the door and reached for the key which he kept in his vest pocket, but stopped when he saw the door to his home was cracked. "Maggie?" he asked, kicking the door open and walking inside to a darkened room. "Why the hell are all the lights off?" he asked as he looked around in the darkness.

"Because I turned them off." said a voice to his left. It was a voice that definitely wasn't Maggie. He jumped in surprise, dropped the plates, and reached for his pistol, grabbing the handle as the plates crashed to the ground and shattered. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." said the voice.

Billy's heart was racing, but the sound of the voice had been familiar to him. And he confirmed his suspicions when he looked into the darkness and saw a pair of glowing green iris' staring back at him. "John? Is that you?" he asked.

"Yes it is." said the gunman as he stared up at the man from the chair he was currently sitting in.

"Jesus Christ man...you scared the shit out of me." said Billy as he let go of the pistol and sighed to himself. "And cost me dinner, I might add." he said jokingly. But when John stood and walked over to him, he knew that the gunman was not in the mood for humor. "John? What's the matter?" he asked.

The wanderer walked over to the man's door and closed it. "Have a seat Billy." Billy knew request when he heard one, and this wasn't one. This was a command. Turning the living room lights on, he sat down across from his friend.

"What is this about?" asked Billy, his nerves on edge. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he knew that his friend wouldn't be this serious unless it meant someone's life was in danger.

"So, I was recently at Paradise Falls." said the man, who was now sitting across from Billy again.

Billy's eyebrow shot up curiously. "You weren't…you know…" he asked.

"They're all either dead, or running, screaming through the desert." he said solidly. This time, Billy's eyes widened considerably.

"No shit?" he asked, getting a nod from the wanderer. The man just chuckled to himself. "And here I was asking you to be safe." he said, but again his humor was deflected. Finally, the eye-patched man had had enough. "Look man, I understand you've been through some shit recently, but you're sitting here in my house eyeing me like I just stole your girlfriend. So are you gonna tell me what this is about? Or just leer at me all night?" he asked, irritation in his voice apparent.

John smiled as Billy cut to the chase. "When I arrived there, everyone knew that I had broken my back, and because of that, my legs would never work again. At least, that's what they assumed. The raider that came to Megaton the first time had mentioned my condition to Lucas, telling us that someone in Megaton was feeding these raiders that were hunting me down, information." he said, looking at Billy's face and trying gauge his reaction.

But the eye-patched man still seemed clueless. "And you're telling me this...why?" he asked, eyeing the gunman curiously.

"Before killing them all, I just happened to get a hold of one of the slavers who had the information on the informant I was looking for. Here's what he said." said John as he held up his pipboy. "Elsa, play recorded file number fifty six." he commanded.

The pipboy immediately switched to the recorded files, and played the selected file. John's voice could be heard over the speakers. _"I want you to say, exactly what you just said to me again."_ came the gunman's commanding tone.

" _Wha? I...I told you the informants name!"_ said another man, who Billy didn't recognize.

" _No, in the exact same words. Who is the informant in Megaton that is feeding the raiders and slavers information about me."_ asked the wanderer again, his tone dominating whoever the other man was.

" _He...he usually only talked to Eulogy. Never seen him myself. But I've heard mention of him a couple of times from my father and from Jones himself. They said he called himself Billy."_ said the man.

" _Billy what?"_ questioned John's voice, sadly.

" _Billy Creel."_ the recording ended there. John stared at Billy's face, which had gone from a calm, curiousness, to a wide-eyed horror.

"Wha…?" was Billy's only response. John continued to stare at him. Finally, the eye-patched man looked over at the gunman. "You...you can't believe that, can you?" he asked.

"I really don't want to. And you've given me plenty of reasons not to believe it. But all it takes is one reason to make it true." he said darkly as he leaned forward onto his knees. "Please Billy, I'm going to give you this one chance, for your friendship, and for Maggie, to tell me if you've been selling information about me." he said, gazing at the one-eyed man through his radioactive green eyes.

Billy just stared at him incredulously. Then sighed. "I don't know what information you're going to find, or how you're going to find it. But I did not sell you out to anyone. Let alone those bloodthirsty bastards that killed Maggie's parents, and nearly Maggie herself." he said defensively.

John looked up at the man, who had stood up in his rage. He stared at him for a long moment, before sighing in relief and smiling. "Thank you." he said.

Billy's rage immediately vanished. "Wait...you believe me?" he asked, stunned at the change in the gunman's demeanor.

"Of course I do." said John as he stood to his feet. "I just needed to hear it from your mouth."

"So...you don't believe the slaver?" he asked, still unbelieving.

John put his hand on Billy's shoulder. "You and I are friends Billy. If you say you didn't do it, then I believe you. But that still leaves me at square one. Someone is feeding raiders information, and now we know that they're using your name to do it." he said.

Billy just nodded. "I...I guess so. So how do we find out now?" asked the eye-patched man.

"Investigating inside Megaton is the only way now. Most of the raiders and slavers are dead, especially the ones that would have had the information. Even if we did have our hands on them, the person giving the information thought they were talking to a Billy Creel. So all we can do is try and search from this side." he said, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

Billy sighed to himself and rubbed his head. "Christ...I'm getting too old for this shit." he said, making John chuckle.

"Not as young as you were when you were fighting off raiders huh?" John asked in amusement.

"I suppose not. Unfortunately, I wasn't even young when I rescued Maggie from the raiders. The poor Montgomery's suffered because I wasn't quick enough." he said, reaching up and rubbing his head tiredly through the bandana.

John sighed. "I understand. For now, just keep an ear to the ground. Listen for anyone who might have accessed information about me who really shouldn't be asking. I know my condition was pretty much public knowledge, but there might be someone around who knows more than they should." he said as he opened the door. "Oh…" he said, reaching inside his coat. Slapping some caps down on the table, he said, "And that's for dinner." he said, smirking mischievously before leaving.

Billy, whose heart had been pounding since the mention of his name on the recording, finally sighed and looked down at the plates on the ground. Both of them had been shattered. "Son of a bitch…" he said, realizing that Jenny was gonna flip her lid.

OoOoO

John, after leaving Billy's house, had made his way over to Lucas. Pulling the sheriff aside, they both now sat at the Brass Lantern's stalls and ordered a drink. Simms ordered himself a brew with the label saying 330mm, that had a loaded gun on it. John brushed off the alcohol and just went with water. Jenny left them at the bar alone to go fetch something from inside. They took advantage of her absence.

Simms took a sip of his beer as he eyed the wanderer. "Good to see you back in one piece. How'd the others fair?" asked the man with a smirk.

John chuckled. "I'm sure you'll be hearing about it on the radio soon enough." said the gunman as he took a gulp of the cold water. "Let's just say that I don't think slaving is going to be a problem in the Capital Wasteland for a long time." he said, swirling the water around inside the bottle.

"That's good to hear. Anymore information on the informant?" asked the sheriff.

John just shook his head. "The slavers said that his name was Billy Creel." he said, getting a wide-eyed look from the man. "But I've already ruled that out. Besides, how simple would it be for me to give you information over the radio, or through a courier and just sign myself off as Billy." he said. "All that does is tell me that the person who is giving them info knows Billy, and doesn't mind throwing him under the…" he said, then sat up straight, his eyes wide.

Simms looked at him curiously. "I think you and I just had the same thought pop into our head." said the dark-skinned man. Together, they both looked up at the structure with Moriarty's Saloon, both hanging above the door, and stood up over top of the establishment.

"We'll need proof, and if I know him very well, he's not one to leave paper trails." said John, his hand slighting crushing the water bottle. The action got him a smack from Jenny's spatula. "Ow!" he said, shaking his hand and pretending that the small attack had hurt.

"That's right. Keep crushing my products and I'll start serving you without utensils." she said playfully.

He pouted at her, only getting a stern look. Then his facade broke and he laughed. "Sorry. As a matter of fact, I think I owe you for the plates Billy took as well." he said, getting a murderous glare from the woman. "It wasn't my fault!" he said defensively.

"If you two are finished making out, what's our next move?" asked Lucas, a slightly amused smile at the two.

"First thing's first, there is a loose rat that got away from me. I need to track him down and get rid of him for good." said John. "Problem is, he's a part of Talon Company. And I don't know where they're based out of. Even if I did, they'd likely have enough firepower to blast me to pieces before I could even recover. So I have to get him before he gets back to base. But I have no clue which direction that's in." he said, gulping down most of his water afterwards.

Sheriff Simms looked at the gunman sternly, as if examining him. His dark eyes searched deep within the wanderer's glowing ones for a long moment before he finally spoke. "I...actually may be able to help you out there." said the sheriff. John looked up at him curiously. Lucas looked over at Jenny. "Ma'am, could I ask you to retreat inside for me for a moment?"

Jenny looked from the sheriff, to the gunman curiously, then nodded. Turning away, she opened the door to the indoor restaurant, went inside, and closed it behind herself. John looked at the sheriff oddly. "What is this about?" he asked.

"There's a group that I've been meaning to introduce you to. Especially since you ended up coming home with that coat." said Lucas as he tapped on the duster that the wanderer wore, even now. It was beaten near to shreds by now, and was sewn from multiple tears that he had taken from several of the incidents he'd run into over the past couple of months.

John looked down at the jacket, then looked up at the sheriff inquisitively. "Alright, and what's this groups name?" he asked.

Simms smiled, downing the rest of his beer as he patted John on the shoulder. "Son, let me tell you about the Regulators."

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** So, quick note here, Windows 10 has stopped allowing me to play Fallout 3. e_e So now I can only write from walkthroughs and memory. So if I get a few things wrong here and there, names, locations, etc. Please let me know and I'll correct it immediately. On the other hand, if you know some solution that would allow me to play FO3 on Win10 again, then please alert me of that as well. Because that would be a much preferred method of writing.

On another note, my platoon in Basic Training was actually called the Regulators. They didn't give me a duster though...so yeah. _ I need to have a word with them.

Also, anyone who gets the reference in the chapter title gets a shout out. :D


	33. Regulators 101

OoO( 33 )OoO

Just him, his duster, his power rifle, and the sun. It seemed apparent that these four things all had some kind of intertwining destiny, as he yet again found himself leaving the small town of Megaton and heading out into the wastes carrying these objects about his shoulders and back. But this time, he had a new friend along, courtesy of Talon Company. He reached back and patted the barrel of the monstrous shotgun as if it were the snout of a loyal pet.

He remembered the first time that he had stepped out into the blazing sunlight of the blasted lands. His skin tingled from the ultraviolet light that he'd hardly felt any of before. His breathing had been laboured, from the cloud of dust and radioactive particles he was breathing in when he walked. And the sweat, dear god the sweat. For most of his life, he had been in a climate controlled, room temperature, underground dwelling. Never before had he ever felt too cold, or too hot. It was all regulated to be the perfect temperature for everyone in the vault.

The closest he had come to that, was when he decided to start training for his fights with Butch. He had Officer Gomez teach him hand to hand, as well as a basic regimen that would help him bulk up a little bit and gain the strength needed to fight off the bully and his two apes. He worked himself into a sweat quite a bit, but it was a good sweat. One accompanied by a burning in his muscles that he had grown to enjoy. The sweat outside the vault was nowhere near the same thing.

It was dirty, grimy, and disgusting. It got everywhere, not just the usual jumpsuit staining areas facilitated by a workout. He was covered in it, and it made him want to throw himself into a river and never leave. But, since his skin had lost its pale sheen, darkening to a pleasant tan color, he rather enjoyed his time in the sun. There was always too much of course, but the blazing chariot that rode across the sky every single day no longer bothered him as much as it did back then.

He had travelled quite a ways in a short amount of time. Whether it was the injections from the pre-war machines, or the radiation healing his body,something brushed away the usual tiredness and fatigue that came with travelling through the wastes, making it a lot easier to get from one place to another. Though, not having any armor was certainly helping considerably, he imagined. Ever since his tumble down the Statesman tower, he'd had to forsake the shredded leather chestpiece and leggings that Moira had given him. Sighing to himself, he made a note to himself to buy another set. Even with the radiation healing, bullets hurt like hell. And he still didn't know if he could survive a shot to the heart. After all, all the healing did was restore tissue damage to the way it was. If he ended up with blood in his lungs and the tissue healed over it, chances are he would drown on his own blood.

He had been so deep in thought about the issue that he didn't even realize that he had unconsciously walked towards what looked like a junkyard. When he snapped out of his stupor, he found himself looking at piles and piles of cars, one stacked on top of the other like a giant game of...whatever game kids played where they stacked things. He never recalled playing a game like that, but then again he was locked in a vault at the time. Walking around the outside edge of the fenced in structure, he looked through the slots between cars to see if he could get a view of anything within. But it was fruitless, the wall of cars was large, like the walls of a fortress.

Finally, getting fed up at being kept out, he walked over to the fence, then grabbed the top and vaulted himself over it. Planting his feet on the fence, he reached up and grabbed the top of one of the cars and pulled himself up onto the top. The vehicles, which were apparently not all that sturdily compacted, groaned as he did, but he just slowly stood to his feet and looked over the entire yard. It was littered with more cars, the majority of them gutted for parts. There was also a shack at the back end of the yard, built into a concrete wall, which was more similar to a fortress than even the wall of cars. Piles and piles of tires filled the place, as well as a crane, which had collapsed, either from age, or misuse. In the center of the entire yard, there were two busses parked next to each other, which had all of their tires stripped off of them, and had the top converted to what looked like a guard post.

Taking his rifle off his back, he looked down the scope, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw nobody sitting in the dilapidated post. But he wasn't completely relaxed, as he was hearing rowdy voices coming from the other side of the buses. Keeping a tight grip on his rifle, he decided not to try his luck by travelling along the cars, and instead opted to jump down and walk along the ground. He made a quick pace when he heard a low whimpering following the sound of riotous laughter. Sliding the rifle across his ruck again, he decided to pull his shotgun free as the voices sounded relatively close. He walked around the bus, and pressed himself against the cab as he leaned over to peek around the corner.

Five raiders were surrounding a sad and limping figure. The sun had set on the horizon, giving a low light to them all, but enough to allow them all to see their prey. It was a young dog, a stray that had run across the wrong pack of humans. Right now, the poor creature whimpered pitifully from the bullet wound in its leg, and from the multiple contusions and swelling underneath the fur. It's tail had nearly been severed, and half of one of its ears had been lopped off, recently from the blood matting its fur. John stared in horror as he watched the sick individuals dancing around the pathetic creature, raining blows down onto the mongrel.

Any semblance of faith in humanity disintegrated as he quickly marched towards the six figures and aimed with his shotgun. The recoil, which would have rocked any other human, felt like no more than a slight jump in his. The barrel of the modified gun roared, unleashing a shot that tore from the mouth of the weapon like a dragon breathing fire.

The raiders hadn't even noticed the gunman until the shot rang out, and one of their number fell to the ground, his head now vaporized from the blast. They all turned to him and yelled as they charged, but their ferocity met the stone wall of a cold killer. Dropping the shotgun, the gunman cracked his knuckles once, then grabbed the first raider, a female, by the hair, and punched her in the gut with all his strength. The attack didn't pierce her body, but she immediately fell over, blood gushing from her mouth and nose as she began to jerk around in a seizure-like fit. He let her go and eyed the next in line.

The second to approach, hesitated at the brutal display, his eyes looking at the woman with concern. Despite his hesitation however, he did not receive mercy. The wanderer picked the man up bodily over his head, then slammed him down like a judges gavel over his knee with enough force that it obliterated his spine and ruptured his internal organs, nearly breaking the man in half. The last two stopped in their tracks, waiting for the other to go first. The only one that had had a firearm was the one with a pistol that had gotten his head smoked in the first shot. The others only had an assortment of melee weapons.

The two cowards turned and went to run, but the gunman easily caught the first and twisted his head on backwards, silencing his screaming forever. The last one continued to run, but John kicked his shotgun from the ground, expertly directly into his hands. "No more messages." he said as he aimed the weapon and glared. Pulling the trigger, he watched as the shot tore the man's leg from his body, sending him toppling to the ground. Walking over slowly, he saw the man crawling away in desperation.

"No...please…!" he begged. But John kicked him lightly, knocking him onto his back. Planting a booted foot on the man's chest so he couldn't move, the vault dweller aimed the shotgun at the man's other leg. Firing, the limb was severed from the rest of his body as blood splattered over John's coat. The man screamed, then screamed again when he did the same to both of his arms. By the end, the man was choking on his own blood, gurgling rather than screaming as he lay limbless in the dirt. The gunman finally shoved the barrel into the man's mouth.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" he asked with an ice cold look in his eyes. Then he pulled the trigger one last time, annihilating the raider's head and leaving nothing but a blood red cascade on the ground. Throwing the shotgun strap across his shoulder, he turned and ran over to the dog and looked down at the creature pitifully. It was simply looking off into the distance, whimpering slightly, as if waiting for the end. But John knelt next to the creature and pulled off his ruck, then pulled out his med kit. "Don't worry boy, I'll get you good as new." he said, lying slightly, as he knew he wouldn't be able to restore the dogs lost half of an ear. He'd be lucky if the tail returned to normal.

The first thing he did was pull the hubcap off a nearby car and fill it with water. With him lifting the panting creature, the dog was able to reach down and lap up some of the life giving fluid. Once he'd had his fill, john began the long process of cleaning the creature's wounds, using some of the water he'd brought with him. It had taken several hours to get all of the dirt, grime, and congealed blood out of the wounds, but when he was finished, he just sat back and looked at the dog. The sun had set long ago, and he resorted to lighting a tire on fire for light. The billowing black cloud emanating from the makeshift bonfire wouldn't be attracting anyone immediately, as the sky was black anyway.

After a short rest, and a drink for himself, he had taken several stimpaks and injected them into the dog's wound sites. Under normal circumstances, and injury would only require a stim to be injected into the body. The bloodstream itself would carry the medication to the wound site eventually and facilitate the healing. In this specific situation however, the wounds were too numerous and spread out. Not to mention the condition of the creature before him. He wasn't a veterinarian by any means, but he knew when a creature had all but given up on living.

Knowing that the creature didn't have long, he injected the stimpak into the dog's wounds directly in order to get immediate healing effects. The canine whimpered slightly at the pressure of the needle piercing his skin even further, but didn't move anymore to fight him off. "It's alright boy. Just a little sting." he said, stroking the animal's neck gently to soothe it.

After three hours of work, all he could do was wait. He leaned back against one of the buses, his head resting on the metal exterior as his hand rested on the dog's head, stroking it gently. He had given his new friend more water, as well as some of his saved rations of iguana meat, to try and help it sleep better. And sleep it did. As a matter of fact, from the sound of snoring, it was sleeping better than he had in a long time. He just chuckled as the Australian Cattle Dog kicked its leg in its sleep.

"I hope you have good dreams Dog, because when we wake, that's when the nightmare starts." he said, rather poetically as he leaned back his head for a nap.

OoOoO

When he opened his eyes again, it was still dark. But the tire had burned out long ago, leaving a smouldering pile of melted rubber on the ground in its place. Looking over, he went to check on his new friend, only to find the creature gone. He looked around just to make sure, but the creature was no longer in the scrapyard. He didn't really know how to feel about that.

On one hand, he felt slightly abandoned. After healing the canine, he'd hoped the creature would stick around. He remembered when he was a child, he'd seen a few holovids from the vault that had a kid and his pet dog as the star actors. He had wanted a pet since then, but the closest he got was Andy, knowing that he'd never have the chance to have a dog of his own. So he felt a slight bit of bitterness knowing the dog had just up and left.

On the other hand, the canine had healed enough that it was capable of walking off into the wilderness on its own. Knowing that the creature was well again gave him enough relief to suppress the bitterness. So, he sighed to himself, collected his things, and set off again.

" _You know, it's hard to make fun of you when you're sad."_ said the familiar cheery tone from his pipboy.

"I'd always wanted a dog. I was kinda hoping he'd stick around." he said as he trudged through the darkness again. The sun had started to rise once more off to his right, casting an orange glow on his surroundings.

" _Well, you've always got me!"_ she said, filling the pipboy display with her smiling face.

He just chuckled. "As adorable as you can be Elsa, I can't pet you, and you aren't furry. Not to mention you're practically human, and considering you a pet would be demeaning." he said.

She crossed her arms, giving him a deadpanned look. _"Hmph. Fine. I have better things to do anyway!"_ she said, making him chuckle again. _"Oh...uh, by the way, there's a storm heading in. So if we're not where we're going soon, you might want to find shelter."_ she said.

"What kind of storm?" he asked curiously.

" _The bad kind. A radstorm is going to be in soon. And you know what that means."_ she said.

He sighed. "Yeah yeah...even I have a chance to die from a lightning strike." he said, then stopped in his place. "Have you noticed...it's really...dusty out here." he said, looking around him curiously. The curtain of dust was swirling around them in a thick cloud, blocking their view of anything past a few feet.

" _Yeah...and because of the radiation, it's hard to read our surroundings. Be careful."_ she said with a worried expression on her face.

"Right." he said, taking a step forward. But he immediately stopped, goosebumps rising on his skin. "Who's there?" he asked loudly. A silhouette suddenly began stepping through the curtain as John reached for his shotgun.

"Don't touch your weapon vault dweller, unless you want both of your arms blown off." said a female voice. John stopped reaching for his gun, but never dropped his arms. The figure cleared the curtain and looked at him with a piercing gaze of dark brown. She stood a full head shorter than him, about Lucy's height, except she wore a cowboy hat that sat firmly on top of her short dark brown hair. Her skin was darker than his, but lighter than Simms, and he could also hear a slight accent in her voice when she called out to him.

"And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" he asked, immediately noticing that she wore the same style duster as he did, and held a long rifle in her hands that was currently pointed up to the sky.

She smiled at him in amusement. "You talk to Sonora Cruz, the leader of the Regulators, compadre." she said, lowering the rifle so it pointed at the ground. "And what can I do for you, Senior Archangel?" she asked smugly.

He glared at her with his glowing green eyes. "If you know I'm a vault dweller, then you know why I'm here. Simms sent me here to…" he said, but was cut off by the fiery leader.

"Sandman, baja el telón." she said loudly in a language he recognized, but didn't understand.

"Ya got it Ladyboss." said a voice behind him. It was male, and it was thick with another accent of a different kind. Suddenly, the dust cloud around him disseminated until he could clearly see the landscape again. And immediately he got a chill down his spine as three other figures besides Miss Cruz appeared out of the dust. One of them, which the other voice had come from, was a tall, dark skinned man with long dreadlocks pouring from his head. Immediately the gunman noticed that they all wore the same dusters as Sonora himself.

"Interesting coat you got there vault dweller. Where did you get it?" asked the woman as she stepped closer and began to circle him, as if interrogating him.

"I...I got it from an old man. He was fighting a member of the Enclave, and had been injured…" he said, but one of the men behind him, who had no defining features besides a shaved brown head underneath a cowboy hat.

"So you looted his body after he died. Thought the coat looked cool?" asked the man, a nasty looking sniper rifle in his hands.

John turned and glared at the man. "No, he gave it to me as a gift!" he shouted defensively. "He died from his wounds…"

"After you shot him?" asked Sonora in her accented tone once again.

"No! Goddammit, listen to me!" he shouted. The group seemed to be closing in on him, even though they weren't moving. He was getting extremely claustrophobic simply due to them staring him down. Clenching his fist, he growled. "Listen to me…"

"Alright pendejos, he's had enough." said the leader as she patted the gunman on the back. "Explain yourself newbie." she said.

He glared at her, then the others around him. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to grab them all and tie them into one giant knot of assholes. But he knew that doing so would do more harm than good. So he inhaled sharply, and forced the story out. "He was cornered by a member of the Enclave. His arm was dead from the guy's gatling laser, and I was kinda forced into helping him when the Enclave asshole attacked me too. Together, we managed to kill him, but the old man had already sustained wounds that he should have died from long before. He refused to let me use medication on him, then gave me his jacket and his rifle…" he said, then reached back and grabbed the energy rifle which was hooked to his rucksack. The others around him raised their weapons, but he didn't stop. Holding the weapon forward, he glared at the woman. "And told me to continue helping those that he couldn't needed help." he finished.

Sonora looked at him underneath the brim of her stetson, examining him. "Anything else?" she asked.

Remembering back to the day in question, he nodded. "Actually yes, he asked me to find his daughter and tell her the truth about his death. He called her...Moonbeam…" he said, scratching his chin.

Sonora finally smiled. "Little Moonbeam." she said. He immediately nodded. "Alright amigo, you passed." she said. The men around both of them all lowered their arms. "Follow us please." she said as she turned on her heel and began heading towards the horizon. The man behind him, with the dreadlocks seemed to be chanting something as they continued walking. He wasn't exactly sure what he was saying, as it was in a language he didn't even recognize. Instead, he decided to focus on the path ahead of them, which currently looked like a long, flat expanse of desert. He just sighed to himself as the mirage like waves of heat warped the landscape into what looked like…

"What the hell?" he asked, now seeing a house in front of him that wasn't there a second before.

"Something wrong?" asked Ms. Cruz with a knowing smile.

"Where the hell did that house come from?" he asked. The house in question was pretty ramshackle, made of tin walls and even had a picket fence out front with a two headed brahmin in the front yard.

"What ya be talkin' bout? Eet always been dere." said the dark-skinned figure behind him, also wearing a smile. John looked at them both, and said nothing more. He'd probably get more answers inside than out here.

When they approached the door, Sonora banged on the door loudly. Out came another accented voice, this one in Spanish as well. "¿Quién dirige el justo?"

Sonora spoke up loudly. "Justicia." she said. The sound of a mechanical lock unlatching was heard, then the door swung open, allowing the gunman to see the figure of a man slightly taller, but with many similar features to Sonora at the door.

"Mi hermana está en casa." said the man, whose hair was the same color as Sonora's, but down to his shoulders. "Encontraste lo que estabas buscando?" asked the man in a pleasant tone.

"Sí, lo hice." she responded, walking inside.

John looked at the man at the door questioningly, wondering both of he was welcome to just walk in, and if he even should. The man at the door nodded, motioning for him to enter. "Entering." said the gunman, getting an odd look from those around him.

When all the figures had returned indoors, John realize how much he had underestimated his new hosts. The outside of the shack looked like a stiff breeze would blow it over at any moment. But the inside of the house was lined with concrete, probably rebar as well, giving it a solid structure and protecting its inhabitants from the terrors of the wastes. The furniture inside was another story however. There was a shabby couch, a desk missing its drawers with a prewar terminal sitting on it, and a single bulb hanging from the ceiling that illuminated the inside.

"You look like you don't know whether to be awed or disgusted." said Sonora, giving him a slight elbow as he stared at the insides.

"It's….unique." he said, getting a chuckle from a couple of the duster wearing figures. Looking at Sonora, he crossed his arms. "Now, are you going to tell me what this is about?" he asked. He was always defensive when he got left in the dark. Whether it was some giggling secret that Amata had kept from him as a child, or an apparently magical group of people leading him into a disappearing house.

"First, introductions. Regulators, introduce yourself." she commanded. The tall dread-locked man stood straight and bowed his head first.

"Ya can call me Sandman." he said with a dark smile.

"Why is that?" asked John, eyeing him oddly.

"I can move da sands mon." he said, standing straight again.

John just looked at Sonora questioningly, who smiled at him. "You wouldn't believe it, but it's true. That dust storm that disguised us out there was his work." she said, throwing a glance towards the man.

"You've gotta be shitting me." said the gunman as he looked back at the man.

"We'll get back to that later. Next!" she shouted.

This time was the doorkeeper, who stepped forward and held out his hand. In his thick Spanish accent, he said, "My name is León Cruz. This little diablo here is my younger sister." he said with a friendly smile. John shook the man's hand and found himself genuinely smiling at the gate guard.

"Good to meet you. I'm John Ronas." he said, getting a comforting feeling from the man. Something about this guy instantly made lose his paranoia.

"Oh, we know who you are." said the man with a chuckle. "John Ronas has been all over the radio for the better part of the year now." said the man with a winning smile.

John facepalmed himself. "I'm gonna have to start charging Three Dog royalties...it's no wonder every baddie in the wastes wants my head." he said in irritation.

"Sí amigo. Being famous in the Capital Wasteland either means you're a bad guy, or a target." said León as he leaned against the doorframe.

The man that formerly held the sniper rifle, with the buzzed hair stepped forward this time. "The name's Neil. That's all you really need to know about me." he said, then turned and left for the stairs.

The gunman watched him go. "I get the feeling he doesn't like me." he said, sarcastically stating the obvious.

"He doesn't like gallivanters." said Sonora with a sly smile. John shot her a murderous stare, and she held up her arms playfully. "Hey, he thinks that's what you do. Go out, kill shit, brag up the story tellers, and get famous." she said.

"For your information, none of the stories that come out of GNR have ever been approved by me. What he says, he says without my consent." he said snorting. "Besides, I'd be stupid to want that amount of attention looming over my head." he said.

"You're not kidding amigo. Everytime you walk out of Megaton you've got a target on your back." said León as he grabbed a drink from a nearby table.

"Yeah...thanks for the reminder." said John bitterly.

This time, a female, one of his escort crew stepped forward. She was dark skinned like Simms, but her hair was long, straight, and gorgeous, and also had beautiful dark eyes that watched him studiously. "Belle McCarthy." she said in a charming southern accent, holding out her hand to him. John shook her hand and smiled.

"Good to meet you Belle." he said.

Sonora chuckled. "You say that now. She's a maniac out in the wastes." said the woman. "There's a reason her mark is the viper."

"Oh you hush yer mouth, hoodlum." said the young woman with a smile and a glare at the same time. John was confused as to whether she was angry, or just being playful with the woman. Her entire demeanor was confusing.

Then something she said caught him. "I'm sorry, but...her mark?" he asked curiously.

Sonora nodded, and Belle turned around. "We each have a mark showing who we are, where we came from, what we stand for. That kind of thing. The kind that can be summed up in a picture. Kinda like the one you've got on your back there." she said, pointing at the back of the southern women's duster, which showed a coiled black snake.

John pulled his duster off, then looked at the back, seeing the familiar figure of the wolf. The one that got him labeled the Wolf of the Wasteland. "So...this mark was the old man's?" he asked.

Sonora nodded. "Angus was the wolf, Belle is the viper. Sandman is the witchdoctor. Neil, well, he's Neil." she said, then adopted a mocking look at the stoically serious gunman who had left them. "I don't need no damn mark on my back." she said jokingly.

John chuckled dryly. "And what about you?" he asked curiously.

"Me? I'm the original. The Regulator." she said as she stood up and turned around. On the back of her duster was a pair of M16's crossing each other, and behind the pair was a set of scales. "We regulate the wasteland, taking care of those who can't fight for themselves. And taking out those who would take advantage of those fighting for survival." she said, turning again and looking at him. Her playful smirk was gone. "We know you're one of us. We've known since Simms told us about your actions against Mr. Burke."

John looked at her, stunned. "Wait...Simms is a regulator too?" he asked. She just smiled and nodded. "So...what is he?" he asked.

"You really don't know?" she said, her playful smile back. He shook his head. "Think about it."

John stood there for a moment, thinking about his old friend from Megaton, then it hit him. He just let out a short laugh. "The Sheriff." he said, getting a nod from the woman.

"And a very good one at that." she said, returning to her speech. Reaching up, she took the old, torn, worn out coat of Angus and hung it up on the wall of other dusters. Presumably those who had either lost their lives, or quit the service. He didn't know how someone would quit the Regulators though, and the implications made him nervous. Walking over to the desk, she picked up another folded up duster and walked over to him, holding her arms forward. "We wanted you to have this." she said. He looked down at the new coat and his eyes widened. In dark letters, the back of the coat she had given him was emblazoned with 101. "Welcome to the Regulator's, One-oh-One." she said with a smile again.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone who tried to help me get my FO3 game back online. Unfortunately, none of the options worked. So short of reinstalling Win8 again, I'm probably out of luck. Still, thank you all for the attempt. That means more to me than you will ever know.

Also, I wanted to thank everyone again for reading and reviewing. I love seeing favorites and follows on my stories, but nothing motivates like someone telling me what they liked/disliked about the chapters. So thank you all once more, and expect more soon.


	34. Exposed

OoO( 34 )OoO

John had spent the majority of the day with his new comrades in arms, eating, getting to know them, and discussing his various 'enhancements' that made his stories so outlandish with them. He had immediately made fast friends with León, finding many similarities between himself and the young man. They were both pretty much thrown from a calm, serene lifestyle into the one they currently resided in, which was a whirling nightmare of death, betrayal, nearly getting killed.

According to León, his family had come from the south where their kin had lived for generations since the Great War. They were far away from any cities large enough to be affected by the blasts, but that didn't stop the fallout from following the winds and destroying their home. The noxious radioactive cloud from the metropolis near them swept upwards, consuming and poisoning land and grass like the plague. They had nothing left after it passed, and decided to move north. They had settled here twenty some years ago, when their mother first found that she was pregnant with Sonora.

So, they stopped and made a home in what is now a giant hole in the ground. Formerly, it was a small settlement further north, near a place known as Old Olney. That was before the Enclave happened to stumble into the settlement, and thought it was a suitable testing ground for a new project they had been working on. The wanderer had looked at León like he was mad when he described what a deathclaw was. But even more unbelievable was the fact that the Enclave were trying to control them now. Sonora and an even younger León only got away just barely, and that was only because their parents had thrown themselves in the way.

From that day forward, they both had a burning hatred for anyone in the Enclave. Years later, they had established a home for themselves here in a former bomb shelter, and used guerilla tactics to try and disrupt Enclave activities. But they barely made a scratch on the proverbial and literal armor. That was, until they had come across Sandman, originally known as Jamaar. The pair of them had taken a trip to an island known as Point Lookout, further south, and off the coast of Virginia. Their ultimate goal had been to find something to give them an advantage over the Enclave, and they'd heard about the old pre-war tech that could be found on the island.

When they arrived however, they'd immediately wanted to go back. The place was a nightmare of radioactive mutation, incest, and bogs that could swallow a behemoth whole. The people were violent and classified into one of two units. 'Family units' consisted of hillbillies that had isolated themselves so far away from civilization that they literally bred among themselves. And 'Tribal units' were a people of all bloods gathered to worship a certain creature, plant, or mythical figure. Sonora had explained that the amusing thing about the entire population was that they hated each other as much as they hated outsiders. One member of one family was just as likely to kill another member of another family as they were a tribal leader. The pair had used that to their advantage many times in their journey in the swampland of horror.

Then, one day they discovered some kind of ritual taking place on the peak of a hill. Sneaking up, the pair of them watched as Jamaar was tied to a post, and had kindling laid beneath his feet. They knew immediately what was about to happen, and they looked at each other, questioning what should be done. The large man had apparently been drugged, or so they thought because he was rambling in some unknown language in a loud baritone voice that shook the airwaves around them. When one of the tribe finally approached with a torch, Sonora made a decision.

Taking her long rifle, she blasted the tribesman's chest cavity open. He dropped, and the others looked around for the perpetrator. Taking her precious few seconds of anonymity, she fired another shot at the ropes binding the large man to the post. Her shot scored, and tore the man free. After shouting at him to run, both Sonora and León ran as fast as their legs would carry them. But it wasn't long before they realized that they weren't being followed. Slightly confused, they backtracked and found out why.

All of their pursuers had been strangled to death by plantlife. Vines, trees, ivy, all of it. The bodies were hanging from the branches with the plantlife tightly wrapped around their extremities, like some twisted puppet show. The only soul to be found was the man they had just rescued, who smiled at them. John looked at León expectantly. "What did he do?"

Sandman walked into the room, his wide smile on his face again. "I said, 'Da Loa sent yuh ta me fer a reason. I be goin' wit ya until I find dat reason." he finished.

"As it turns out, he was a witch doctor for his tribe. They'd gotten annihilated by the people that were about to burn him. So, we brought him with us. From that point, the Enclave didn't stand a chance. He can control the winds, allowing for near sandstorm levels of camouflage, he can disguise the house behind illusions of heat, and best of all, he can cause plant life to flourish in small areas. So not only is he helping us fight the Enclave, but he's also helping to feed us." said the woman with a smile.

John chuckled, making the woman shoot up an eyebrow. "Well, I actually think I inadvertently created a counter to your little sandstorm trick." he said.

Sonora smiled. "Oh yeah? Muéstrame, amigo." she commanded. John looked over at her brother.

"It's a challenge. She wants you to show her." he said in amusement. The gunman smiled, then slid his eyepiece up onto his face, then pushed the button on the ear clamp. The display lit up on his side of the lens, showing all of the figures in the room as a bright green color. They all looked at him expectantly. Realizing he was the only one who could see what he was seeing, he chuckled, then removed the headset from his head and handed it to her. "Take a look." he said.

She looked at him cautiously, then took the device and clamped it to her ear with his assistance. Once it was secured to her head, he lowered the lense, then turned it on. Her eyes widened as he lit up green as well in the view lens. "Oh Dios mío…" she said as she looked around at the others. He hit the button next to her ear once more, and it switched to a low scale x ray, allowing her to see slightly through him and her brother, showing her their basic bone structure. Then he hit it one last time, and his frame lit up orange, as well as anyone else in the area while the walls and surroundings turned blue. "What is this?" she asked, astounded.

"I call it VATS. It gives me a full range of vision, allowing me to see far beyond what someone would normally be able to see." he said, then held up his pipboy. "Elsa, activate full range vision." he said. The view shifted again and highlighted his, her brother's, and Sandman's bodies with the number 100% above all of them. "This mode tells you how exposed the target is, and whether or not your weapon would be able to hit them if aimed correctly."

"This is so far beyond anything I've ever seen. Nobody would be able to sneak up on you...ever…" she said, astounded. "Where did you get this?"

"Well, I got the eyepiece from a Vault-Tec bunker. But the programming came from me and Elsa. It's gotten us out of many nasty situations, and when combined with your ability to blind the enemy with dust storms, would be devastating to anyone you decided to attack." he said.

She nodded absentmindedly. "They couldn't see us, but we could see them as clear as day…" she said. Then she looked up at him. "Do you know where we can get more of these?" she asked.

Much to her letdown however, he shook his head. "It was a prototype medical scanner that allowed doctors to see inside patients without having to cut them open. The military added their own applications, like the ladar and thermal views, for things like night missions. But as far as I know, it only ever got to the prototype phase before the bombs fell. But your best bet would be vaults, or any other Vault-Tec facilities. As a matter of fact, I'd try Vault-Tec medical locations. That's your best option." he said. "And if you ever find them, I'll program them for you." he said.

"So…" interrupted León. "If you don't mind me asking, who is this Elsa? You talked to her a minute ago, but unless she is invisible, I don't see how she got in here." he asked curiously.

John looked up, then chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Oh...sorry. There's actually a reason for that." he said, then held up his pipboy. "Elsa, say hello to the nice people."

" _Make me."_ she said playfully.

"Elsa…" he said, his voice becoming stern.

" _Fine fine. Hello new people."_ she said, popping up on the screen.

"Is that what Ah think it is?" asked Belle, who had been cleaning her shotgun on the couch.

"She…" said John, emphasizing his point on that one word. "Is an artificial intelligence."

"Mah goodness. I never thought Ah'd see one'a them." she said as she walked over and stared at the screen.

" _Take a picture, it'll last longer."_ said Elsa, crossing her arms.

"No need tah get fresh sugar." said the southern woman, eying her. Elsa pouted, staring up at her admirer. "Mah you're a cutie." Belle said with a smile on her face. Elsa sat there speechless for a moment, unsure of how to react to the compliment.

"Uhhh..thanks I guess?" she said, scratching her hair on the screen inquisitively.

"Might as well meet the whole gang. Elsa, call in Liberty." said the gunman as he walked over to the door. "I'd like you all to meet another of my close friends." he said and swung the door open. The small bot was hovering outside the door as it opened, and immediately all of the Regulators inside drew their weapons and aimed at the robot.

" _Hostility increased."_ said the deep voice of Liberty as he looked back and forth between them. _"I politely ask you to drop your weapons before I am forced to take action, communist scum."_ said the bot as he began targeting them all. But John immediately stepped in the way.

"Woah woah woah!" he shouted, holding his hands up to them. "Slow down, he's not going to harm you."

"¿Qué crees que estás haciendo?" asked Sonora, her tone now extremely threatening as she aimed a rifle straight at him.

John looked at León for assistance. The man crossed his arms, being the only one unarmed, but glared at the wanderer. That was the first time he'd ever shown anything other than pleasantry towards him. "She's asking why the hell you brought and Enclave spy drone into our midst." he said, his voice even showing anger.

"He's not an Enclave drone...well, he physically is…" said John, stumbling over his words. "Look, just put the guns down, and I'll explain." he said.

" _You really didn't think this situation out huh?"_ asked Elsa with a chuckle.

"I sometimes forget about minor details." he said, glaring at her.

"Obviously." she said, shaking her head.

The Regulators stared at him for a long moment before finally lowering their firearms. John sighed in relief as he saw them relinquishing. "Explain yourself One-oh-One." said Sonora, keeping her now icy gaze on him.

John nodded. "When I first came out of the vault, Liberty here was an Enclave drone floating around Springvale. He was destroyed when I was attacked by raiders, so I took him home and repaired him. I also removed his Enclave brain chip and installed one that I modified from a protectron class robot. So, he is not an Enclave spy." he said forcefully.

The others looked at each other questioningly, then looked back at him. "He called us communist scum." said León.

"It's part of his coding that I wasn't able to rewrite. If I wanted him to keep his defensive capabilities, he had to be stuck with the voice of the Communist Defense protocols. Which apparently calls everyone, from me, to Simms, to a little girl, communists. Hell, I'm pretty sure he claims that the brahmin in Megaton is a red spy." he said. The tension eased considerably when the brother and sister chuckled. "Liberty, front and center."

The bot swerved around its creator and stared at the two Regulators. _"Deputy Liberty at your service red dogs."_ he said.

León laughed even louder at the robot, and Sonora just smiled. "Alright, you pass." she said, waving Liberty aside. The robot floated over to her brothers side, and she shot John a look again. "Hey estúpido, the next time you decide to collect Enclave stuff, warn us. I about put one right between your eyes." she said with a threatening playfulness. Then she looked over as the robot looked at her with its emoted face. "You sure you disabled all contact with the Enclave?" she asked.

"I've upgraded him several times. Don't worry, the only person in there is Liberty. And as long as you aren't shooting me or anyone in Megaton, you're safe from him." he said, reaching up and patting the eyebot on the head. The other two still eyed the bot with caution, but the brother and sister seemed to have made peace with him. "Now, if you don't mind, there's something I'd like to ask you." he said, getting all of their attention again. "Simms said you could help me find out where Talon Company is based out of. Is that true?"

Sonora's face went sour as she heard the request. "We can tell you, maybe even show you. But why the hell would you wanna go there?" she asked.

John scratched his head thoughtfully. "Well, you'll probably be hearing something on the radio about what I've been doing for the last few days. In any case, I'm chasing after a member of their band that was wearing a suit of stolen power armor. I'm not sure where he went, but if I can, I'd like to try and cut him off before he gets back to base."

She looked from John, to her brother, then back again. "He's in power armor?" she asked. The gunman nodded. She sighed and shook her head. "Then I'm afraid he's probably already there. It only takes a day to get from here to Fort Bannister, and if that's where he was headed, then you probably already lost your chance." she said.

The gunman leaned against the back wall and thudded his head against the concrete in frustration. "Dammit…" he said.

"I don't know how you intend to track him down again, but my advice is this. Don't turn your back on anyone you wouldn't ask to save your life. Talon Company is well funded and very resourceful thanks to that culo in Tenpenny Tower. Whatever you do, don't let your guard down when you're on your own." said the woman's brother cautiously.

John just reached up and rubbed his head in irritation. "Why is it that I seem to make more enemies than friends? I'm a nice guy!" he said, exasperated. The others chuckled.

"You should know how it is by now. It's being a nice guy that gets you killed in the wastes." she said, patting him on the shoulder.

OoOoO

Simms had held down the fort after John had left again. But now, he had a new job on top of his usual duties. Instead of just patrolling the town, checking up on each of the residents, and his share of the wall, he now had the duty of keeping an ear open for any information in the wrong hands. At first, the sheriff had been confused about how he would recognize when someone had information they shouldn't have. But the gunman had smirked at him and told him that that was the easy part.

He approached the familiar form of Leo Stahl as he stepped outside of his sisters diner. He hadn't questioned him yet, so that was his target. Walking up to the man, who looked like he'd had better days, he stopped and tipped his hat to him.

"Leo, been a while." said the man, cordially enough.

The youngest of the Stahl's looked up at him in irritation. "Look man, I've been clean for a month now…"

"I'm actually not here about that. But I do want you to know that I'm proud of you for kicking the habit." said Lucas as he patted the man on the shoulder.

Leo just sighed. "Yeah...makes it feel all better." he said sarcastically, running a hand through his hair. "So, what can I do for you then Sheriff?" he asked.

"I was just curious if you've heard any rumors wandering around Megaton about John." he said. He immediately began looking at Leo's demeanor.

The Stahl brother looked up at him oddly. "John? I mean...nothing beyond the usual. Savior of the wastes, can do nothing wrong, practically Jesus Christ reborn." he said shrugging.

Simms nodded with a chuckle. "Don't let him hear you say that. I mean more along the lines of what he's doing. Have you heard anything about where he's going?" he asked.

Leo just shook his head. "Sorry man, I've been asleep most of the day. I haven't heard anything about him."

The sheriff just nodded. "Thanks for your time. If you hear anything, be sure to let me know." he mentioned, before tipping his hat and walking off. On the catwalk above, Lana stared down at the Stahl brother, her piercing blue eyes locked onto the figure as Lucas departed.

Leo walked over to talk to his sister on the grill again, grabbed a bit of food, then went back inside the diner. She just sighed to herself. "Another dead end." she said. "If he is the informant, he doesn't give a shit that Simms is onto him." she said as she shoved off the railing and walked towards the shop known as Craterside Supply. When she entered, she saw Moira across the counter, and Simms leaning on it.

"Anything?" he asked. She just shook her head, making him sigh. "Easy part he says." he grumbled as he patted the redhaired woman's shoulder, then left the store. Lana looked over at Moira, who was sticking her tongue out, deep in thought as she stood over what looked like a car engine.

"Whatcha got there?" she asked curiously.

Moira wiped a bit of perspiration off her brow as she smiled. "Oh ya know. Bits and bobs. This here is new kind of engine for holding the nuclear core. That old pile of slag in the water purification plant is gonna go out eventually, so we need to have a backup just in case." she said cheerfully.

Lana looked at the woman oddly. She herself was an optimist, and often found herself in cheery moods despite the wastelands harsh, oppressive nature. But even she was shocked by the northern woman's unstoppable air of friendliness. "I see...so you just...build a new one?" she asked, getting an enthusiastic nod. "First genetic manipulation, now mechanical engineering? Where did you learn all this?" she asked, leaning against the counter.

Moira finished the part she was working on, then wiped her hands on the oily rag that she kept tucked into her belt. "I read alot. Loved reading since I was a girl. Plus, you learn a lot when you spend years devoted to one subject." she said as she turned and took down another tool off the shelf. When she did, Lana noticed a small patch attached to the arm of the shopkeeper's jumpsuit. It was a small fox that matched the color of her jumpsuit. She just smiled at the adorable icon.

"But you'd have to be in your seventies to be skilled enough in both subjects that you could manipulate genetics and build a nuclear reactor. How did you fit all of that in there?" asked the Brotherhood of Steel representative, wondering how talented the woman in front of her actually was.

Moira looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Huh...you're right. How did I learn all that stuff?" she asked, scratching her brunette hair.

Lana just looked at her in shock. "Y-You don't know?" she asked, bewildered.

"Sorry, when you get to my age memories like that kind slide by, ya know?" she asked as she reached down with one hand and lifted the engine, and grab one of her tools from underneath it. Lana stared at her as she lifted the machine effortlessly and set it down as if it were no more than a table.

"Alright, well, I should go." said Lana with a bright smile.

"Oh? Alright! You come back now!" waved Moira as the woman left.

Knight McGyle just stood outside the shop for a full minute, pondering the crazy woman that ran Craterside Supply. "What the hell is she?" she asked.

OoOoO

After having truly met his fellow wasteland guardians, the gunman felt much less alone in the wasteland. For the longest time since he'd left the vault, he had felt a dark cloak of isolation around himself. He had many great friends, from Billy, to Simms, Nova, Three Dog, Elsa, Cid, and beyond, he'd had many people at his back. Both figuratively and literally. Despite these people however, he always felt like he had been somewhat of a lone wolf. He didn't feel alone, or isolated per se, but he felt as if he were the only one in the world quite like him. Coming out of the vault, he'd have thought that many people were like him, wanting to go out and help others to survive the sandy, miserable nightmare that the nation's capital had become.

He was wrong. Very wrong. There were many good people out there in the world, like Simms, Gob, and Nova, but they were too busy surviving to do much about helping others. Simms did his best with his role as the guardian of the town, but he never strayed that far from their little crater. So finally meeting others who went out of their way to actually help others was a great relief to him, knowing that he was no longer the sole fighter in the wasteland.

Despite his newfound friendship, he knew he wouldn't be able to stay with them for long. If the stray mercenary did indeed make it back to Fort Bannister, then whatever retaliation they were planning was aimed directly at Megaton. That was something that was going to happen only over his dead body. So after telling them briefly where to find him, and what he intended to do for the next few days, he left.

Stepping back out into the desert, he shielded his eyes as he looked over the scape, then down at his pipboy. It shouldn't take him long to get back to Megaton, especially if he didn't stop to rest like he did last time. That wasn't likely, as his pace had him beelining directly for the crater city, little to no stops on the way. A few hours in however, he did stop briefly at a small burned out husk of a house to drink some water. His regeneration was a strange thing. If it worked how he believed it worked, then he wouldn't necessarily need food or water either. The tissue degeneration from lack of food or water should technically be healed just the same as if he were shot or stabbed.

But that was just the thing. Did that mean he ran off radiation now? If the radiation were to go away, would he be able to survive, or could he sustain himself with food and water like regular people. These were all things he would have to run across Moira when he got back. She was the one who turned him into a radioactive juggernaut after all. _"John, we really need to get moving. Liberty is picking up readings of a raider group nearby. I think they already know we're here."_ she said in a worried tone.

John was about to respond when he heard a crack echo off the horizon. He looked up just in time to see someone aiming a rifle at him, then looked down and saw the water in the plastic bottle he was holding start pouring out of a hole that had just been made in it. He looked at his chest, then reached up and touched a burned hole that was now searing his skin. Suddenly, there was another crack, then another, then another. Six more rounds entered his chest and knocked him back as he tried recovering from the first. He breathed heavily as he fell to one knee. He could feel the healing process begin, but that was far from the first thought in his mind. Looking up, the wanderer saw the form of a raider with a sniper rifle come out of cover with a large smile on his face.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound like a shotgun to his right. Something impacted his side with a sharp sting, then he screamed loudly as he felt an enormous amount of electricity enter his body. Two more explosive sounds followed by stinging, and another rush of electricity.

"I want him out before we secure him. Don't take no fuckin' chances." said the eye-patched raider. He glared at the form of the gunman, which was now spasming horribly on the ground as wave after wave of electricity coursed through him. When the electric shocks stopped, the man nodded to one of the men at his side. "Keep your sights on him boys. If he moves, hit him again." said the raider.

The man walked over and looked down at the wanderer. His eyes were still open. He got goosebumps by looking into the glowing eyes of the terror of the wasteland. But right now, the eyes weren't looking back. They were now looking into the distance as his brain lay in unconsciousness. Looking back at his leader, he nodded. "I think he's out boss." said the man.

The eye-patched raider glared at John, then looked over at a few others in his party. "Secure him, and make sure he isn't able to break loose." he said. As the two mean he assigned began using a thick steel chain to bind the gunman, one of the raiders men, specifically the one that had shot him with the sniper rifle, screamed. They all looked at him as his body lit up and ionized into dust.

" _Prepare for destruction communist dogs."_ came a cry from above them as the eye bot swooped in and unleashed a hellish laser fire, it's display screen now blaring a red crosshairs.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the reviews and favorites. And to those who believe that John is invulnerable, and that there's no tension left in the story, all I have to say is this. :P Prepare yourselves my friends, because you asked for it. This next chapter I've had in my head since the last story was up, but I never really got to it before starting this one. So here it is in all of its glory. And for those interested, the chapter before this one was rewritten, as I am prone to do when I don't like how I wrote something. It's the same content, but neater and and in more detail.

Oh, and huge thank you to **CowTits the Udderly Glorious** for correcting my work in regards to the Spanish language. I'm pretty much piecing together what I remember from the four years of Spanish I took back in highschool, so it's good having someone around who can make sure Sonora isn't asking John to put a cat in his pants.

Also, huge kudos to **Shouvin** who has pretty much been my proofreader since he discovered the story. xD He's out there kicking up dirt now doing the same kind of work John is in protecting his homeland, so well wishes to him, and thanks again for questioning the details of the story. Not only does that help me put those details into existence, but it also creates potential for future story ideas.

See you next time space cowboy.


	35. SOS

OoO( 35 )OoO

"This the one?" asked a voice in the darkness. The wanderer felt a cold hand grab his chin and jerk his head upwards, before letting him go.

"That's him alright. Never forget that fucking face." said a distorted, mechanical voice.

The original voice returned. "So, you're the one who tore my boy in half huh?" asked the voice. Slowly, the gunman's eyes opened and he looked at the man in front of him. His glowing green eyes only met one eye, which was brown, and currently looked like it contained all the hatred of the entire wasteland. The man wore a simple set of leather armor and clothing, with a necklace of teeth around his neck. "I asked you a question boy." said the man as he drew a knife from his belt.

"You're….Rocco's….father?" asked John. The man's face warped in anger as he heard his son's name come from the killer's mouth.

"You're goddamn right I was his father. Still am, even if you did kill him." said the man as he thrust the knife forward into John's abdomen. The wanderer shouted in pain as the blade pierced his stomach. The raider then ripped the blade clean. His single eye focused on the wound, watching as it slowly sealed back up without even a mark. The man smiled. "So what they said was true. You just heal right back up." he said, looking back up at the gunman.

John glared at him and pulled with his arms, trying to break whatever was holding him. But the chains wrapped around him were even beyond his strength. No matter how hard he strained, they refused to give in. Finally he stopped struggling and continued glaring at the man. Once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the room, he could properly see. He was in some kind of office building. The floor around him was littered with overturned desks and papers of bygone years. Pictures used for an aesthetic touch to the offices were shattered and scattered all over the place, as well as rubble and debris from the deteriorating structure of the building. The chains that were holding him in place went through the ceiling and looked to be tied to the structure itself. Looking down, his lower half was secured with chains as well, making it nearly impossible for him to move at all. Were it not for his inhuman strength, he would literally be frozen in place and unable to even turn. Despite this however, he was painfully aware that his torso was exposed. His duster and jumpsuit had been removed, leaving him in only a pair of skivvies.

In the background, a familiar figure entered his gaze, and he smiled. "Ah, Magnus. How's the hand?" asked John.

He wasn't sure what the man's expression was, but he knew that it wasn't a pleasant one. "If I were you, I'd control my tongue. There's a lot of people who hate you right outside this door. It'd be a shame if the door were to open accidentally." said the power armored figure with a smirk in his voice.

But his intimidation failed. John laughed, irritating him even more. "I'm sorry, was that supposed to scare me?" he asked through a humorous smile. "You, the coward who used his jetpacks to fly off and leave the rest of them for dead, are threatening me?" said the wanderer. Magnus, obviously having taken the bait, walked up to him to hit him, or to do something equally as empowering. But John jerked on the chains again, straining forward. The power armored figured took a step back so suddenly that if he weren't in stabilized power armor, he'd have fallen right in his rear end. John just spit at his feet. "Go ahead and try it coward. See what happens to the other hand." he said with a glare.

"So, you left my Rocco there did you?" asked the raider as he turned to the power armored man. "All that bravado behind the power armor and you couldn't even handle one man." said the leader in disgust. "Be that as it may, he did not kill my boy. You did." Running a hand through his mohawked hair, he took another knife. "And now that we know about your regeneration, we don't have to waste stims on you to make the torture lasts longer." he said, then forcefully stabbed the knife into John's shoulder. The gunman yelled again in pain as his glowing eyes glared down at the raider.

"Hey boss, the boys are saying there's a storm heading in. If we're gonna do this here, then we're gonna be here for a while." said a man who had been stationed near the door.

The raider reached down and grabbed what looked like a small rolled up blanket, which he set upon a nearby wooden table and unrolled across its surface. It wasn't a blanket, as John found out when he saw the contents. It was a handyman's tool roll that had been converted into a knife holder. Now, there were twenty some blades of varying sizes within the folds of the cloth, all of them as sharp and deadly as the one now sitting in his shoulder. "Don't worry." replied the boss as he took a knife long enough to be called a machete. "We've got all the time in the world." he said with a wicked smile, before slamming the blade through the gunman's abdomen again.

OoOoO

Lucas and Lana had decided to get a drink, and take a bit of a rest from their investigations. They currently sat in Moriarty's Saloon talking together over a beer. The redhaired woman sat back exasperated. "Well, this has certainly gone well." she said, rubbing her temples.

"Yeah, I figured it wasn't going to be easy. But for now, let's keep this conversation to ourselves." he said softly. "Don't know who's listening." Lana agreed and took a drink of her beer. "So, I heard you've been doing a little investigating on the side." asked the sheriff.

The Knight looked up at him and nodded. "Sorta...I was actually just researching more into this holotape that Doc Church gave me. Something about a synthetic man." she said.

"Sounds like bullshit to me." said Lucas as he took his hat off, allowing the cooler inside air to grace his bald head.

She acknowledged the comment, but continued. "I thought so too at first. But the more I go over the tape, the more legitimate it sounds. I was able to verify through a contact at the Citadel that the Institute is a real place that does all kinds of shady stuff. And they even said that someone contacted them about trying to find a 'rogue automaton that looks like a human'. They laughed him out the front gate of course." she said with a humored chuckle.

Simms just nodded with a knowing smile. Since the emissary had come to Megaton, he'd had the chance to learn a lot more about the Brotherhood of Steel than he knew before. And one thing he knew now is that if the Brotherhood ever got their hands on a synthetic human, there wouldn't be a force in the wasteland that could take it from them. The problem with that situation was... "If he is actually a human machine though, wouldn't the Brotherhood taking him be akin to kidnapping?" he asked.

She looked up at him, then scratched her chin in thought. "I...really don't know. A synthetic human is still human, just like synthetic skin eventually becomes real skin. So if this synth does actually have free will, I suppose it would be." she said, a bit conflicted about the situation. She did want to get her hands on that kind of technology, more for study than anything else. But she also wasn't going to kidnap someone to do it.

While pondering the predicament, the waitress of the saloon walked up and smiled. "Can I get anything else for you?" she asked sweetly. Lucas and Lana looked up at the blonde girl questioningly.

Lucas leaned back in his seat. "And what's your name?" he asked, unused to seeing anyone but Nova in the saloon.

Her face lit up briefly with a smile. "My name is Lisa...erm...I mean...Rose." she said, looking back to see if the Irishman had heard her.

"Alright...Rose, what happened to Nova?" he asked.

The girl looked at him questioningly. "I...I'm not sure who that is." she said. "If you'd like...I can ask the owner of the establishment." she said, sounding very well spoken for what was probably another waster girl.

"Actually, I think I'll ask him myself." said the sheriff as he stood to his feet. Lana followed him as he walked over to the counter where Gob was standing, washing the surface of the bar with a dirty rag. "Gob." said the sheriff sharply, make the ghoul jump in surprise. "Where is Nova?" he asked.

Despite the ghoul's radiation ravaged face, the man could easily see that his face was swollen. One of the bartender's eyes was nearly closed from a large contusion on his brow. "I..uh...I'm not sure boss. Moriarty said that she's doing some business for him and won't be back for a while." said the ghoul as he lowered his head as if in shame.

"Gob." said the feminine voice of Lana. The ghoul looked up at her curiously. "I can see you're lying." she said as she leaned over the bar towards him.

The bartender just lowered his head. "Look, I'm just the bartender. Please don't ask me questions I can't answer." he practically begged in his gravelly voice.

"Gob…" said Lucas, who crossed his arms in a subconscious attempt to intimidate the ghoul. "As the sheriff of Megaton, if you have any information on her whereabouts, I'm ordering you to tell me." he said, letting the ghoul know that he had no choice in the matter.

Gob was looking at the counter again when a voice to the sheriff's left side caught his attention. It was thick with the familiar Irish accent of the bar owner. "Is there somethin' I can do fer ya Sheriff?" asked the man as he closed the door to his office.

"I was just asking Gob here where Nova went off to. It's unlike her to miss work, seeing as she lives here." he said, eyeing the Irishman.

Moriarty just closed his eyes and shook his head however. "I'm afraid she up an' left with a bunch'a caps she stole off'a me. I sent her to do a business deal and instead she jes bailed and took off wit' all the goods." he said as he walked up behind the bar and stood behind Gob. "Jes like Gob said, innat right?" he asked, looking down at the ghoul.

"That's right boss. Just like you said." said the gravelly voiced bartender, who shrank under the man's dominating gaze.

Moriarty smiled and looked up at the sheriff. "Anyt'ing else I can do fer ya?" he asked.

Simms stared at Moriarty for a long moment before shaking his head. "No, that'll be all." he said. Stepping up to the counter, he just smiled. "I'll go ahead and be on my way right after I check the rooms here and make sure everything is as you say it is." he said, watching as Moriarty's smile vanished.

"I'm afraid I'mma hafta decline yer polite offer Sheriff. See, customers get real cheesed if someone goes snoopin' through their belongin's." said the Irishman as he glared at the sheriff.

"You're mistaking my words for a request. I wasn't offering Moriarty. I'm going to look through your rooms here, and you're gonna stand right there all nice and proper, and keep that trap of yours shut until I finish." he said.

But the bar owner just shook his head. "I really wish ya hadn't said that Sheriff." he said. Suddenly, three men who were sitting at random tables stood up and pointed their pistols at the sheriff. "Now see what ya did? Ya jes couldn't keep your nose outta business that wasn't yours."

Simms looked around at the three men surrounding him, then back at Moriarty. "So that's how this is gonna be is it?" he asked, not daring to reach for his weapon.

"I'm afraid ya brought it on yerself. I must admit though Sheriff, ya got some balls for thinking ya can move in on me without your little pet in town." said the barman as he shrugged. "Get rid o' him." said the Irishman. But a loud humming sound had them all looking around. Suddenly, one of the three men dropped their pistol screaming with his thumb now missing. Another just stared dumbly as his hand separated from his wrist entirely, and the third was grabbed. The final gunner's hand was twisted with such force that he dropped his gun as a leg kicked up around his neck, forcing him to bend backwards as it locked around his throat, nearly strangling him. Both Moriarty and Simms looked back to see Lana practically strangling the man with one upraised leg, one leg on the ground, and a laser pistol aimed directly at the Irishman.

"Change of plans asshole. You move and the next crater to appear in this town will be in your head." she said in a deadly tone as her icy blue eyes glared at him. Moriarty was speechless as he stared at her. Simms was too for a moment, never knowing she possessed such martial skills, but quickly recovered and turned to Moriarty with a smile.

"Well well, Moriarty, the biggest mouth in the Capital Wasteland, finally speechless. Never thought I'd see the day." said the sheriff, before grabbing the man by the collar and slamming a fist across his jaw. The blow hit the bar owner so hard that the man literally slammed into the wall from the force. Reaching down, Lucas dragged Moriarty out from behind the bar and threw him over a table where he lay unconscious. Looking up at Lana, he just smiled. "If you want, you can let him go. That looks a bit...uncomfortable." he said.

The redhaired woman nodded, releasing her leg's stranglehold on the man, then kicking him in the head and sending him barreling into the ground. "Can you believe I wanted to be a ballerina as a girl?" she asked, making the sheriff chuckle.

Simms then turned to Gob. "I'm gonna need…" he started to command, but the ghoul shoved the room keys into his hands before he even finished.

"You'll want to pay special attention to his office." said the ghoul as he glared down at the bar owner. "And...sorry. Death threats…" he finished.

Simms nodded. Walking over to the office, he took the master key and opened the door. The light was out currently, and the only visibility in the room came from the terminal sitting on the desk. Reaching over, the sheriff flipped on the light switch, his eyes widening at the sight. "Mother of God. You sick son of a bitch…" he said through grinding teeth.

OoOoO

It had been almost a week since the man had seen the massacre at Paradise Falls. He had stayed on the cliff the entire time when the lights of the settlement went out. The screams that followed were those reserved for nightmares. He wasn't sure who this Vance character was exactly. And since he'd started hanging around the insane gunman, he'd heard some kind of strange rumor about him having tamed creatures of the night, whatever that meant. But he'd never encountered such a terrifying thing in his entire life.

He'd been a mercenary for most of his life. He'd been big, even as a fifteen year old kid, when his parent's fleeing caravan was attacked by a religious group who were apparently not okay with a dark-skinned woman and a light-skinned man being together. They managed to repel them, but at the cost of his father's life. From that point on, he and his mother had settled in Canterbury Commons, where he worked odd jobs to feed them, and his mother slowly and surely became sicker from some kind of illness. He could of sworn it was heartbreak from the death of his father, but he wasn't a doctor. Eventually, she didn't wake up, and he had to move to get away from the memories.

After leaving the town, he'd seen many horrors. He had sold most of their belongings to get a gun, and some armor, and he began to do jobs to forget about where he came from. Eventually, the jobs began to blend together until he grew and grew into the mountain of muscle that he was. Talon Company recruited him after he had taken pay to wipe out an annoying raider band that had burrowed itself into a metro tunnel near a settlement. They approached him and made him an offer he couldn't refuse, then slapped on the armor and lived the life. Taking jobs without question, killing targets that Talon Company had found annoying, from the mayor of this town, to some psychopath that had taken one of their squads hostage with a bomb vest.

Eventually, he had proven himself by killing a supermutant that had the meanest looking rocket launcher mankind had ever seen. Taking the weapon as his prize, he had it modified so that it was essentially a shoulder mounted missile battery. After a while, a friend of his higher up on the food chain offered him a cushy position as a bodyguard for one of their new recruits and clients. He took it because it was more caps. But regardless of the many advantages the job had given him, he'd never held any kind of loyalty to Talon Company. It was a job, and he'd do it until he found something better.

That day finally came when his ward, a scrawny little windbag known as Daniel Burke, heard of his father's death and sought out the man responsible. It took a while to track him down, but when he finally did, they cut him off as he was exiting a metro tunnel. It was funny how a metro tunnel got him the job in the mercenary company, and a metro tunnel ended up losing him that job as well. When his protectee called him a very derogatory name, he lost it. The old memories of those zealots attacking and killing his father resurfaced violently. Then he met maybe the first man in all the wasteland who recognized his differences, and didn't see him as a threat. Even his brothers in Talon Company had watched their backs around him. But not this man. He had given him the chance to actually do something about those who unfairly judged others.

It was slightly amusing thinking about it now. A man like John Ronas would have seemed weak to him at some time in the past. Someone so soft hearted that he actually faced an army of supermutants for a few human lives. Before, he'd have dismissed them as too far gone, or unable to be saved. But seeing the gunman so readily throw himself into the fire excited him. Made him realize that it wasn't a weakness to try so hard to save human lives. It was strength to go against the odds, even for those who were doomed. And as he proved to him in the Statesman Hotel, his strength was enough to save those lives.

The man chuckled to himself as he remembered the week before again. Deathclaws, massive Mirelurks, armies of feral ghouls had been common in his time with Talon Company. But seeing such a display had shook him, despite his iron will. He hadn't been disturbed exactly, but it taught him that there were things in this wasteland that could kill him without him being aware of its presence. That realization made him want to see the one person who he'd felt a connection with since he had been a child. Very rarely did he ever actually like anyone. Even John had taken a bit to like, despite having his respect from day one. But now, he could admit that he had someone he really liked. And he wanted to see them now more than anything.

Stepping up to the fenced in building, he pushed the button on the panel outside the gated door. Shortly afterwards a voice came through, which he immediately recognized. _"Welcome to Reilly's Compound, what can I do for you?"_ asked the gruff feminine voice.

Cid smiled and crossed his arms. "Coming back to see some old friends." he said.

" _Holy shit, is that Cid? Where the hell has your big ass been?"_ asked the woman jokingly.

"Oh, you know, hanging out with vampires." he said, smirking at how true the statement actually was.

" _Pffft. Right. And I'm a fuckin' werewolf."_ said the woman over the com. _"Hold on, I'll go ahead and open the door."_ she said. There was silence for a moment, followed by a loud buzzing. Cid reached forward and opened the gate as the woman spoke again. "Close the door behind you, and don't let it hit your big ass on the way in." she said, making the normally stoic figure chuckle as he closed the gate behind him.

He walked down the lit corridor, passing one of the rangers as he did. He nodded to Donovan, who was currently tapping away at a terminal in one of the rooms. The man acknowledged him with a short smile, then immediately got back to work. When he finally entered the main area, he looked around and whistled. They had several terminals tied together with cabling, that were themselves connected to what looked like a large computer server. He wasn't that great with tech, but he'd heard John talk about it a few times with Lana. On the other side of the large office space were numerous maps drawn out on paper and pieced together on the concrete wall. The desks below the maps were disorganized, and scattered with more paper, followed by some file cabinets to their left. And on the far wall was a set of lockers that looked big enough to fit even his rocket launcher in.

Brick, who was sitting at a radio near the door smiled at him. "So, Lord of the Vampires, did you come to turn us all into your minions of the night?" she asked jokingly.

He smirked at her. "You're cute when you're trying to be funny." he said, knowing that the easiest way to get under her skin was to pay her looks a compliment. As predicted, she puffed up and glared at him.

"I'm not cute, I'm Brick, and I'm the biggest hardass this side of the Potomac." she said with authority.

He laughed and patted her shoulder. "I know I know. Where's your boss cutie?" he asked. She erupted into a battle cry and launched herself out of her chair.

"That's it asshole! You asked for it!" she shouted, then jumped on him and headlocked him. Despite his sturdy frame, her weight slamming into him so suddenly resulted in him falling forward onto his stomach. He reached up and grabbed her arm, preventing it from truly locking around his neck, as he struggled to get up. But she knew how to keep him down, because every time he got footing, she kicked it out from underneath him. As the two struggled, Butcher walked in and they both froze. The man looked at them oddly, holding a lit cigarette in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other.

Shaking his head, the man just turned and walked back. "It's too early for this shit…" he said as he left the two.

"See how I scared off your backup?" asked Cid jokingly as he finally got his footing and flipped her onto her back. He grabbed her arms and locked them behind her back as she tried to sit up, but the woman jabbed the back of her shorn head into his chin, then locked one of her legs behind his. After stunning him with the low impact headbutt, she wrenched her arms free and grabbed him around the neck, then lifted him bodily by redistributing his weight, and slammed the man to the ground with enough force shake the bunkers floor. The breath flew from his lungs and he groaned, holding his chest at the breathtaking strength of the woman.

"See how I just kicked your ass?" said the woman with a smirk.

"What's going on in here?" asked the familiar voice of Reilly as she entered the main room. As soon as she saw Cid on the ground, she froze, her face immediately turning red. "Cid? What are you doing here?" she asked, then tilted her head as he looked at her upside down. "And why are you on the ground?" she asked.

"He got his ass kicked by a girl." said Brick with a proud smile as she sat back in her seat at the communications desk.

Cid sat up, still rubbing his chest as he regulated his breathing again. "Goddamn right I did…" he said getting to his feet and rubbing his back sorely. When he could finally breath without struggle again, he finally smiled at Reilly. "Hey." he said.

She smiled back at him, her face flushing lightly. "Hey." she returned.

Brick just glared at them. "Get a fucking room you two."

Cid just chuckled at her, then walked over to the leader of the Rangers and took her gently by the arm, leading her away from the war room. "You actually came." said Reilly quietly as they walked to her own office down the hall to the side.

"I said I would, didn't I?" he asked.

"Yeah but...what about John?" she asked, looking at him. "Didn't you say you were gonna stick with him for a while?" she asked as she sat at the desk.

He nodded as he sat down in one of the chairs in her office. "He seems like he's in good company right now. I don't know if he really needs my help at the moment." he said. "Besides, after a few of the things I've seen in the last week or so, I really wanted to see you." he said.

She blushed a darker shade of red, nearly matching the color of her fiery hair. "Don't get all soft on me Cid. You did just get your ass kicked by a girl after all." she said jokingly, making him laugh.

"I wanna see some paperwork on her. I'm having a hard time believing she's even human after that display." he said, making her giggle as well. "So, I've actually come to take you up on your offer."

Her eyes snapped up to him, wide in awe. "You mean it?" she asked, getting a nod from him. She smiled brightly. "That's great!" she said excitedly.

But both of them were interrupted by Brick over the intercom, who had a disturbing uneasiness in her voice. _"Hey boss, a signal hit our frequency just now. I think you are gonna want to hear this."_ she said in a tone that worried both of them. They both got up from their seats and sprinted to the war room again and were met with a bone chilling broadcast.

Brick immediately turned the volume up on her ham radio while Donovan and Butcher listened in from her other side.

" _Hey boss, the boys are saying there's a storm heading in. If we're gonna do this here, then we're gonna be here for a while."_ said a random voice that none of them really recognized.

There was a slight chuckle and some other sounds in the background. _"Don't worry. We've got all the time in the world."_ said another sinister voice. The sound of tortured screaming afterwards made them all gasp in horror.

"Is that John?" asked Donovan.

Cid nodded grimly. "Yeah...that was him alright." he said as he clenched his fist tightly.

OoOoO

Sonora and her brother had stayed in for the day given the storm that the gunman had warned them about earlier. A combination of radiation and lightning wasn't healthy for anyone who was still considered human. And aside from medication, they had no real protection against the radiation at all, leaving them no choice but to hole up until it passed.

But when her brother, who was managing the radio, took his headphones off and looked at her in horror, she knew that staying inside was no longer an option. "¿Qué es?" she asked.

León reached forward and unplugged the headset from the radio. As soon as the jack exited its port, an earsplitting scream echoed across the cavernous house. They both stared wide-eyed as they recognized the voice immediately. "Dios lo ayude…" said the woman.

OoOoO

In the downtown streets of DC, a group of power armored figures were marching down the road at the outskirts of the ruins of the former capital. Six units in the team, consisting of the commander, the medic, communications, two heavy arms, and one reconnaissance unit made up what was known as the Lyon's Pride. At least, normally. Currently, the squad also had two recruits that were training to become full fledged Knights.

Hours before, the Pride had cleaned out a small structure that had been a nest of supermutants that had thus far killed two travelling caravans that had been headed for Rivet City. After the job was finished, they had to also scout the nearby area to make sure there were no flimsy supermutant outposts that they left behind. But after two hours of searching, it looked like their job was finished.

At least, that's what it looked like at first. But the entire party raised their weapons when a small figure appeared around the buildings. It was ball shaped, and had antennae sprouting off the top and bottom of it. It hovered curiously, as if it were unbalanced towards the group that were now aiming at it.

" _Hold your fire."_ said the commander.

" _But sir...it's an Enclave bot."_ said one of the heavy arms units.

" _Do as I say Paladin."_ said the sentinel as she stood straight and watched the object float closer. _"It's not playing music or propaganda, and it's not firing at raiders. If it's not doing either of those two things, then there's something wrong with it."_ she said, walking closer.

" _This may be our chance to actually capture one before it self destructs. You know, make our own drones."_ said the medic as he continued to hold his laser rifle up.

" _We'll see. But there's something odd about this one."_ said the woman as the bot floated in front of her.

When it finally stopped it was only a few feet in front of her. To all of their surprise, it finally spoke as its outer shell let out a spark, causing it to tilt in the other direction. _"Insignia recognized. Sentinel Lyons."_ said the small machine.

" _What the hell did it just say?"_ asked the second heavy arms unit.

" _I think it recognized the commander. They aren't supposed to be built for facial recognition. The most the cameras are used for is recording…"_ said the female recon unit.

" _Everyone shut the hell up!"_ commanded the sentinel. The entire squad went quiet. Reaching up, Sarah removed her helmet and looked at the robot. "I am Sentinal Sarah Lyons, of the Brotherhood of Steel. How do you know me?" she asked.

" _You are ally to my creator, the communist known as John Ronas."_ said the bot, immediately getting her attention.

"You know John?" she asked curiously.

" _I do. He is in very real danger and needs assistance. I wasn't enough to help him escape the situation, and was forced to retreat and find help."_

"This sounds like a trap...how did he know where we were?" asked the recon scout again.

" _Your radio frequency is currently set to fifty-five point five megahertz. I was given all allied radio frequencies by my creator in case assistance was ever needed in Megaton. My ability to track that frequency is still functioning, even if my radio capabilities are not. You must assist the creator. His very life is in danger."_ said the eyebot, more urgently than before.

" _Uhh...boss. You might want to turn on your radio."_ said the communications unit. "Something just popped onto the band." he said, shaken by what he was hearing. Sarah put her helmet back on, then activated the BoS radio band. Immediately her stomach plummeted as she heard screams of pain unlike anything she'd ever heard before.

Turning to the robot, she glared. _"Where is he!?"_ she asked. But the robot fell. Reaching out quickly, the woman caught it and held him up. On the display was a map with a beacon blinking rapidly to the northwest. "Get ready, we're moving out!" she commanded, strapping the now blank screened bot to her side. Pulling up her laser rifle, she and the rest of the pride pushed out northwards and out of the DC ruins.

OoOoO

Thank you to **Will me is** for correcting me on Dogmeat's actual breed. x_x I always thought he was a German Shepherd. My bad.


	36. Judas

OoO( 36 )OoO

Simms had turned the light on and much to his horror, he found Nova strung up against a wall completely nude with many welts on her back, legs, and stomach. From the shape of them, it looked like the Irishman had taken a leather belt to her and was beating her senseless. The woman had a dirty rag tied around her head that was acting like a gag, keeping her silent, as he abused her at his leisure.

Lucas immediately sprung forward and cut the woman down, who had been anchored to the ceiling by her hands with a pair of ropes. As soon as she was free, she collapsed to the floor, where Simms checked to make sure she was still breathing. The man held his fingers next to her jugular, a move he'd seen John and Doc Church use a few times to check someone's pulse. He immediately sighed in relief as he felt her heartbeat thud against his fingers.

Drawing his weapon, the sheriff walked back out into the room and was about to blow Moriarty away, but stopped, the memory of executing the raider before he had all the information still fresh in his mind. Putting the pistol away he jerked the half conscious man to his feet, then punched him again, sending him over the counter. "You sick son of a bitch…" he said as he walked around the counter, where Gob was just staring at the two. Looking up at the bartender, he nodded towards the office. "Get her to Doc Church." he said.

The ghoul, not arguing a bit, jumped the counter and fetched the unconscious woman. On top of the large bruising and welts courtesy of the leather belt, she had one eye swollen shut and her lip was busted open. Gob picked her up, then carried her out of the Saloon. Lana stood with her weapon still aimed at the barman, who was now clenching his jaw with one hand. Simms glared at him, then smiled widely. Lana looked at him curiously. "You look like you just had a brilliant idea." she said.

Simms nodded. "Knight McGyle, let's take our business elsewhere." he said with a chuckle and walked for the door.

She looked at him incredulously. "You're letting him go?" she asked.

"Oh hell no. I'm gonna have a talk with Stockholm, and make sure that anyone who leaves this establishment gets their head taken off with a sniper round." he said, looking around at all the customers who had stuck around. Lucas stared each one in the eye. "You heard me." Immediately, there was a clamoring of rushed feet as the remainder of the customers, as well as the new hiree Rose, scrambled out the door.

"An' what the hell ya think that's gonna do? Ya jes gonna keep me locked up here me entire life?" asked the man as he finally stood to his feet again.

Lucas smiled, grabbed his hat and placed it on his head. "That's a negative. We'll be keeping you and your lap dogs right here until a certain someone gets back to town." he said, then turned towards the door, knowing the barman's face was now contorted into a mask of horror. "I'll let him decide what to do with you." said the Sheriff.

Moriarty crossed his arms as he let out a small, knowing smirk. "Lotta good that'll do ya. He's probably strung up himself by now."

Lucas gave turned and gave him a death glare, which wiped the look off his face. "And Judas rears his ugly head…" said the Sheriff, reaching down and taking the revolver from his side. Moriarty's smile vanished again. "If I were you, I'd use these next couple of hours...days...however long it takes him to get back to pray to whatever god you believe in." he said, turning to Lana. You and me are going to close the door behind us. I want you to make sure that anyone who comes out of here before I talk to Stockholm receives a new hole in their cranium." he said.

"You got it." she said, flashing the men who she had already shot a quick smile. The redhaired woman followed him out the door and stayed there waiting until the Sheriff returned.

"He's got his instructions. And I'll even post Billy out back in case Colin decides to try and sneak out the back at night. I know he'd be more than happy to put him in his place." said Lucas as he leaned over the railing.

Lana leaned over it as well, confident in the sniper's ability to watch their back. "So what's this about? You're the sheriff, shouldn't you be dealing out the justice?" she asked.

He nodded. "This is about more than justice. This is about retribution." said the man as he stood to his feet. "As you have probably noticed, I'm pretty bad at making examples. Sure, I right wrongs, but the problem is that I arrest people, I put them in a holding cell. Sometimes, if they threaten others, I even fire my weapon. But only then. My kind of justice is pretty old fashioned." he said, turning to her as he pulled a cigarette out of his duster and lit it. "Which works just fine for thieves and delinquents. But for people like him, that requires a touch I'm just not able to give."

"So, you want him to suffer like she did?" asked Lana. As Simms nodded, she felt herself look at him in a new light. Her respect for him just doubled.

"Unfortunately, I'm not the man to do it. But there is someone who not only hates Moriarty, but is somewhat of a professional at dealing out wasteland justice in these parts." he said with a smile. "And I consider it an extra bonus that Colin is probably pissing himself right now, and probably will be until the day John finally comes back." he said, getting a chuckle out of her.

"Oh yeah. Maybe we should have taken their guns so that they can't take the easy way out." she said. But the sheriff shrugged.

"If that's how they wanna play it, then they can explain themselves to God. But until they sit in front of God himself, I'll let the Archangel decide how to deal with them."

OoOoO

Almost two hours had passed since the beginning of the radstorm, and since the torture had begun. The leader of the raiders sat in a chair, smiling at the work of art he had in front of him. It had been a long time since he was able to actually practice his long honed skills of torture, and the target this time was a piece of cake to practice on due to his ability to rejuvenate after receiving injuries. That just made this more fun.

He sat in the chair, staring at the now unconscious gunman while he puffed heavily on a cigar. The power armored man had been there to watch the entire time, savoring every scream that had come out of the vigilante vault dweller's mouth. He flexed his still sore hand as he watched the lost son's leader and father show the goody bastard a level of pain he never knew existed. As the storm raged outside, sending waves of radioactive energy flashing across the horizon, he looked down at the mohawked man. _"How long can we keep doing this?"_ he asked curiously.

"If we want to really prove a point, as long as his regeneration keeps up. I could literally turn him into a work of modern fucking art, only to have his body restore him to normal afterwards. If you want him dead, then I'd recommend just taking his head off." said the raider as he turned and eyed Magnus. "That comes when I'm finished." he said commandingly.

" _Don't worry. I'm not going to interrupt your fun."_ said the mercenary in an amused tone. _"But he's resourceful. So don't give him an inch, because he'll exploit every centimeter of it."_ remarked the man before returning to the room outside the chamber. Looking at the two men standing next to the window, he spoke up. _"What's the status?"_

"It's raging pretty hard. Probably gonna go on for another hour or two. But until then any kind of visuals we have are shot." said one of the watchers.

" _It's no big deal. We may be locked in here, but that means anyone out there is shit out of luck. So no interruptions."_ said the power armored figure as he stepped up to the window, grinning for the first time since the little shit in the other room nearly killed him nearly a year ago.

OoOoO

" _Spread out! Even if we have rad protection, lightning is still a very real threat!"_ shouted the commander of the Lyon's Pride as they stomped through the storm that left a haze in the air, making it hard to see. Currently, her and her group barreled through the storm and out of the DC ruins, meeting up with a small band of mercenaries in their own green colored armor. They had had a bit of a standoff at first, but when they recognized each other, the hostilities ceased.

"Sarah?" shouted a female through a thick set of armor and headgear to protect her from radiation. She had a giant of a man next to her who looked like he was struggling in his suit, and three others behind her, one with a heavy pack, one with a monstrous minigun, and the third with an assault rifle.

Due to the wind howling madly, kicking up sand and dust alike to numb their senses while assaulting them with radiation at the same time, the sentinel wasn't about to hear anything she said. Reaching up, she tapped on the side of her helmet, getting an understanding nod from the woman. _"Can you hear me?"_ she asked.

The woman nodded. _"I hear ya. You're Sarah right? From the GNR building?"_

" _Yeah, good to see you again. We've got the location pinpointed to the north. It's in a ruined complex known as Bethesda."_ said the sentinel as she addressed the other two. _"From the sound of one of the men talking, they have Enclave voice distortion. Which likely means power armor. And if it is the Enclave we're dealing with, then we need you to stick behind us and fire from the shadows."_ said the woman, her eyes gazing over at the shorter figure with the minigun as if expecting her to say something. She was not disappointed.

" _I ain't hiding behind some pansy in fancy armor!"_ growled Brick over the frequency.

" _Quiet Brick! You'll follow orders!"_ snapped Reilly. Brick looked over at her and there was an audible sigh over the radio band.

" _Alright. You're the boss."_ she said, looking away disgruntled.

" _I apologize. I don't mean to offend you, but Enclave have plasma weapons that would melt straight through your armor and radiation suits. We at least have some protection against it with ours. If it turns out I was wrong, and there was no Enclave, feel free to go nuts."_ said Sarah, eye rolling at the woman's eagerness.

" _I gotcha."_ said Brick, slightly less irritated than before.

" _How did you get the location?"_ asked Reilly.

Sarah reached down and patted the small robot on her side, which was currently in self-repair mode. _"Seems like he had a little backup. He showed us the location of the broadcast signal. Now, we've gotta move fast. I don't know how much longer he'll be able to hold out against them, or if they'll just kill him when they're done. So let's get moving."_ Getting a nod from all of the Rangers, the two teams charged forth through the stormy sand and dust towards the skyscrapers on the horizon.

The Rangers naturally fell behind, as they weren't assisted by power armor. But they were still within viewing distance of each other. Reilly had a shotgun in her hands that she had covered with a small blanket to prevent it from getting clogged with sand. The same could be said of the others weapons in her party, except for Butcher who had only his large med pack on his back. Both parties knew that whatever was happening to the gunman on the other side of that radio was likely going to require some heavy doses of medication at the very least to fix.

" _Hey...you guys know what's going on with this sand? Radstorms aren't supposed to have this much wind."_ said the engineer, Donovan, as they trudged against the gale-like winds.

" _I don't know. We usually only get a green haze. I'm not sure where all this is coming from…"_ said Knight Captain Colvin, who was one of the Pride's best sharpshooters as his heavy armor brushed off the wind and sand like it was a warm breeze.

" _Unlucky break? A sandstorm and radstorm at the same time?"_ asked Sentinel Lyon's second in command, a stoic man by the name of Paladin Vargas.

" _What else could it be?"_ asked Reilly as she fell in behind Sarah to get a bit of shielding from the armored woman.

" _I don't know about unlucky…"_ said a playful voice with an exotic accent.

Sarah stopped immediately. That voice had come over the radio, meaning that someone else was contacting them. It was likely the second party she had contacted at the request of Liberty. _"Identify yourself."_ she commanded.

" _The name is Sonora Cruz. The storm you are experiencing is our doing. We will meet you at the front door, until then, this sand is covering you from being seen."_ she said.

Sarah cocked an eyebrow curiously. _"You're making a sandstorm?"_ she asked.

" _We'll explain later. For now, we'll meet you at the location. There are three areas of the ruins that we need to worry about, so when we get there, we'll have to split up."_ replied the voice as well.

The sentinel looked around, trying to see someone through the clouds of sand that were swirling around them all, but it was useless. And thanks to the radiation from the radstorm, their normally useful enhanced sound and visual tracking systems were thrown off completely. So no matter how hard she searched, she was blinded by the blanket of the sandstorm. _"Alright, keep moving forward."_ said the sentinel in irritation to the rest of the party.

OoOoO

Magnus, who had been staring at the window for a bit, returned to the other room when he heard the screaming continue. He watched as the raider administered tortures that even made his own, hate-filled stomach turn. But he didn't look away. He smiled at every second he could hear that glorious screaming. So long he had waited for this moment.

The screaming then stopped, and the gunman's head hung between his shoulders, his entire body weight now resting on his arms as his legs had given out long ago. The chains that had held him were no closer to breaking than they had been before, and the raider boss had taken some extra measures to make sure he didn't get away from his prison. However, despite the endless pain, torture, and beatings he had taken over the last couple of hours, the wanderer still managed to lift his head and grin.

"Come on big guy. Why not take a shot at me yourself?" he asked the power armored man. Magnus stood there and said nothing. "Ha…" choked out John as he attempted to chuckle. "Figured you'd be the bitch of this operation."

" _You can continue to run your mouth all you like John. But I'm not going to play your childish games. My only goal here is to watch you suffer, and watch you die."_ said the man.

"Jesus...didn't know Talon Company had such a hardon over me." said John, desperate to extend his limited break.

" _Talon Company does want you dead. But they'd never authorize torture. Too much of a waste of resources."_ said the man, who then looked directly into John's eyes with the yellow insect-like eyes of the armored helmet. _"No, this here…"_ he said, pointing to John. _"This is personal."_

The gunman eyed the man curiously. "And what did I do to you to deserve such attention?" he asked curiously.

The power armored figure just laughed behind the helmet. _"You know, this entire time I'd been content with just watching you slowly die. But now it occurs to me that I can actually burn you even more before your death."_ said the man as he reached up and hit the pressure release on the armored helmet. Reaching up with both hands this time, he removed the helmet and stared at the gunman with a death glare.

John stared at the man for a long moment. Immediately, he picked up something familiar about the man. Something yanking at the back of his mind. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, then looked at the man again. His hair was nothing but stubble right now, so he couldn't tell with that. On his face was a scar that slashed across his crooked nose, and one of his eyes was milky white. He didn't look that old, maybe in his mid-to-late twenties. And his face seemed to be permanently locked into a mean scowl.

Something snapped in John's mind. Long ago, he thought the same thing about someone he wasn't particularly fond of. But the last time he had seen the man, he'd put a bullet into his face. He looked at the scaring across the man's features, and knew immediately who he was looking at. "Officer Mack…" he said, wide eyed as he failed to say anything further.

The man chuckled. "Well well, he does remember me." said the figure as he smiled up at John. "Been a long time kid. Last time you and I saw each other, you put a bullet into my head, no questions asked." he said, then looked the wanderer up and down. "Sorry if I don't return the favor." he said, amused.

Immediately, John's mind warped back to the time when he pulled the trigger and shot the vault Security Chief through his visor. It was when he crossed the doorway behind all their backs and was about to escape. Then that shriek, that mind shattering, soul numbing scream. It had come from Amata, and he turned to see Officer Mack laughing and prodding her with the tip of his stun baton. He glared at the man. "You deserved what you got. As a matter of fact, you deserved more. But it looks like I didn't finish the job."

"That's right." said the officer as he looked at the gunman, an idea popping into his head. "And because you couldn't finish the job, guess what happened to that lovely little Amata." he said with a sneer. John's eyes widened as he ground his teeth.

"You didn't touch her!" he shouted, jerking at the chains.

Steven Mack stepped closer, his face warping into an expression of lunacy. "I killed her John! I fucked her senseless, then put a bullet into her head, just like you did to me!" he shouted. "All because you couldn't finish me off!" he finished, then reached up and backhanded the wanderer with his gauntleted hand.

It was a long moment of silence before anything happened. But when it did, they all looked at their leader nervously. John began to shake violently as he stared at the man with his nuclear green eyes. Mack stepped back and looked at the raider, who waved him off. "He's secure. Not going nowhere." said the man.

The gunman began yelling in pain again, but this time it was mixed with fury as he bent every ounce of his strength to his will. The ceiling above him that held the chains began to groan with strain as he yelled like he had never yelled before. "I...will...kill...you…!" shouted the gunman as the ceiling began to crack violently. Mack backed up more as the raider leader jumped to his feet.

"Hit him with the stunners!" shouted the man urgently as the chain tore out a piece of the ceiling. The guards behind John fired their weapons again, the needle like appendages sticking into his side and back. Suddenly, the gunman's body would no longer respond as it was flooded with electricity again. After two full minutes of electricity ravaging his body, he hung by the chains again. The raider leader looked over at the Talon mercenary with daggers in his eyes, and a voice full of venom. "Never give him a fucking inch. Remember that?" he asked.

Mack, who had broke a sweat when he saw the ceiling start giving way, glared at the leader. "If he was secure, that wouldn't have been an issue." he said, reaching up and wiping away the sweat from his brow. "That's what the backup was for anyway, so stop glaring at me. We're stuck here in the middle of a sandstorm with him, so if you want either of us to live then keep him down."

The raider boss looked at Mack with a glare, then back at John. "Reload your weapons in case he decides to try again." said the older man as he picked up another knife.

Despite his current injuries, and the sudden shock, John spoke again. "Did you say there was a sandstorm outside?" he asked, looking up at Mack.

The former vault security chief smirked. "That's right. That means no help for poor little John." he said. But his smile vanished quickly as John started laughing.

Shaking his head, the gunman just looked up at the traitor and smiled maniacally. "You have no idea how fucked you are…" he said between gasping breaths.

OoOoO

When they finally arrived at the derelict buildings, the three groups congregated together to plan. Sonora, who apparently knew these buildings fairly well, devised a plan where they separated and conquered each of the three buildings, which she labeled Bethesda West, Bethesda East, and Bethesda Underworks. The Underworks consisted of a ruined metro station that laid beneath the two office buildings, connecting to both of them. The Underworks however, were filled with ghouls of all kinds.

" _It's unlikely that the raiders used the Underworks in order to store him. They'd likely have a huge clearing job to do. But these tunnels lead up to both of the buildings allowing us a very unique distraction."_ she said, looking up at them through a gasmask like cover on her face. _"Is anyone here skilled in stealth?"_ she asked, looking at the three as the tall dark-skinned man chanted behind her.

Reilly raised her hand, as well as the Brotherhood Knight known as Knight Captain Gallows. They both looked at him questioningly. The man just chuckled jovially at their confused looks. _"Special kind of armor. Completely silent, although it's not as tough as the normal stuff. But it helps when you're trying to sneak around."_ he said as he reached down and pressed a few buttons on his wrist mounted device. All the sudden, his armored form vanished as a blanket of invisibility covered him.

Sonora smirked. _"Good enough."_ she said as she looked at Reilly and the Knight Captain. _"You two are going to split up and break open the underworks inside both of the buildings. If you see enemy units, dodge them and open the Underworks. The ghouls will hopefully do most of the work for us."_ she said.

" _Unless we're dealing with Enclave."_ remarked Sarah as the Regulator looked up at her. _"Over the radio, there was someone speaking with voice distortion commonly used by the Enclave. If it's not Enclave in there, then someone is wearing their armor."_

"One-oh-one happened to mention a man he was tailin' a scoundrel wearing a set of stolen power armor." remarked Belle from Sonora's side. Sarah was close enough to hear her through the suit.

Sarah just nodded at the comment. _"Well, that makes more sense. Just be careful. That armor is dangerous."_ she said as she made sure her laser rifle was ready to fire. _"Once the ghouls are loose, we wait for them to distract those inside, then take up defensive formations and take out whoever is left."_ she said. Turning to her second, she nodded. _"Vargas, take Colvin and Glade with you. You'll be hitting the second building with the Regulators. Reilly and I will take Dusk and Kodiak, and we already have a heavy weapons specialist."_ remarked the sentinel as she looked over at Brick.

Brick pounded her chest proudly. _"Damn right you do!"_ she said.

" _Let's get going. We don't know how long he'll be able to hold out."_ said the commander as she all looked at them. _"Move out."_

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** I would just like to thank everyone who offered to help with getting my game back up and running again. As it turns out, I had to uninstall Steam entirely, then redownload it, and reinstall all the games as well. Whatever Win10 did to break it, that seemed to fix. So yay! I have my game back now! :D As such, this chapter came a few days after I'd have liked simply because I got my game back and am trying to catch up to where I'm at now in the story. But don't worry, I've already thoroughly studied the ruins of the next chapter, and intend to have it out pretty soon. So no long wait for that.

Also, I'd like to mention one thing. I have a particular reviewer on here who I've been chatting with because his beliefs and morals counter my own in regards to how people in the wasteland should be acting. I won't mention his name, as he's already been blocked, but I implore the rest of you that if you don't like how I write my characters, and how they react to morally questionable situations, then this really isn't the story for you, and please move on. Anyone messaging me with insults to my intelligence, my writing, or my morality simply because my characters choose not to be assholes in the wastes will get the perpetrator blocked. And to the rest of you, thank you all for being awesome and supportive. It means the world to me. Until next chapter, see you space cowboys.


	37. Tower of Death

OoO( 37 )OoO

Reilly was sweating heavily under her radiation protective cover. But the stuffiness inside the suit she now wore under her armor had little to do with her perspiration. The fact of the matter was that the last time she tried to stealth out of some place, she received four shots in the leg, was hurled down the stairs of a metro station, making her impact the concrete painfully, and had a swarm of giant green assholes chasing her down. She quietly hoped after John had returned with her group, that that incident would be the last time she'd have to use stealth.

Unfortunately, fate pulled a fast one. Now, instead of her sneaking out to find John, who could save her men, she had to sneak in so that her men could help find and rescue John. Despite her anxiousness about the mission however, she kept her cool and did her duty. Thus far, she had managed to sneak through a window in the back that had been shattered long ago, and wasn't really guarded. She slipped through the wide opening and into a room that looked like it had once been a cafeteria kitchen.

The room was empty, and there was an open door on the far side of the room, so she moved forward again and stepped outside the door, where she immediately froze. Dozens of raiders were lounging around, blitzed out of their minds on any form of alcohol they could get their hands on. Apparently a sandstorm was an occasion to be celebrated.

Stepping over one man, who was face down on the carpet and drooling away his hangover, she had to weave her way through a tangle of drunken, volatile, and sometimes sexual bodies. She closed her eyes when she first saw one of the raider men pounding into a woman right next to her, but she had to push past it. She had a job to do. So, red faced and ignoring the loud moaning from the female raider, she pushed on past them and finally found a door on the opposite side of the room.

She bobbed and weaved her way past the mass of bodies and into the door. Unfortunately for her, she didn't see the raider coming out at the same time, and slammed into him. The man stumbled backwards in his stupor and looked around for whoever hit him. But when he could find nobody, he growled. "What the fuck was that?" he asked, looking around and reaching for his pistol. But he stopped immediately when a combat knife sank into his throat. Quickly, as he sank to the floor with a gurgle, the woman dragged him away from the door and stuffed him under a desk inside one of the many cubicles in the office complex. Her heart was thudding wildly against her chest now as she slid her combat knife home inside her boot again.

That was almost twice now, that she'd been caught during a stealth mission. After this was over with, she'd either have to commit to get better, or drop stealth entirely. Her lack of constant training was going to get her killed one of these days. With him now out of the way, she looked around to better understand her current surroundings. Apparently, the large cubicle ridden room she was in was house to more lovebird raiders, ones who would rather do it in private. She moved down the center aisle, trying to keep out of the light as much as possible, when she finally saw the stairwell. Smiling widely, she breathed a sigh of relief as she headed towards the door.

"Get the fuck out of here!" shouted a man who threw a raider woman out of the cubicle. The woman, who was wearing nothing but a pair of panties, stumbled and slammed directly into Reilly before getting back up and shouting back at the assaulter.

"Go fuck yourself then asshole!" she shouted, then looked at Reilly and froze. Reilly stood stock still as well, as her cloaking had expired, showing her in her green armor marked with the Reilly's Rangers logo. The woman looked like she wanted to yell, but Reilly held up a pistol to her stomach and shook her head. Lifting her hand, she motioned for the woman to follow her, and the raider woman slowly obeyed. "You're making a big mistake…" said the woman threateningly as Reilly backed her against the door to the stairs, away from the rest of the group. Reaching behind her, she pulled the stairwell door open and shoved the woman inside. Closing the door behind her, she aimed at the raider with her pistol. The half naked woman cringed, covering her face with her hands. "Please no!" she shouted.

Reilly growled and shoved the woman again towards the stairs. "Get your ass to the bottom floor. If you even think about screaming, then you'll be doing it through a new hole in your throat." said the redhaired woman with a hiss. The raider nodded and stumbled down the stairs quickly, followed by the leader of the Rangers. When they hit the bottom, she aimed towards a small corner, telling the raider to wait there.

The woman immediately obeyed, stuffing herself in the corner as Reilly raised her pistol and aimed at the lock on the door in front of her. Firing three times, she managed to obliterate the locking mechanism. Grabbing the door handle, she swung it open and saw the first of the feral ghouls with its back turned. Aiming the weapon so that it'd miss the ghoul, she fired another round off into the Underworks tunnel, then grabbed the handle of the door and swung herself behind it. She stood next to the raider woman with the door giving them a visibility shield from the mass of ghouls that had heard the sound, and came sprinting up the stairs. Reilly pressed the gun barrel to the woman's side, just to make sure she didn't try anything as the stampede took place.

Glaring over at the terrified woman, she grabbed her by the chin so that she was looking into her eyes. "When I let you go, get the hell out of this building, or you're going to end up dead like the rest of your friends." she commanded, getting a horrified nod.

OoOoO

Knight Captain Gallows had taken a different approach on entering the opposite building. Considering his armor wouldn't allow him to slip through a window without crushing the wall around the window, he advised his team, except for the man they called Witchdoctor, to hide. When they had disappeared around the corner, he simply placed a small charge on the wall in front of him. Then he turned to Witchdoctor and pointed at the charge. Sonora was the only one of the Regulators who had a radio inside her protective gear, so Irving Gallows had to do sign language and hope the man understood.

After pointing to the charge, he made a hand motion, indicating the device would explode. Witchdoctor nodded, then Irving pointed to him. Jamaar looked down at the man's hand pointing to his chest, then watched as he raised the hand above his head and swirled it around. Finally, he pointed to the charge again. Jamaar smiled widely and nodded. Irving nodded himself, then turned and set the charge. Both of the men stepped away from the device as it started beeping loudly, then detonated, blowing the wall to pieces and sending chunks of concrete flying through the bottom floor. Immediately, Jamaar moved his head slightly, saying something indistinguishable under his mask, and the wind turned.

The raiders who had been near the wall were either dead, or seriously injured as chunks of concrete lodged in their body. "What the fuck was that?" shouted a bald man who had come stomping over to look at the mess. He got a couple of feet before the sandstorm outside flooded in like a waterspout and devoured him, ripping skin open and swarming down his mouth, in his eyes, and up his nose. The rest of the raiders fled from the new hole in the wall as Gallows stepped through, his cloak doing the work of making him invisible. The sandstorm did a lot to make sure he wasn't seen as well, though he'd never admit that.

Moving off into a side room, he saw the checkered tile of a room that looked like it had seen a high magnitude earthquake. The floor itself was broken and craggy, which would make it hard to walk on if he wasn't in advanced motorized armor. Jumping up, he stepped across the mountain range like floor and pulled on the door handle of the door to the next room. Unfortunately, the door came off in his hand, making him shake his head and toss it at the nearest raider who was still fleeing from the animated sandstorm. It took less than a minute for him to barrel across the floor in his silent suit and find the door to the stairs. Anyone who got in his way was destroyed, as Irving Gallows didn't stop for pedestrians. The suit hit them like a cannonball, sending them flying with destroyed limbs and likely a lack of consciousness as well.

When he finally got to the stairwell, just to make sure nobody could stop the flow, he busted through the door as well, scattering the portal across the stairwell. He made quick time to the bottom where he punched the next door open, permanently keeping it that way. He looked down at the hollow eyes staring at him hungrily. _"Dinner time boys!"_ he shouted into the tunnel.

OoOoO

As Sarah watched the flood of ghouls burst up the stairs, she signalled to the others that it was almost time. The pack of mad ferals ran through the room, grabbing the nearest target they could find, and began tearing into them with teeth and bony fingers alike. It was a grisly display to say the least, but she had seen worse. And to a lot better people too. So she wouldn't be shedding any tears over these asshole raiders.

Waiting with her back to the concrete wall of the building, she aimed with her rifle in case anything else decided to get close. After a few minutes of the massacre, the raiders started to fight back and blast away the mindless creatures, all the while backing up the stairs. _"Alright, take aim at the raiders and finish them. Leave the ghouls to clear the upper floors as well."_ she said as she leaned out with her laser rifle. The Rangers with her nodded, with a groan from Brick, who set down her minigun and pulled out a hunting rifle.

"Alright...let's get this over with." she said in an agitated tone, knowing that Eugene would end up shredding the ghouls too. Together, the two of them leaned into one of the doors, their bullets and lasers flying and scoring as they tore through a shoulder of one of the raiders, and the leg of another. The ghouls didn't waste the opportunity and flooded up the stairs in mass and tore the two men apart, leaving the rest of them open as well. The raiders that remained bolted up the stairs, followed by the tidal wave of death right as Reilly popped her head into the bottom floor.

Sarah smirked and gave her a thumbs up. _"Good job Ranger. Now let's follow them up and see if our package is at the top."_ she said as her and the other Rangers poured into the building and headed for the stairs. They killed any of the ghouls that had decided to remain on the bottom floor, whether from being lost, or choosing to chew on a particularly squishy part of one of the humans they killed. As they headed up the stairs, Sarah, as well as Paladin Kodiak took the lead, with Knight Captain Dusk following them up, her long sniper rifle clutched in her hands as she watched their backs.

The two Brotherhood that led them opened up with kicking the door open. The door didn't stand a chance. The frail wooden portal exploded into splinters as the chaos inside ensued with the ghouls. Unfortunately, the ghouls were frail as well, making them easy targets to kill. When the Ranger squad made it up to the next floor, half of their distraction squad was already dead. Sentinel Lyons and Kodiak, as well as Reilly and Brick watched from the doorway as the raiders finally began to put together a sort of firing squad as they too backed up the stairs at the far right of the room. The ghouls piled together to try and fit through the small corridor, but that just made them easier targets for the raider gunners who unleashed a hellstorm of bullets on them.

Kodiak looked at his commander and shook his head. _"Raiders and teamwork? Who'd have thought?"_ he asked.

Cid stepped forward with the assault rifle he had borrowed from Butcher and aimed, spraying the remaining raiders with automatic fire. Unfortunately, the move alerted the few remaining ghouls to their presence. Cid cracked his knuckles and punched one of them, obliterating the skeletal figure. Sarah too stepped out and crushed one of their heads with her iron hand.

It wasn't long before the few ghouls were dead. _"Alright, we're moving up again. Dusk, watch our back. We're on our own this time."_ remarked the sentinel as she moved up the stairs. _"Brick, you and Cid wanna take the lead this time?"_

The buzz cut woman snorted behind her mask. "Sure, if you wanna slap a ball and chain on me." she said jokingly. Cid just looked at her, then flipped her off, much to Reilly's amusement. "Alright...let's get this started." she said, grinning fiercely and swinging Eugene in front of her again.

OoOoO

In the opposite building, things were going much more according to plan. The ghouls had flooded up the stairs in a tidal wave of undeath, smashing into the main room and ripping apart the remaining raiders who hadn't gotten their due from the miniature sandstorm. Finding very few targets on this floor, the horde sprinted up the stairs at the sound of laughter, crashing the party, same as before.

"I'm surprised they didn't stop to check on that explosion." said the Regulator leader as she held her long rifle up to make sure none of the raider survivors surprised them.

" _Raiders are stupid. They probably thought it was a part of the party."_ said Vargas as he took the lead up the stairs. Paladin Glade headed up right after him, followed by Sonora and the Regulators. Knight Captain Colvin, similar to Dusk, took up the rear with his sniper rifle out. Knight Captain Gallows approached from another room, nodding as he did. _"Good work, even though you were spotted about six times."_ said Vargas.

Gallows looked over at Sonora. _"Double edged compliment, huh? That's Vargas for you."_ said the man chuckling. Reaching back, he pulled off his laser rifle and made sure it was loaded with fresh cells.

" _That's your Lieutenant Commander for you. You'll be doing squats for every time you were seen after the mission is finished."_ said the man, who received a chuckle from Belle.

"Alright amigos. Keep the jokes for afterwards. Right now, we've got a serious situation going on and we need to clear this building." she said as she pulled off her radiation mask now that she was inside. Vargas nodded to her, as well as the others from the Brotherhood. "Good, let's get up there and find our new carnal." she said as she moved up with the head paladin. "Jamaar, let's give them a surprise they've never experienced before." she said with a wicked smile, receiving one back from the Witchdoctor as well.

OoOoO

"What the hell is going on down there!?" yelled the raider boss as he glared at his men with his one good eye. "Get me some goddamn information!" he shouted as the sounds of screams filtered through the floors below them.

He received a frantic nod from the two men simultaneously as they fled from their leader's rage. The boss turned to John now with his arms behind his back, looking at him in contemplation. John just chuckled back at him. "I told you. You're all dead, you just don't know it yet." he said through a very labored, wheezing breath. Since he had been stunned again, the raider had went to town, piercing him with numerous bladed weapons over and over. His only saving grace was Elsa. If it weren't for her, he'd be dead.

The nuclear cell inside his pipboy let off a small amount of radiation. For normal users, that was warded off by the slide on the bottom having lead shielding, making sure the users didn't receive any cancerous side-effects. From the first time he received a shot to the chest outside, she had saved him by sliding the automated panel open and exposing his arm to the radiation, and allowing him minimal healing from it. Thus far, the raider had done nothing the healing couldn't take care of. But he didn't know how long that would last, especially with his friends now obliterating the bottom floors.

"You alerted them somehow." said the man as he looked at the gunman. Then his one eye locked onto the pipboy, and he chuckled. "Clever son of a bitch…" he said as he shook his head. "I knew if I took it off, it'd probably kill you immediately. Had one of you vault rats in my clutches before. It didn't end well for him." he said as he reached down and took a sword from the table. "Don't think that just because they're here, it's going to end well for you either." he said, then spun around and thrust the sword through the man's stomach.

There were no more screams left inside him. He just leaned forward, blood pouring from his mouth as it welled up from his stomach. As predicted however, his healing factor started repairing the skin. But the raider didn't remove the blade, he let it sit right where it was as he reached over to pick up another blade. The pain was nearly blinding as the flesh tried to heal up around the wound, only to rupture again as it contacted the sharp edge.

"Maybe I die here today. But if I do, I'm taking you with me." he said, glaring at the gunman through his one good eye.

OoOoO

The pair were heavy weapon specialists, in that they had heavy weapons, and were really good at using them. When Cid kicked the door in, Brick depressed the trigger on her weapon, causing the barrels to start spinning slowly, then faster, then insanely fast. The couple of raiders that were on this floor immediately rushed the woman, but were shredded as the rounds started to pour from the huge gatling gun.

Cid stepped forward with his rocket launcher and aimed for a door the had sprung open across the room, revealing another mohawked raider. He released the safety and fired, sending the rocking directly into the man's gut. The propulsion lifted him from his feet and slammed him into the back wall before igniting and tearing him, as well as the hallway he was inside to pieces. The attack shook the floor of the office complex, and Donovan grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey buddy...you remember what happened the last time you went crazy with that thing, started firing it around a building?" he asked nervously.

Cid smiled and patted the smaller man on the head. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." he said as he ran forward towards another raider who hadn't been hit by the rocket. Punching the man in the jaw, his power fist activated and crushed the man's skull, destroying him for good.

Sarah was making a beeline for the next staircase, kicking any cubicle walls that stood in her way down to make a path for the others when a particularly psychotic member of the group ran up to her and jumped on her armor, all the while holding a live grenade. Reaching up with both hands, he grabbed the raider's hand that held the grenade and turned her head away as she forced it into the raiders mouth. The man screamed as his entire fist, plus the grenade was crammed into his maw, but the screaming didn't last long as the device detonated, splattering his head across the room. The grenade, being a fragmentation ordinance, did little damage to her, and she tossed the limp form across the room and into another of his brethren who had been running up with a sledge hammer.

The sentinel raised her laser rifle and shot the toppled raider, then aimed up at the doorway where more were flooding in. Brick and the other rangers unleashed on the same doorway, making a funnel of death out of the opening. Eventually the raiders wisened up though and started breaking down the wall to try and get at the invaders a new way. Along with the collapsing walls came the clinking of grenades being tossed.

Reilly looked down right as one landed at her feet. "Oh shit…" she said as time almost slowed down for her. But she felt herself jerked away from the device. When she looked up, she heard the explosion and saw Cid's face twisting in pain. "Wha...no!" she said as she pulled away from him. The large man fell to one knee, still firing away at the raiders with his assault rifle. Reilly grabbed Cid's arm with a strength he didn't know she had and pulled him out of the line of fire. "Butcher! Get your ass over here!" she commanded.

Another grenade was tossed at the group, but this time it landed nearest to Kodiak, who grabbed it and hurled it back with enough force to knock the thrower on his ass. The small device exploded, sending dead raiders to the ground from the flak that speared through their bodies. The Brotherhood of Steel Paladin pushed himself against one wall as he pulled out a grenade of his own, killed the safety, hit the trigger and tossed it. The raiders, who were now hiding behind the remaining wall of the hallway and only occasionally popping out to fire, missed as the device bounced off the wall behind them and landed right at their feet. When it ignited, a flash of plasma hit everyone within the immediate area and reduced them to a puddle of goo.

"Holy shit!" said Donovan as he fired from his cover behind a desk that had flipped over. "I have got to get my hands on one of those!" he shouted excitedly as he took down another one of the many raiders that were lingering behind cover.

On the sidelines, Butcher had pulled Cid's backplate off and was currently digging around in his back for the fragmented metal that he took for the redhaired woman. Reilly stood at the corner of their cover, blasting away at a wall with her shotgun where she knew raiders were hiding. She was rewarded with a scream when one of the holes she blasted had a cowering raider behind it. Turning towards the two, she saw Cid struggling as the doctor pulled one of the pieces of burning metal that had penetrated his armor out and tossed it aside.

"Fuck!" shouted Cid as the field medic began digging again. The large man yanked away from the doctor.

"Hold still goddammit." commanded Butcher as he reached for Cid again, but the man jerked away.

Cid looked like he was about to lash back, but a louder and even more commanding voice dominated his thoughts. "Lay down, quit struggling, and let him pull the shrapnel out! Now!" bellowed Reilly as she glared down at him. The man looked up at her, stunned. Normally around him, she'd been a timid blushing girl. But now, she was covered in plaster dust, sand, and dirt, with a shotgun in her hands and a death glare in her eyes. "Do it before I put my foot up your ass and hold you down myself!"

He wanted to laugh at the image, but he knew very well that his life might well be forfeit if he did. So, obeying his new boss, he laid on his stomach, and allowed the medic to finish, which was helped by a dosing of Med-X. When the extractions were finally finished, Butcher attached his back plate again, and he was finally allowed to stand. "I would say take it easy for a while, but we all know that nobody listens to a goddamn word I say. So just try not to let it happen again." said Butcher sourly as he had to yell over the sound of gunfire.

Cid, as if to make a playful jab at the man, got to his feet, grabbed his weapon, and said, "What's that? Sorry, too loud in here." Then he barreled back down the hallway with his weapon blazing.

"You sure as shit know how to pick 'em." said Butcher as he stood up and lit a cigarette.

"Damn right I do." she said and charged after him to join in the fight.

OoOoO

Three floors up the building, the second parties ghoul army had finally been eradicated. The entire floor had been cleared of cubicles prior to the invasion, and the only form of cover was a low wall that had separated the different sections of the floor, as well as providing the office workers with much needed power outlets. The raiders, who were now well aware of the ensuing invasion, were now crouched behind the low wall, waiting for the attackers to enter so that they could fire on them. Behind them on the far side of the room was a large window that went from floor to ceiling, and wall to wall that had been blasted out when the bombs fell. For now, it just gave them a good view of the opposite building.

But the quiet was killing them. Their group, which consisted of around twenty raiders waited, their trigger fingers itchy as they expected the assholes to burst into the room and get shot to shit. But something wasn't right. There was no noise, there was no running, there was no kicking in the door. There was just...silence. And it was driving them fucking nuts.

Suddenly, one of them caught a wiff of something that smelled sweet. "The hell is that?" he asked, a smile now covering his face. He looked down at his hands, then moved them back and forth, his digits leaving a colored fade behind them. "Woah…"

"I don't feel so well…" said another of the men as they looked frantically from one of their group to another. "What the hell is wrong with your faces?" he asked, crawling backwards on his hands.

"What the fuck is your problem?" asked another one who was laughing like an idiot. "I'm feeling great right now!" he said as he flexed his hands. The others of the group were also looking at each other in amazement, as if seeing each other for the first time. For the first few minutes, they were all chipper and eager for more. But in less than five minutes, the situation degraded sorely.

The raider that had crawled backwards was now screaming as he looked from one to the other. Then the rest of them looked at him, then at each other and grabbed their weapons. They saw faces, laughing faces in the darkness all around them. Twisted, warped faces on their companions, laughing at them, calling them names. The darkness around them was suffocating, it was devouring them. Finally, the screaming man had had enough, and got to his feet, then sprinted away. Unfortunately for him, the direction he ran was straight out the window, where he fell four stories down and died upon impact.

"What the fuck is going on!?" asked another of the men as they looked around at the shifting mire of darkness that suddenly covered the entire room.

"Ya be on the doorstep of da reapa." said a voice in front of them. Suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared a mask, then shortly after, a body. The body was all black and painted with white tattoo that made his ebony skin look skeletal, and the mask was a warped and angry skull with burning red eyes.

"Wh-What the fuck is that!?" shouted a female who was now tripping over herself. The rest of the men grabbed their weapons, but when they looked at each other, instead of staring at their comrades who they intended to kill with, they looked at more entities with angry burning eyes and skeletal faces.

"Dat be ya worst nightmare! Da demons dat come to get yah!" shouted the skull figure in the back.

All it took was one. One terrified raider raised his weapon and fired on another. Suddenly, gunfire was all around them as they all began to shoot each other. Bullet after bullet pierced human body as the terrified men and women tried to defend themselves against their darkest visions. When it was finally over, only one stood. Tears coursing down his face, he looked around, his hands shaking, as he looked around to see if more were waiting for him. But only the face of darkness was left. "You! You did this! You son of a bitch!" shouted the raider as he raised his weapon and fired. But his stomach tanked when he heard a click sound from his automatic weapon.

"Ya fate is ya own. Waak away now, or ya be sharin' it wit de oders." remarked the skull man as he vanished and appeared right in front of the raider. He pointed over the raider's shoulder at the opposite end of the room. "Run."

But the man had lost his sanity at that point, and just wanted it all to go away. "Just die!" he shouted as he raised his weapon like a club and swung it down hard. But the weapon went through him like smoke. The swing carried everything he had, all the weight and muscle that he could give. So when the weapon went straight through the skull-headed figure, he began to stumble forward. Suddenly, all of the darkness, the skull man, all of it vanished, and the raider found himself looking straight down as he took his last step off the edge of the window.

"Ya chose ya fate." said Jamaar as he turned away from the man, who was now falling and screaming. A few seconds later, there was a loud thud as he hit the concrete below.

All of the Brotherhood of Steel members, including Paladin Vargas, just stared at the man as he left the room. Vargas shook his head as he registered what he just saw. He hadn't believed it at first, but he couldn't deny what he'd seen with his own eyes. First, he held something that looked like a cigarette in his mouth, warning them to put on their protective masks.

Vargas had looked at Sonora for some kind of confirmation that this was a joke, but the leader of the Regulators was the first to put her mask on. Following her lead, the rest did as well, followed by his own squad. Sighing to himself, the old idiom 'Better safe than sorry' entered his head as he sealed his head inside the environmental containment of the helmet. Afterwards he closed his fist, then opened it to reveal a flame in his palm, which was certainly impressive. But there were many magicians still looking for work in the wastes, using their tricks to weasel caps out of people. Once the cigarette was lit, he blew a smoke pattern into the air that looked eerily similar to a skull.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the wind picked up and the skull vanished underneath the door. Shortly afterwards, he opened the door to find a bunch of raiders that were sprawled out and lounging as if they didn't have a care in the world. That quickly changed however once one of them went running off the edge of the building. The others stood up and were looking at the window as if someone outside were talking to them. In less than a minute the raiders began panicking and firing at each other until there was only one left standing. The man, near maniacal, took a swing at some invisible force, causing him to stumble and fall out the window as well.

Now, Vargas watched as Jamaar walked over to the door to their left, which led upstairs to the last and final room. He wasn't a believer in whatever sorcery this man claimed to obtain before, but he certainly was now. Knight Captain Gallows walked up to him and gave him a small nudge. _"Remind me never to piss him off."_ said the Knight, getting nothing but a nod from his superior.

" _Alright, let's get the last floor of this place finished! Then we're moving across the bridge to meet up with the other team!"_ shouted Vargas as he allowed the strange mystic Regulator to take the lead this time, the strange cigarette still burning in his mouth.


	38. End of an Era

OoO( 38 )OoO

Since their entrance into the main building, the sandstorm had died down outside, leaving nothing but billowing green clouds and thunder as the radstorm finally bowled over the two buildings. Sonora's group had finally reached the top floor of their building, blasting their way through waves of raiders and psychotics to reach their goal. And with the assistance of Paladin Vargas and the other Brotherhood of Steel soldiers, they made quick time.

When she began to step up the stairs to the final floor, she was assaulted not only by the offensive sight of a raider pounding into a woman from behind, but a smell of body odor that almost made her want to vomit. She just raised her rifle and let a shot off that sent him careening to the side, immediately dead. The woman, outraged at the intruders, pulled out a knife and charged the leader of the Regulators. But Paladin Vargas stepped forward, grabbed the raider, then threw her through the wall and out into the cloudy radiated night, her screams swallowed by the sounds of thunder.

"Thanks metal man." said Sonora as she donned her protective gear again. "For the assist, and for making me have to gear up again." she said playfully.

 _"Please. From the look on your face, the smell was going to make you gear up anyway."_ he said, slight humor in his voice. The three other power armored members of the group looked at each other.

 _"They've certainly grown friendly."_ remarked Gallows as he trailed behind the other two.

"Don't let him hear ya say that. He's already threatened y'all once." said Belle with a grin as she followed them up the stairs. The rest of the floor was a large series of rooms that might have once been apartments.

 _"Alright. We've got a lot of rooms to clear up here. Brotherhood, start on the right side. Regulators on the left, and clear one by one. Glade, you stay ahead of us in case anyone hears a commotion and decides to check it out."_ he said to their heavy arms expert.

The man saluted, then took his post up front with his gatling laser. _"Ten four."_ said Paladin Glade as he flipped off the safety. Vargas was the first to crash through one of the doors. The pair in the room were two males sleeping off a hangover. Raising his laser rifle, the vice captain of the Lyon's Pride annihilated them both while they were still waking up.

Belle kicked in the next door and immediately saw one of the raiders in the room with a needle in her arm, pumping herself with Med-X. She raised her shotgun and destroyed what the drugs hadn't taken from the woman's face.

Down the line the groups went, kicking doors in and eliminating anyone inside. Eventually, it became loud enough that some of the raiders in the rooms who weren't doped into oblivion peeked out to see what the ruckus was. Their curiosity was rewarded with destruction as Paladin Glade lit them up with wall piercing lasers. Jamaar ended up being the last one to finish the floor.

He walked into the final room on the floor with a raider wielding a double-barreled shotgun. The raider, who was completely bald, hid at the back of the room with the weapon and as soon as the door opened he fired both rounds, blowing the door in half. Unfortunately for him, nobody was standing at the door. He frantically started reloading his weapon when a large dark hand grasped his face.

"Don't worry. It be ov'a soon." said a soothing deep voice with an accent. Suddenly the raider started screaming as Jamaar let go if him, a black, boiling mark where the man's hand touched. The mire of skin started to spread until it covered the figures entire head, causing him to scream from pain the likes of which he had never felt in his life. After a long minute, the screaming stopped, and the man died with a horrible, agonizing look on his face. The blackened skin however, continued to cover his entire form, until he eventually turned to ash.

 _"This building is clear, but he's still not in here. That means we need to meet up with the others."_ said Vargas as he stepped up to Sonora.

She nodded to the paladin. "There's a bridge from here to the other complex. They should have found him by now, so the floor we're crossing to should be clear."

 _"Right. Let's get a move on."_ said the Brotherhood leader as he made his way back down the stairs to the floors below.

OoOoO

Eternity. That's what it felt like, an eternity of fire, torture, and suffering. Thus far, he'd had three hours of nothing but cutting, stabbing, burning, peeling, and many more things that the raider leader had administered upon him. Right now his head was hanging in unconsciousness as the blades that were stuck through him were preventing his healing. At the moment, the healing was actually working against him. As the tissue tried to seal itself up again, it ruptured on the sharpened edges of the blades still planted in his body. The pain it caused the wanderer sent him spiraling into the depths of oblivion.

The Talon Company mercenary, who up to this point had been enjoying himself, stared down the stairs nervously. Now sporting his helmet again, and the shotgun that he'd stolen back from the gunman, he glared up at the raider who was sharpening the last of his tools that he intended to use. _"What the hell is taking you so long? Hurry up and finish him off so we can get the hell out of here!"_ shouted the power armored figure.

The raider glared up at the man with a burning hatred through his one eye. "I have no intention of leaving this building until he's dead. This maggot killed my son, and he'll die when I say he does!" he said, turning back to the limp form of the wanderer.

 _"He is not to be trifled with. If you won't do it, then I will!"_ shouted the power armored man as he stomped over to the gunman and raised his shotgun.

"You lay a finger on my prize and I'll turn you into a fucking cannibal buffet!" shouted the raider, who stood in the way. "I'll finish him, here and now. He doesn't get to walk away after what he did, but I'll be goddamned if I let a coward like you kill this bastard!" said the boss as he held the final sword up to the figures throat threateningly.

Officer Mack glared at the figure through the power armors yellow tinted HUD. _"Fine, do it. But make it fucking quick. I'm not waiting around with the Brotherhood storming up to kill us."_ he commanded, turning back to the door and holding the shotgun up, preparing to fire on anyone who burst through the door with a couple of other raiders.

The leader of the raiders sighed, then turned back to John. "Well, looks like fun times over. It's been a blast kid, but I've gotta end it now." he said as he held the blade at the man's throat.

 _"Do you really though?"_ asked a girlish voice.

The raider stepped back, looking around the room. "Who the hell was that."

 _"Your worst nightmare. If you think you're going to kill him, then you have another thing coming."_ said the childish tone again. _"His pipboy is a makeshift bomb that's strong enough to level this entire floor. And if you attempt to kill him, I'm activating it and taking all three of you out."_ said the voice again.

The raider looked at the pipboy frantically, spotting the digital figure on the display. She was glaring at him fiercely. "You..." he said, the events of the day adding up in his head. "You're the one who called the others here..." he said, lowering his blade.

 _"That's right. And I'm more than willing to sacrifice myself to keep him from getting destroyed by a radroach like you."_ she said.

"You'd be killing him in the process..." said the raider, trying to judge the girl to see if she was bluffing.

 _"It'd be better than letting him die to your hands."_ she said then crossed her arms on the display. _"You think I'm joking, go ahead and make a move. See what happens."_ she said, her foot now tapping.

The raider looked at her curiously, then began to chuckle. "You really think I care if I live or die in this? He killed my son!" shouted the man, who was practically fuming.

 _"Your son was scum, just like you. You get all sensitive and emotional now that your poor little baby is gone. But where were those tears when you were doing what you do to slaves, and freemen? Where were your tears for the people who had their lives ripped apart because you and your spawn decided they weren't worthy enough to live?"_ she yelled, then spat on the virtual ground in front of her. _"He deserved what he got, and you deserve exactly what you're about to get."_ she said, now grinning.

The raider was stunned into silence for a moment, then was about to ask what the hell she was talking about when an explosive sound behind him nearly ruptured his eardrums. The force from the explosion nearly blew him off his feet, and it sent the sword flying across the room. Magnus, who had been guarding the door began to fire into the smoke from the explosion, but he realized how effective his shots were when a silver blur of power armor barrelled through the coughing raiders and aimed straight for him.

The hulking mass smashed into the merc, then lifted him up into the air, before finally slamming him down onto the ground with enough force to nearly concuss him. The commander of the Lyon's Pride lifted her armored foot and slammed it down into the man's chest, making the floor give way and sending him crashing through the floors below. Cid slid the rocket launcher back across his shoulders before charging into the room behind Sarah and slamming his powerfist into the first bewildered man's stomach. The impact shattered every rib in the man's chest, and sent him crash through one of the crumbling walls and into the next room.

Reilly and the Rangers stepped into the enormous hole where the door once was, laying down a blanket of fire that annihilated the remaining raiders in the room. When the smoke finally cleared, they saw Sarah smash the Talon merc through the floor and into the depths of the building below. When she had finished with the power armored fiend, she looked around to make sure the room was clear, when her eyes fell upon the gunman. Her entire body froze at the horrifying sight.

She couldn't really say why if asked, but at that moment all of her brief memories of him flooded back into her head. Their first meeting, and the clash of personalities that resulted in a nervous group of paladins beside her. She had always had an overpowering personality, often getting called a boy when she was younger simply because she was tougher than most of them. And her unusual height didn't help matters, making her always at least a few inches above the rest of everyone in the classes. Because of her size, her classes often came with nicknames attached. Among them, the Brahmin, Supermutant Sarah, and Barbie the Barbarian. Those were just the names from the boys. The girls that she had to hang around with in the Citadel classes were much more crude and ruthless.

Throughout her life however, conflicts were always behind her, whispered in dark corners. Nobody had the balls to actually call her such things to her face, as her size made her a very menacing presence to those who pissed her off. Not to mention she was the Elder's daughter, making them even less confrontational. On that day, when she'd met him for the first time, after he foolishly threw himself into an all out brawl with the supermutants outside GNR, she'd had her first back talk. The first time someone actually stood up to her and actually said something to her face that wasn't a conniving manipulative snake. It had stunned her at first, hearing his remarks about her title. But after he walked away, she realized he was right. A sentinel was supposed to be a guardian. Someone who protected others, not condemned them to the metaphorical lions because they were in her way. With much irritation, she realized that she would have to apologize.

Then he'd saved her life. And from that day forward, he'd been like a lifelong best friend to her. Someone who felt like he'd always been there, even though they'd just met. They joked and bantered for his entire stay at the GNR. And when he finally decided he'd be leaving, she felt a loss that she had never felt before. It wasn't anything heartbreaking, but seeing a good friend walk away, never knowing when they'd return, or even if they would survive the week in the hellish wastes left a bit of a void in her. Her troops would always be close friends to her, but they were always careful to criticize the daughter of Elder Lyons. The wanderer however, had no such stigmas. He was a free spirit, who pointed out her weaknesses, and congratulated her strengths. To her, that was more important than a thousand people praising her status as the Elder's daughter.

Feeling her blood boiling at the sight, she activating her eject protocols. The power armor opened in the back, allowing her to step out of her metallic suit. Her bright blonde hair was pulled up into a tight bun, and she was once again wearing one of the armored, skin-tight Brotherhood of Steel branded catsuits that they had all seen in the GNR building when her armor was damaged. The commander looked over at the gunman and her heart hurt just to see him. He was suspended in midair with meat hooks through his shoulders, as well as a pair speared through his legs. Also holding him were chains wrapped around his arms, his waist, and his legs. The chains around his arms and legs prevented retaliation to the torture, while the hooks kept him anchored and floating in mid air. As strong as he was, even he wouldn't be able to break all of them at once. But horrors didn't stop there. There were approximately ten different blades sticking out of his chest, stomach, and sides, making him look like some twisted mix between a marionette and a pincushion.

After staring at the gunman for a long moment, she turned away, her emotions beginning to well up within her. When she did, her eye finally caught something off to the side. A few feet away, leaning against the remaining wall was an eye-patched raider, holding his head in pain. "You..." she said forcefully. He snapped out of his stupor and looked at her with his one good eye. "You did this to him!" she shouted, the anger and hurt apparent in her voice. The man started reaching behind his back for another blade however, causing her to spring into action. The giant woman dashed forward and sent a swinging kick into his stomach that winded him and sent him slamming into the far wall. "You...monster..." she said, feeling her eyes start stinging as her blood welled with rage. "You will pay!" she bellowed as she rushed forward again before he could recover.

Reilly, Brick, and Butcher watched in awe as the blonde woman unleashed a flurry of kicks that were so fast that they could barely be registered by the human eye, and so powerful that each one resulted in a loud snapping as another of the groaning raider's bones broke from the insane blows. Kick after kick after kick pounded the brutalized man into the crumbling stone wall until she let out one last war cry, and sent a final powerful side kick that hit him in the chest. The blow was so powerful that it crushed his sternum into dust, as well as the wall behind him, sending him soaring out into the stormy air to fall to the ground ten stories below.

Sonora and Vargas entered through the new door that had been created by Cid's launcher, and took in the scene before them. The regulator leader turned away from the sight of the gunman, while Vargas just shook his head. "Hijo de puta..." was all the accented woman said as she walked out of the room again, shortly followed by Reilly who didn't want to look at the wanderer's body anymore.

Sarah looked at the hole in the wall she created with the man's body, with the swirling green, radioactive clouds outside. She hadn't been harmed once during the entire raid of the tower, but right now her body felt like lead. Turning, she walked over to the vault dweller and knelt down in front of him with her head bowed. "I'm...sorry..." she said, trying to keep a strangled sob from escaping her throat.

"Th-That's twice..." came a voice that made her snap her eyes open immediately. She looked up the see the wanderer looking down at her through a strange pair of glowing green eyes.

"W-What?" she asked.

"You've...You've apologized twice..." he said jokingly, before coughing and spilling blood down his already caked chin.

Standing straight, she stared at him. "Medic!" she shouted, and immediately Butcher and Paladin Kodiak ran forward.

 _"We have to get him down and fast!"_ shouted Kodiak as he looked over at Gallows. _"Get your ass over here with the torch. We have to burn through the chains! Commander..."_ he said, turning to Sarah. She looked at him, her eyes still wide from discovering that he was alive. _"I need you to lift him up after we remove the hooks from his legs. He needs support so we can get him off the upper hooks."_ he said. She simply nodded, then looked back up at him as Gallows activated the carbon arc torch that he always carried.

"H-How are you alive?" she asked still bewildered, as if she were living a dream right now.

"Too...stupid to...die...I guess..."he said through laboured breathing. Sarah, despite the emotional trainwreck she had just gone through, cracked a smile at his smartass comment. But her answer came when Cid finally approached.

The large man closed his eyes and looked away from the wanderer with a grimace on his face. "Jesus Christ man, I don't know if even radiation is going to fix all that." he said.

The looked from John, to Cid. "Radiation?" she asked curiously.

"It's a long story, but the short of it is that radiation heals him now. Like...super healing." said the former mercenary.

Sarah looked at John for confirmation, only getting a tired nod in response. "His body regenerates from radiation? How...?" she asked, but Paladin Kodiak cut her off as the hooks holding his legs down snapped.

 _"Support!"_ shouted Kodiak, and Sarah wrapped her arms around his body delicately, trying not to touch any of the blades protruding from his torso. It was delicate work, but they finally cut through the chains and the upper hooks as well. With the help of everyone present, they lowered him to the floor, where he sat up straight, each of the blades still penetrating his body. _"Now, Butcher is going to remove the blades. We need to do it slowly to make sure we don't cause any more damage."_ said the Paladin as he wiped the blood away from the gunman's chin. When John nodded, he turned and signaled for the medic to begin.

Butcher reached down and grabbed the nearest knife as John sat up, his breathing becoming heavier with each passing minute. The medic began to slowly slide the blade out, but despite his gentleness, the wanderer still screamed in pain. After pulling the first blade out, he tossed it aside and reached for another, but Sarah stopped him. Looking at John, she stared into his eyes deeply. "You said that radiation can heal you, right?" she asked. He nodded to her, and she looked over at Butcher. "Move." she commanded.

"B-But..." said Butcher as he tried to object, but the glare he got immediately squashed any fight he had. He quickly moved and Sarah took his place, kneeling next to the wanderer and holding him up with her hand on the back of his neck. Reaching down and grabbing the handle of another blade, she smiled at him sadly.

"You once did that for me, and because of it I'm walking normally now. So I'm going to make this as quick as possible, alright?" she asked. He nodded his head rapidly, his nervous raw from the jolts of pain that even touching the knife sent through him. Gripping the knife handle tightly, she ripped the blade free from his body. He let out another shriek of pain, and she immediately grabbed another, doing the same before he could recover. After a third, fourth, and fifth, he started fighting back.

"G-Give me a second to breath!" he shouted, trying to grab her hand to prevent her from getting another. But she had already grabbed another blade and the force of his hand only helped her pull it out. He bit his lip, drawing blood from the pain. The blonde woman grabbed two more that were close enough for her larger hands to grasp and pulled them clean as well, leaving only one long sword that was currently buried in his stomach. "I said stop!" he shouted, struggling again.

Sarah growled in irritation as he flailed and she grabbed the back of his hair roughly. "Stop acting like a child and let me pull it out already! It's the last one!" she said, but the futile struggle in his weakened form still continued. When she'd finally gotten fed up with his insubordination, she was about to erupt in anger, when a better idea popped into her head. Gripping the hair on the back of his head tightly, she leaned forward and planted her lips on his. His body immediately froze all movements, and he stared at her, his eyes wide and hers closed.

An audible gasp was heard from nearly everyone in the room, except for Cid, who let out a loud, "Ha!" As soon as the gunman's body went rigid, Sarah pulled the sword from his stomach, resulting in another loud groan from the wanderer. But he finally relaxed when the blade finally left its resting place.

Sarah pulled away from the kiss, which, much to her blushing self, had been mutual. Staring at him with a defiant smile, she simply asked, "See? That wasn't so bad was it?"

"What wasn't?" he asked, still staring at her, his mind completely out of sorts at the moment.

"Shouldn't we be getting him over to the wall?" asked Reilly curiously. They all looked at her. "I mean, if radiation accelerates his healing, then we should get him over to the hole so the radstorm can help him...right?" she asked, second guessing herself.

"Yes! Drag me over there! And you..." he said, smiling again and pointing at the blonde woman. "Get your damn armor on before you get radiation poisoning." he commanded. Her eyebrow twitched at being commanded, but she recalled that not too long ago, she lamented at the loss of his free spirited attitude. As Kodiak and Gallows pulled him over to the wall, she walked back over to her armor, stepped inside, and allowed it to close again around her, encasing her in the metallic structure again.

They sat him up and held him as the swirling green clouds from outside the new hole in the wall billowed around his form. His breathing eased, and all present, aside from Cid who'd seen the act before, stared in awe as his wounds sealed up almost immediately. After a minute longer in the cloud, he felt his normal vision start to fade again. "What the fuck?" said Butcher, who dropped his med kit.

All present watched, their eyes widening even more when they saw the wanderer's veins begin to glow with radioactive green energy. Grabbing the Paladins' hands, he pulled himself up to his feet and walked quickly over to the stash where they had stored his weapons and armor. He pulled on a pair of pants and immediately grabbed his headset, turning it on and looking around the room. "What are you doing?" asked Cid who stepped up to the wanderer.

"I still have a rat to catch." he said and grinned as he spotted his target far down below.

OoOoO

Due to the heavy suit of armor he was wearing, the fall from one floor to another resulted in him crashing through each floor and down to the bottom. When he finally hit something that didn't crumble under his weight, he nearly blacked out. It took his several minutes to come back to his senses, and when he finally did, he realized that he had once again failed. Growling, he got to his armored feet and stumbled out of the building, nearly crashing to the ground again when one of the legs jammed.

The damage that he had taken to the suit before was fixable, but only enough to get him moving again. The combination of the continuous assault from the unarmed gunman, as well as the crash from his rocket landing had put the formerly abandoned suit through its paces, leaving it nearly unusable. But he managed to fix it enough so that it ran again long enough for him to gather the asshole raiders and capture that vault shit again. After the fall he went through though, he felt the suit failing all around him.

The leg jamming occasionally, the HUD not showing up, the temperature fluctuating inside the suit, the backups non responsive, all of it screamed that this shell he'd been hiding in for so long was on its last leg.

"Mack!" came a voice from on top of the building. He froze when he heard it. "I'm coming for you, you son of a bitch!" came the voice again, the voice of John echoing across the stormy broken parking lot. He picked up the pace, spitting curses whenever the leg jammed again.

"Work you piece of shit!" he shouted, pounding on the leg with his gauntleted hand until it started moving again. Within a minute he had made a decent distance from the building. He had high hopes that he'd be too far away before the group made it out of the building, but his hopes were dashed when he heard another shout.

The voice hit him from not far off. "Oh Stevie! I see you!" shouted the wanderer. Mack spun around and tried to look through the hazy cloud of the storm, but without the suits internal targeting system, he couldn't even locate the gunman. Not that he'd be able to in this radiation infested air anyway. He turned this way and that, trying to find out where he was, but the only thing he could get was the voice, which echoed around in the storm so much that he couldn't even get a read on the direction it came from. "You taught me a lesson, you know that? Don't play with your food. If you do, it has a chance to get away." said the gunman from an unknown location.

His voice modulator failing again, he spoke clearly with his own voice through the helmet. "If you're going to fight me, then fight me. Quit hiding like a bitch!" he shouted.

"As you wish!" said the former vault dweller as he flew out of the swirling radioactive clouds and slammed into the armored man. The blow made Mack stumble, but he didn't fall. Reacting to the hit, the mercenary spun forward and swung at John, but he was too slow due to the suit breaking down. John easily dodged the attack, then reached forward and grabbed Mack by the helmet. Under his immense strength, the environmental seal cracked, spraying out the air inside the helmet. John tore the helmet free of Mack's head, once again showing his scarred face where the bullet had taken one of his eyes. "That's twice I failed to kill you fully. Don't expect the same courtesy."

"Fuck you!" shouted Stevie Mack as he ran forward again. But his leg locked once more, refusing to allow him to go forward. His rival spun around the suit and grabbed the fusion pack on the man's back, then physically tore it off the suit. All functions of the power armor stopped at that point, making it nothing but an anchor for the former vault security officer. John set the glowing fusion cells on the ground, his body lighting up again with glowing veins and burning eyes.

"Now, I'm going to ask you this once..." said the gunman as he tore open the back of the suit and pulled the man out of it. The roughness with which he jerked him out of the armor resulted in the man's ankle snapping as it got caught. Underneath the armor, he'd still been wearing his vault 101 jumpsuit. The gunman easily tossed his former vault-mate onto the ground, sending him rolling. "What did you do to Amata?" he asked.

Mack got to his hands and knees, breathing heavily and trying not to cry out in pain from his newly shattered ankle. "What?" he asked through gritted teeth, his lungs now taking in the radioactive dust that was starting to dissipate, showing the end of the storm.

"You fucking heard me Steve!" shouted John, who lashed out and kicked the man in the stomach hard enough to lift him from the ground. The former officer felt the wind rush from his lungs as the piston-like kick thudded into his ribs, breaking at least two that he could feel. "What did you do to Amata!?" he shouted.

Stevie Mack breathed heavily, wheezing as he tried to get his answer out. "I...didn't do shit...to her. She's the one who kicked me out of the fucking vault after I recovered!" he said desperately. "I never laid a hand on her. Now please...spare me..." said the man who was curled up into a ball on the ground, all of the fight taken out of him without his armor to shield him.

John just smiled, then grabbed him and lifted him above his head. "Sorry, but I'm through sending a message. Now, it's time to eliminate those too stupid to listen." he said as he prepared to do to Stevie what he did to Rocco.

"Bastard!" shouted Mack as he slid a hidden baton out of his sleeve, whipped it out, and jabbed John with the end of it. The gunman immediately felt electricity flowing through him again from the stun weapon and his body spasmed, making him shout in pain as he dropped his quarry.

Stevie, not missing his chance, hit the ground and immediately got to his feet as the gunman recovered from the attack. He could now see clearly through the thin radiation haze as the storm lessened even more, despite the rumbling sounds of thunder from above. Stumbling forward, he swung the baton like a bat and smashed it into the side of John's head.

Even with his durability, a blow like that left the gunman senseless for a few moments, more then enough time for the injured man to take another swing. "You're right John!" he said laughing as he jabbed the vault dweller with the baton again, sending another shock through him that dropped him to his stomach. "You should have just killed me! Now, let's see how your healing handles it when I cave your fucking head in!" he shouted and raised the baton again.

John shook his head, stars in his eyes as he watched his former vault mate raise the metal bludgeoning weapon up to smite him. But Mack wasn't expecting an attack from behind, least of all from a wild animal. A dog had sprinted out of cover from one of the buildings and bolted up to the guard, jumping up and latching onto Mack's arm. The surprised mercenary yelled in pain as the Australian Cattle dog tore at his forearm viciously.

John tried to rise to his feet, but the shock to his system left his legs shaky. "You son of a bitch! Get off me!" shouted Mack as he jabbed the rod into the dog's side and shocked him as well. The dog yelped in pain and let go, whimpering as it tried to get away from the weapon. However, despite the animals attack, Stevie once again focused on John. Jabbing him again with the rod, he shocked him once more, then swung and smacked him in the side of his head, smashing the headset that the wanderer was wearing and sending stars exploding in his head again. "Unlike you punk, I don't play with my fucking food!" he shouted, then raised the electrified baton again to strike.

OoOoO

Everyone inside the building jumped in fright as a flash of lightning struck so close that they could all feel the hair on their bodies stand on end. The thunderous sound echoed for nearly twenty seconds before they could all hear again. "What the fuck!?" shouted Cid as he jammed a finger in his ear to clear the ringing.

 _"Was that lightning?"_ asked Sarah as she looked at the door. _"Alright, he's had plenty of time. I don't give a shit if he doesn't like it, we're going after him. Suit up if you haven't already and follow me!"_ she commanded before bursting out the door and into the clearing street. She sprinted towards the sound of barking, registering that there was a dog nearby, and stopped when she finally reached a curious scene. _"What the hell?"_ she asked.

The Enclave power armor was standing by itself, the back torn open and its power source pulled off completely. On the ground was a man in a vault 101 jumpsuit holding a police baton of some kind, and right next to him was the gunman, who was holding his head and getting his face licked clean by a dog. Reilly and Sonora walked up and looked at the scene as well, Reilly giggling at the mauling that the wanderer was getting from the dog's tongue, and Sonora just shaking her head. "Hey, alborotador! You alright?" she asked as the man sat up, still rubbing his head.

"Yeah...just a headache, and a temporary bout of blindness and deafness." said John as he continued rubbing his eyes.

 _"What the hell happened here?"_ asked Sarah as she removed her helmet. The cloud had moved on by now, making the air breathable again without the possibility of lung cancer.

When he could finally see again, the gunman stood and stretched his limbs out. "He was one of my fellow vault dwellers back in One-oh-one. I thought I killed him before I left for torturing the Overseer's daughter. But it turns out that an emergency surgery saved him. Shortly after he recovered, they kicked him out. And I guess since then, he's been out for my head." he said as he walked up to the body of Stevie Mack. The man's expression was one of shock, but his eyes were lifeless and his body limp. He was smoking from underneath the jumpsuit, and there were burns covering his face.

"I meant, out here." said Sarah. "What happened to him?" she asked.

"Oh..." he said, shaking his head again. "He pulled out a stun baton. I guess I'm still not used to electric shocks. But the dog saved me before he smashed my head in. He tried again then..." he said, but Butcher beat him to the punch.

The medic had been examining the former vault dweller's body while they spoke, and his conclusion came loud and clear. "He was struck by lightning..." he said, his eyebrows high in appreciation for the occurrence.

"Yeah...I guess the metal baton he raised into the air wasn't really that great of an idea." said John who seemed to have most of his senses back. "Now, if you guys don't mind, I have a job to finish." he said as he motioned for Butcher's pistol. The medic handed him the 9mm, and he loaded it, then turned off the safety. Turning back to his former vault dweller, he aimed at the already dead man's head. "Goodbye Stevie." he said, then unloaded the entire magazine into the man's head.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Just so you all know, the reason for the time span that this chapter took was because I had a decision to make. See, I've been watching more and more of Fallout 4 let's plays, and the more I do, the more I see similarities between my story here and different plot points in the game itself. As a matter of fact, one of the plot points that was in the story before the game was even announced happens to be in Fallout 4, word for word. So the decision I had to make was, do I try and segregate my story from the Fallout 4 scenario's to try and keep anyone from thinking I ripped them off? Or do I continue down the only road I've ever known?

The answer, which I'm sure some of you will enjoy, and some of you not so much, is that despite what Fallout 4 may have in it, I intend to keep true to the story that I was already telling. And it's flattering to see that some of my brain creations are now in Fallout lore, even if they did come from someone else's brain too. So hey, enjoy my story while playing the game for yourself and see two time periods interwoven masterfully.

And, as it turns out, I can't play Fallout 4 because my laptop is weaksauce, and has horrible lag during the game. -_- I can't win for losing...


	39. Karma

OoO( 39 )OoO

The wasteland was always a harsh place, not just because of the blazing sun, the skin shredding sands, or the desolate, lifeless landscape. It was also harsh because people made it harsh, a lesson he had received a hundred fold over a couple of hours yesterday. Despite what he'd been through, and the scar it'd left on his soul, he could rarely remember being in such a good mood. Together, he, Cid, the Rangers, and Belle from the Regulators trekked from the now ravaged Bethesda ruins towards the town of Megaton.

Cid, after the scene with him and the commander of the Lyon's Pride back in the tower, had had a permanent smirk on his face. John was sorely tempted to rip it off his face until he also found out that his good friend Cid, and the leader of the Rangers were now a somewhat couple. The redhead had let it slip casually when Cid was jabbing John jokingly about the whole kiss scene up in the tower. John knew that the entirety of the rescue, from the time the titan Sarah blasted through the door, to the point where they parted ways again would be burned in his head for the rest of his life. His thoughts once again drifted back to moment that gun clicked in his hand, signalling that it was empty.

OoOoO

After the gun clicked several times, he finally lowered it, then handed it back to the medic. Before anyone could say anything, he spoke himself. "I'm sorry everyone, for getting you all into this." he said. A few of them were going to retort, but he stopped them with a raised hand. "Please, just, let me say what I'm going to say." he said. They all once again gave him a respectful silence. "I'm sorry again that you all had to get me out of here. I was stupid to have been caught the way I was, and I was even more stupid to be as arrogant as I have been." he said.

"Arrogant?" asked Cid.

"Yeah. I was so confident that nobody could touch me because of my strength and regeneration that I let him get away, and I ended up endangering your lives, in the process of endangering my own." he said as he reached up and rubbed his neck.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, until Sarah smiked and said, "Oh shut up drama queen." she said. He looked at her incredulously, but she never lost her smile. "We've all done stupid shit. In case you've forgotten, the last time I did something stupid, you followed it up by doing something even stupider by rescuing me." she said.

He went back to their first meeting, and remembered the pain of that moment when he caught her, power armor and all as she was soaring through the air. He reached up and scratched his head, letting out a nostalgic chuckle. "Oh...yeah..." he said.

"Humans are stupid by nature." continued Sarah. "If we were smart, we wouldn't be living in a wasteland right now. We'd be in a thriving civilization where energy and knowledge are limitless."

He crossed his arms, a small smile on his face. "You certainly know how to make someone stop feeling sorry for themselves." he said, amused.

"Everyone has their talents. Yours seems to be getting into trouble." she said.

He nodded as everyone chuckled. "Now, if you guys don't mind, I'm going to need a minute alone." he said, ignoring the worried looks and walking into the next room of the bottom floor. He closed the rickety door behind him, then slumped against the wall, sliding down slowly as he sat alone within the dark room. Even now, after his body had fully regenerated all of the numerous wounds that the psychotic raider had inflicted on him, he still felt them. The wounds hadn't scarred on his body, but this experience was something he was going to feel for a long time. Closing his eyes, he hold a hand over each as he felt a surge of emotion like he hadn't felt since the time in Springvale. His first kill outside the vault had been followed by a gush so strong that all he could do was sit and let the tears fall.

It was the same this time. All he did was let the tears fall silently with no change of expression on his face. He was actually surprised by how much it helped to allow himself this one weakness. All the pain that his mind remembered, fresh, as if it had just been done slowly released and fluttered away in those few moments. But, suddenly enough to make him jump in surprise, the door opened and in walked Sentinel Lyons. Her armor was off again, and she stood before him in her armored bodysuit, an image he remembered very well. He immediately turned away and tried to wipe away anything that exposed that he was crying, but she stopped him. Closing the door behind her, she just looked at him with her hair now down in a ponytail again.

"I just needed a minute..." he said, scrubbing away at his eyes.

But the woman walked over and sat down next to him. "I know. I came in to give you a minute." she said, then slid down next to him.

He looked up at her, the whites of his eyes bleary and red. Leaning his head back against the wall, he just sighed to himself. "You know, there was a reason why I came in here alone."

She just smiled and nudged him with an elbow. "Oh, I know. Because you didn't want to cry in front of a girl, right?" she asked with a chuckle. "Don't worry cowboy, your secret is safe with me." she said.

Even despite his sour mood, he gave her a chuckle. "I don't like crying in front of anyone."

"Of course. What would people think if the might Archangel were seen crying?" she asked dramatically. He glared at her with his piercing green eyes, only making her giggle more. "Please. Everyone needs someone. You can't be alone one hundred percent of the time." she said.

 _"He's not. So no worries there."_ came the voice from his pipboy.

Sarah looked at the pipboy with a startled expression. "What...?" she asked, unsure what to even ask.

"I have an AI on my pipboy. She came from the same place that turned me into what I am now." he said as he held it up for her to see. On the display was a young girl in her teens, but cartoonized, similar to how the Vault-Tec mascot, Vault Boy was.

 _"Don't worry Beefcake. He's got someone if he ever needs to talk."_ she said, her AI synthesized voice sounding more human than ever with the twinge of jealousy.

"Is that right?" asked Sarah, smiling as she picked up on the territorial tone. She normally didn't enjoy confrontations, but the nickname she'd now been given had put her in the mood.

Elsa nodded. _"That's right."_ she said crossing her arms. _"John and I have been partners for quite a while now."_ she said, a confident smirk on her pixelated face.

"Well then, if I'm not needed..." she said, starting to get up. But John's hand on her shoulder kept her from rising.

"Please, don't go..." he said, a pained expression in his voice. He looked over at Elsa and glared at her. "Elsa, be nice." he commanded.

The girl growled and turned around _. "Fine, you do whatever you want. I'll be here when you need me, long after she's gone."_ she said, vanished from the interface.

"Good...this is what I needed." he said, reaching up and rubbing his head.

"She seems nice." said Sarah jokingly as they both stood up. Once again, John cursed his genes, and the serum both. Both of him denied him the one thing he needed to look at her eye to eye, and that was his height. Regardless, he looked up at her tall figure and smiled.

"She's a bit childish. Too long playing one in the sim I think. Don't worry, she'll be alright in a little bit." he said with a smile.

Sarah just nodded. "Who knows, maybe she'll like me when she gets to know me." she said, shrugging. "But what about you?" she asked.

John looked at her a bit surprised. "Uhhh...well...I...don't really know." he said. He'd found himself in a very awkward situation. Since leaving the vault, he'd had three kinds of relationships. One where she had moved in on him, one where he moved in on her, and one where he was thoroughly, though enjoyably, used. Sarah was a blank card to him. He knew her, but not a lot about her, leaving him with confusing internal signals. "I...I guess I kinda do." he said, hoping the darkness in the room was enough to hide the fact that his head was red enough to explode.

But the woman gave him a confusing look. "You do what?" she asked.

"Like you." he said, looking at her oddly. He had played a lot of female games before, especially with Amata in the vault. Oftentimes when he was younger, she'd want to know about his feelings and he'd respond with some vague equivalent of an answer. But she demanded more, making him spell it out for her, despite his embarrassment. He wondered briefly if that's what Sarah's question was meant to do. But the look on her face changed from confusion to a bright smile, followed by loud chuckling. "What?" he asked.

When she managed to stop her giggles, she looked him dead in the eye. "What I said, what about you, I meant, are you going to be alright. Not do you like me." she said. His mind warped back to to the comment, where he had mentioned Elsa being alright in a little bit. Quickly followed by her question, it made sense that she meant that. But, now it was too late. With his face a mask of stone, he turned and walked for the door. But Sarah's arm shot out and caught him in a grip that was impressive to even his standards. "And where do you think you're going?" she asked playfully.

"To jump off the top floor." he said, a stone cold look on his face.

But the muscular woman grabbed him in a headlock so that he couldn't escape. "Why's that, cuz you admitted that you liked me?" she asked as she switched her grip up when he pulled loose. The effect was that each time he escaped, she caught him again in a different grip that he had to figure out.

"No, not really. Just making an ass of myself." he said, impressed that she managed to hold onto him.

"Oh no you don't." she said with a tone of finality as she kicked out and swept his feet out from under him. He hit the ground with a thud, and she climbed on top and held him down. "You aren't going anywhere." she said with a playful growl.

He just smirked up at her. "Think you can stop me?" he asked.

OoOoO

Paladin Vargas, who had been watching the chonometer display in his HUD practically since they decided to stay for a little longer, finally got impatient enough with his commander that he stood up. Reilly looked up at him curiously. "I thought she said to give them a while." said the redhead.

 _"We can't stay here for very much longer. We have duties to attend to back at the Citadel. Not to mention reporting..."_

 _"I've actually already reported in to Elder Lyons sir. He pretty much told us to take the day."_ said Paladin Kodiak. If Vargas weren't wearing his helmet, he knew he'd be getting an icy death glare. But the importance of them being here trumped Vargas' boredom.

 _"Even so..."_ he said, but was interrupted again.

"Look, I'll go check on them and make sure everything is fine." said Reilly as she stood up from cleaning her weapon. Vargas sighed, then went back to sitting while Reilly walked down the hall to the door the wanderer had vacated to. Reaching up, she knocked on the door, calling through it. "Hello, everything alright in there?" she asked.

"No! Help!" came the shout of the gunman. Her eyes widened and she ripped the door opened and stepped inside. Her expression changed, and her hand came loose from her pistol as she saw Sarah sitting on the vault dweller's back with his arms over her knees and her hands locked under his chin. "Please! Reilly!" he said, trying to reach out for her as Sarah flexed his body further. The head of the Rangers stepped back, closed the door, and turned her back right as she heard John shout, "Traitor!"

She stood there for a moment, thinking about what she just saw before busting out in laughter so hard she nearly lost her footing.

OoOoO

"I told you I'd win." said the woman with a big grin as she looked over at John.

John rubbed his neck sorely as he looked at her. "How in the hell did you manage that?" he asked.

"Martial arts rookie. You should try learning a few movies. Your brute strength isn't going to get you out of everything." she said with a grin as they sat side by side again, breathing heavily. "Feeling better though?" she asked.

"You mean aside from the probable fractures and dislocations you gave me?" he asked jokingly, getting a small kick from her to his leg. "Yeah, actually, I am. Thanks for that." he said, then looked over at her. "So, now that I've thoroughly made a fool of myself, can we still be friends?" he asked.

She shrugged and looked away from him briefly. "Of course. If that's all you want to be." she said.

"What was that?" he asked, putting a hand up to his ear theatrically.

"Maybe I kinda like you too." she said, looking back at him.

He felt his insides tie themselves into a knot when he heard the words. They were silent for a long moment before he just chuckled. "Wanna kiss again?" he asked with a playful grin. She needed no urging, as she leaned over and kissed him again. The two of them then intertwined, wrapping each others arms around one another as the kiss grew deeper and deeper, tongues wrestling for control. After a few more minutes, they finally pulled away from each other, both of them breathing deeply as their blood boiled. "How was it?" he asked.

"Totally gross." she said, then looked over at him with a playful laugh. "Wanna do it again?"

He just chuckled himself. "Definitely."

OoOoO

After a few more hours of recreation and repair, everybody had finally decided it was time to part ways. They met outside the Bethesda building where John was currently watching Knight Captain Gallows repair the Enclave Mark II power armor that no longer had an owner. Unlike Mack's inexperienced field repairs, Gallows had had years of training in the repair of suits of armor very similar to this.

After he had finished fixing the leg of the tank-like suit, he looked up at John. "You know, Vargas isn't going to be happy about you taking this. Getting our hands on Enclave equipment is one of the our mission objectives." said Gallows, before pulling his helmet off.

"Paladin Vargas has my utmost respect and thanks for saving me, but this armor is now under my care. I've killed both of its previous occupants, and intend to use it to help extend my lifespan out here in the wastes." said John.

"You heard the man, it's his." said Sentinel Lyons as she approached the pair, helmetless like Gallows, but in her power armor again. Then she turned to John. "But, as a request from the Brotherhood, I would ask that whenever you are finished, or whatever pieces you don't intend to use, you turn over to Knight McGyle for transport to the Citadel." she said sternly. John saluted comically again, getting a warm smile from her.

"So, can you train me how to use it at least? I could probably figure it out on my own with some time, but the sooner the better." he said.

"I don't know, that's a bit outside my support boundaries." she said playfully.

But John stepped forward and gave his best attempt at puppy eyes. "Pretty please Sentinel!"

As stoic as she was, and as immune to the wily charms of others as she was, she had to look away from him. "My God..." she said, covering her eyes as if she were looking at the sun. "Stop that before I punch you in your adorable face..." she said with a growl.

"Not until you train me." he said, moving around so that she was looking at him again.

"Alright!" she said, a chuckling irritation in her voice. "But if I do, you have to swear to me that you'll not be teaching anyone else. I don't want another faction of the Brotherhood sprouting up in Megaton."

"Cross my heart and hope to die." he said, covering his hand with his heart, smiling brightly at the victory.

After a small tutorial on how the systems ran, and a brief instruction from Gallows about how the mechanics worked, John stepped inside the armor. Gallows had managed to reattach the fusion battery pack and hook it back up so that the systems received power once more. He smiled as he felt the armor lock around his body and seal itself. "Cool..."

OoOoO

 _"...and then he raised the hammer and smashed it into concrete at his feet! The supermutants looked confused for a moment, but their ignorance only lasted seconds as the building split in twain, perfectly down the middle. The building began to crumble and cave in on itself, the wary kids well outside its range!"_

 _"'By golly! What's happening?' asked one of the kids."_

 _"'It must be him! This is the Archangel's work!" shouted another."_

 _"Each second there was a new tremor tearing at the building as his blow resounded through the structure, shattering pillars and supports until it could support itself no more. Finally, it caved in in an amazing show of explosions and debris, crushing all of the green mutants within and obliterating the army of the radiated Lord Rexxar. The few kids watched in awe as the smoke cleared, and standing before their very eyes was the very man they spoke of. They ran towards him with grateful smiles as he flicked a cigarette behind him."_

 _"'You did it!' shouted one of the rescued folk." But they stepped back when Lord Rexxar climbed out of the pile and shook a mighty fist at him._

 _"You'll pay for this Archangel!" shouted the massive king of the mutants._

 _"But the Archangel held up a hand, signalling the kids not to run. Unbeknownst to their amazed eyes, his cigarette flew and landed in a small puddle of fuel that leaked out of the building when it had been crushed on the inside. The small torch lit the puddle, creating an inferno that zoomed within the confines of the building. They all fell back on their kiesters as the explosion blew the remaining pile of rubble and debris up in the king's face, destroying his adversary for good."_

 _"'Sorry Rexxar, but I've gotta go. This party blows.' he said in his rough, masculine tone. Approaching the kids, they praised him with cheers and hails."_

 _"'Thank you Archangel!' they shouted."_

 _"'Don't thank me, thank Justice.' he said as he flashed a grin. 'And remember kids, stay away from chems."_

OoOoO

"You don't think it actually happened like that...do you?" asked the man sitting across the room from the radio.

"Nah, that's Three Dog. He knows a good story..." said the man sitting next to it. "But somethin' definitely happened. I hear all the stories are based on actual shit that the maniac from the vault did."

"Oh would ya turn that shite off already?" shouted the Irishman as he threw a bottle at the radio.

"Hey! That was my favorite episode!" growled one of the three men who sat in Moriarty's Saloon.

"I don't give a fuck if your da read it to ya when you were a babby. I said I'm tired'a hearin' about that prick!" yelled Moriarty. "Besides, I pay you little shits. So who gives a flyin' fuck what ya like!" shouted the man as he slurred drunkenly from behind the bar.

"Not anymore you don't!" shouted one of the other men. Colin glared at him with a look would freeze a lesser man. "What exactly the fuck do you think is gonna happen Moriarty? Huh? You think he's gonna come back here, stroll into the tavern after finding out that you beat that bitch near to death and what? Pat you on the back? Let bygones be bygones because you're such a charismatic fellow and your beer is alright. Yeah, news flash you Irish cunt. You and I both know that if even half of these stories are somewhat true, he's a death machine. And as soon as he walks through that door, you're probably going to be the first to go." said the man who was sitting in a chair in the corner, holding an antiseptic soaked bandage over the nub of his missing finger.

"Hell, he might even let us go. We're just the hired help." said the man who had gotten away with just a chokehold and a harsh kick.

The third of the group had drunk himself into oblivion to try and lesser the pain from his missing hand. The laser from Lana's pistol had already cauterized most of the blood vessels in his wrist, leaving a lot less blood to clean up, but losing a limb was traumatizing on many levels. So now he lay on the floor curled up in a ball with enough alcohol in his system to sterelize a small clinic.

The saloon owner looked between the two with a growl. "You think yur duckin' out on me, do yah?" he asked, point to both of them. "Think again. If I'm goin' down, then all three o' you shits are comin' with me!" he said, his mood blackening even more.

"Well, I guess we'll have to do somethin' about that then, won't we?" asked one of the men who was still in his leather armor. He drew his gun and aimed it at the bartender. The other man, who had to switch hands due to his missing finger, did so as well. "Whaddya think now?" asked the radio fan.

The Irishman looked between the both of them, then backed away from the bar before whipping up two pistols of his own. "Try me yah dirty fucks!" he shouted.

But, all of them, aside from the man who had liquored himself into a coma, jumped in surprise when they heard something from outside. "MORIARTY!" shouted the voice that slammed into the building like an earthquake. Colin's eyes widened immensely as he backed against the wall.

"All the caps..." he mumbled, his heart pounding rapidly.

The two men looked at each other oddly, then back at the bartender. "The hell did you just say?" he asked.

"I'll give yah all the caps I have stashed. Just get me the fuck outta here alive." he said, his accent thicker than ever before. But both of the men just laughed and lowered their weapons.

Sitting down, they both went back to drinking their beer and rum. "Kiss my ass Colin. You've made your bed, now fucking lie in it." said the fingerless man as he slammed his glass of rum, in case it was his last.

OoOoO

The wanderer and their party had just arrived back in Megaton after a few more hours of walking. And he had to admit, the power armor not only made the journey easier, but it also felt comfortable to be inside as well. Were he a new Brotherhood of Steel recruit, he could see himself getting used to it. However, for his conventional needs, it was much too bulky, and quite a few changes would need to be made to the armor before he'd actually wear it out on expedition.

The gates of the crater city opened in front of them, letting out the typical loud screeching sound that accompanied the jet turbine engine. Belle whistled when she saw how they'd creatively used the old plane parts. "Not a bad setup ya got here." she said in admiration.

John smiled over at her. "Wish I could take credit for it, but that was here long before I arrived." he said to the southern woman. She nodded and they all entered the city to find Sheriff Simms waiting for them. He had a grim smile on his face, the kind that told John that he had missed something while he was being detained. "What happened?" he asked, stepping forward in the heavy armor.

"I'll let you talk to her yourself." said the sheriff as he turned and walked towards the clinic. John nodded to Lana, who was currently wearing a jumpsuit as she stood next to Simms.

"Hey, can you take this to my home? I'll be there in a bit to work on it." he asked her, and she nodded as she stepped into the armor and sealed it around herself.

The wanderer immediately bolted to the clinic door that Simms was holding open and inside he found Nova laying on the table. Her face was swollen and brused, and what little she had on left quite a bit of skin exposed, showing multiple welts on her skin, as well as several contusions. Immediately his blood began to boil into an inferno as he approached the table. When he looked down at her, her eye was swollen and bruised purple. Currently, her breathing was shallow as she was mildly sedated for pain. When he approached the table, she turned and saw him with her open eye, then smiled painfully. "Hey stud..." she said weakly.

"Hey." he said, smiling back at her as he leaned over the table to get closer. "What happened?" he asked.

She teared up as she looked up at him. "I...I heard from Simms that you were looking for a spy in Megaton." she said sniffing as the memory came back to her. "Later I heard Moriarty complaining about having to deal with Talon Company when he was drunk, so I checked his terminal, and found out he was telling a man known as Magnus everything he knew about you." she said as her tears started to gush.

He reached up and slowly and ran his fingers through her hair, something he knew she enjoyed from when they were together. "Shhh..." he said softly, trying to soothe her.

"He...He caught me." she said, sniffling a little more.

John looked up at Simms, who shivered lightly at the look in his radioactive eyes. The sheriff nodded. "I found her tied up in Moriarty's room. He'd been beating her for a while." he said. "When I asked too many uncomfortable questions, he tried to have me taken out. But Cowgirl Red out there saved my ass. Right now Moriarty and his three goons are locked up in the saloon with Stockholm watching the front door and Billy watching the back."

"You didn't do anything to him?" asked the wanderer oddly.

"Nah, I thought I'd save you the pleasure. Besides, last time I killed someone who was out to get you, we ended up losing information. So I figured you'd want to have a talk with him before I do anything rash." he remarked.

John smirked and nodded. "Thanks." he said, then turned back to Nova. Running his hand through her hair again, he asked gently. "I never did ask what your real name was."

She chuckled lightly. "Weird question...given the circumstances." she said. "My name is Mary."

He just smiled wider. "A beautiful name. Now, I want you to stay here for me and get better. Whenever you're well again, I've got a job that I want you to do." he said as he stood straight, then turned for the door.

"A...A job?" she asked, looking over at him as he stopped in the doorway.

He looked back at her with the same grin she'd grown to adore. "Yeah. You're going to be running a new saloon that's about to open up." he said, then slammed the door behind him. His eyes immediately shifted over to the tavern at the top of the crater. "MORIARTY!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, making anyone who heard it within the crater jump in terror as it was amplified by the curvature of the crater. The people of Megaton began to gather around the catwalk and watch as he marched up the metal walkways towards the tavern.

When he finally reached the door, he lifted a foot and slammed it into the handle, sending the door off its hinges and careening into the bar. He looked around the inside of the saloon and saw three extra men about the room. Two were in the corners, wide-eyed looks on their faces as they stared at him. And one was scooting back rapidly after the door had hit the floor with a loud slam.

He looked at the three men, his eyes locking onto theirs, and one by one he dominated their minds with only a gaze. "I'm going to assume you three know who I am. Would I be correct?" he asked.

"Y-Yes...sir..." said the one who was huddling next to the radio. The other two just nodded dumbly.

"Good, then you know what I'm capable of. One thing you may not know about me is that I was raissed as a medical practitioner and mechanical engineer. Do any of you know how much information those two professions alone require you to remember, for you to be good at them?" he asked, his voice practically chilling the air within the saloon. They all shook their heads dumbly. "It takes memorization of mathematics, chemistry, anatomy, particle physics, and nuclear physics as well." he said as he reached his hands up and cracked his knuckles. "So, how good do you think my memory is?" he asked.

The man with the missing finger, whose legs were shaking at the piercing gaze in the darkened room, spoke up. "V-V-Very good sir..." he said, lowering his head when John looked at him.

"Very good indeed. Along with the medical knowledge and mechanical engineering is a list I have of people who have pissed me off. You three have made that list, and your faces are burned into my mind now." he said as they cowered. "You have ten seconds to get the hell out of my town before I kill all three of you. And if I ever see your faces here again, expect me to do just that." he said with a tone that would have cracked a stone in half.

The three of them immediately got to their feet and bolted for the now gaping door behind him. It was a matter of seconds before nobody was left in the tavern but John, and Moriarty standing across the bar from him. The man had a feral look about him, like a mouse cornered by a cat. His eyes were open and wild, his hair was disheveled, and his breath and shirt reeked of alcohol. He was desperate, probably willing to do anything to get out of the dark alley that he backed himself into. But there was no escape. Not this time.

"So, ya gonna kill me?" asked the Irishman behind the bar.

John smiled at him. "Yes." he said with finality. He let the answer drift in the air for a couple of moments before the saloon owner spoke again.

"What kinda good little shit goes around killin' everyone who pisses him off?" asked the bartender.

But John never lost his smile. "I've already made it apparent that I don't kill those who piss me off. Three men just ran from here who will live to see another day because they did stupid shit for money." said the gunman as he approached the bar. "No Moriarty, you didn't piss me off. You crossed a line that nobody crosses." he said, anger flooding his voice as he pictured Nova and her injuries. His mind twisted then, haunting him with a nightmare he had experienced yesterday. His own body tied up and unmoving, such pain, such torturous agony that his mind couldn't even comprehend. He slammed his fist down on the bar, which Colin felt even through the floor. He took a step back at the look of wild rage in the wanderer's eyes. "You scum...you couldn't just leave it at selling me out. You were going to beat her to make a point, then kill her!" he shouted.

"That's bullshit! I'd have never killed her!" shouted Moriarty.

"LIAR!" shouted John as he reached out and backhanded the Irishman, sending his whole body crashing into a shelf off to the side of the bar. "All you were waiting for was confirmation of my death you fucking traitor!" shouted John as the images of him and Nova repeated over and over in his head. "Gobs head was swollen when I was here before, and Nova was nowhere to be seen. You've been suppressing them both since then, haven't you?" he asked forcefully as he walked around the bar. The man was now on his hands and knees, holding his jaw sorely. "I asked you a fucking question!" shouted John as he kicked out with his leg and connected to the barkeeps stomach.

Moriarty flew up and slammed into the ceiling, before falling back to the floor, gasping and holding his ribs. He held up his hand for John to stop for a moment, only getting a glare. "Please...I'm sorry...I'm fuckin' sorry!" said the Irishman between gasping breaths.

John just looked at him darkly. "Not yet you're not." he said, then reached down and picked the man up by his throat. Cocking back his fist, he sent a punch into Colin Moriarty's jaw that impacted with around three thousand pounds of force, a blow that immediately snapped the man's neck. John held him limp in the air for a long moment before the rage finally subsided. He stared at the man whose eyes were now blank and lifeless. Reaching up, he touched his own face, and felt not only the heat from the rage he had been consumed with. But also that his cheeks were wet. He looked at his wet fingers and realized that his hand was shaking as well.

Grabbing the now dead man by the arm, he dragged him out from behind the counter as many of the citizens of Megaton watched from the portal. Turning, he held him over his shoulder like he was nothing more than a bag of scrap and walked outside, then leapt from the Saloon's walkway down to the catwalk below, then did it once again until he was on the ground. Many faces, some smiling at the resolution, others horrified, watched him as he walked up the hill again and out the front gate. Once he was far enough away, he threw the body onto the ground with a glare, then turned and walked back into the city of Megaton.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Just to let everyone know, I'm going to be going back through my story and editing small details in order for the story to flow better. Things that won't really change the story, but in fact make it better for the future, as the ideas in my head are beyond awesome. I hope you all enjoy what's been written so far, and enjoy what happens in the future. Also, I will be making the readers aware once the changes have all been made, so you don't have to go sifting for things that might not be written yet. :]


	40. Healing Wounds

OoO( 40 )OoO

She stepped up to the door, oddly anxious about entering the building again. A few days prior, she had left the structure in a fragile state, leaving bad memories behind. But, deep inside she knew there were good memories as well, though most of those had only started within the last year or so. The door itself was repaired and put back on its hinges by the towns resident mechanic and handyman, Walter.

She reached out for the handle slowly, as if scared that it would electricute her, when she felt his hand on her shoulder. Immediately, her small frame relaxed, as if his courage and his power flooded into her at the moment of contact. Grabbing the handle, she turned it and opened the door, only to see darkness inside. "H-Hello?" she asked, unable to see much inside as the night sky didn't provide nearly enough light to make up for the lack of artificial ones. She looked up at the man behind her, a questioning look on her face. "Why are the lights off?" she asked.

He looked at her with his piercing gaze, then shrugged nonchalantly. "Dunno. Turn them on." he said. She glared at him playfully, as she sensed a bit of excitement in his tone. Reaching over, she found the switch and flipped it, which flooded the tavern with light. The shock on her face was immediately noticed as nearly everyone in Megaton now stood in the bar. Gob was in his regular place behind the bar, while Billy and Maggie were sitting at two of the stools. Jenny, Leo, and even Andy were all at their own table. Simms, Belle, Michael, and Lana all sat at another table, while Cid and the Rangers were at another. The tables were full of people from Megaton, including Nathan and Manya, Stockholm, and a face she hadn't seen in a long time. Hell, even John's robots where here, Wadsworth helping Gob behind the bar, and Liberty hovering playfully around Maggie.

Before she could say a word however, everybody in the saloon erupted into one simultaneous shout. "SURPRISE!" Maggie had been a bit late on the start, but she made up for it by shouting it two more times after everyone had gone silent.

"W-What is this?" she asked, covering her mouth as her emotions began to well up.

"Happy Birthday." said John, who squeezed her shoulder gently.

She turned and looked at him, a mask of true surprise on her face. "H-How did you even know?" she asked incredulously.

"After evicting the last owner of the place, I went through his terminal to see what kind of information he had on me. As it turns out, he had a lot of information on a lot of people, not just me. I just so happened to see your birthday when I was skimming through the information on there, then I deleted all of it. Nobody is going to be blackmailing anyone anymore." he said. The woman just smiled, sniffing again before leaning her head against him.

"You're too much honey." she said before turning to the others. "And thank you all." she said.

Gob called from behind the counter, an actual smile on his whithered face. "No problem Mary. You deserve a shindig like this after everything you've had to go through." he said. The woman looked at him, stunned for a moment after hearing her name for the first time in so long. She thought about it and smiled. The name Nova had been given to her by Moriarty when she started working here. She had used it for so long that she could barely recall a time when she hadn't been called it. But now that he was gone, she not only felt the name shed itself off her form, but her former profession as well. It was as if a pair of iron chains that she'd worn since she got here had finally fallen off, giving her the rest she finally needed.

"Thanks Gobtholemew. You're a sweetheart." she said as she turned to the familiar face sitting at a table by herself. The others in the tavern began chatting amongs themselves, and John walked over to have a conversation with Billy. "Silver? What the hell are you doing here?" she asked as she sat with the blonde older woman.

"Not Silver anymore honey. It's Regina now." she said with a wide smile. "As it turns out, that short-dicked bastard had information on me too. So when your little boy toy over there found out I was in Springvale, he gave me a visit. Told me that the man who ruined my life and wanted me dead was now pushin' up roses nearby. And that if I was willing to give up the chems, I could come back to Megaton." she said as she pulled on a cigarette she had been smoking.

Mary just chuckled as she looked over at John who was now joking with Maggie. "Yeah...he is something amazing huh?" she said, leaning her head on her hand as she gazed at him.

Regina let out a small laugh, getting a curious look from the redhead. "You better take him quick then sugar. Guys like him don't last long before someone else gets them." said the woman as she ashed in the small dish. "Hell, you take too long I might even go for it myself." she said jokingly, getting a raspberry from the younger woman in return.

"I know I know...it's just..." said Mary as she racked her brain. "I've hurt him before. And...it wasn't really my fault, but I still don't know if he's ever forgiven me for it." she said.

"Do tell." said the blonde woman as she put her cigarette out, then immediately lit another one.

Mary looked at her, then looked down at the table. "He came from the vault. Wandered into town asking about his dad. He'd had a rough day after killing raiders, and according to him some people he's known in the vault for a long time. So, seeing as he had the caps, and was staying at Moriarty's, I swooped in on him to comfort him."

Regina listened with interest as she puffed away at her new cigarette. "He took the bait, but what happened after?"

Mary just sighed. "He kept taking the bait..." she said. Regina just smacked her own forehead.

"You didn't." said the blonde woman.

"I kinda did." said Mary, finally looking up at her again. "He had the caps, and he was the first person I've had in a long time that had given me any kind of excitement, in or out of bed. I didn't want him to go..." she said, reaching up and scratching her head of red hair.

"So you led him on, and he fell for you?" asked Regina as Lisa, the new girl, set a drink in front of her.

The redhead glared at her. "You know what it's like here! That prick brought in any number of disgusting slobs who did their business and rolled over for a night of farting in their sleep!" she asserted as quietly as she could. "When I finally had someone who was young and handsome, and actually cared about whether he was doing a good job, I..." she said, unsure of how to describe it. Regina had a strange, knowing look on her face though. A smile that spoke of both knowledge and surprise. Mary saw the look, knew what it meant, and crossed her arms. "What?"

"My god girl...you fell for him too didn't you?" she asked.

The redhead's eyes widened slightly, and she was about to deny it. But for some reason her voice refused to allow her to. She thought about the moment when she finally had to part ways, and even found herself surprised. "I...I guess I kinda did..." she said, burying her face in her hands.

"But you had to let him go." said the blonde woman as she put out her second cigarette.

"Of course I did Sil...Regina. You and I both know that if I had left Moriarty, he'd have immediately called on my debt and crushed me with it. What was I supposed to do, get hunted for the rest of my life just because I had some schoolgirl crush?" she asked.

"If that's the case, how do you know he's not taken already?" she asked curiously.

Mary thought about it for a second. "I don't...really. I remember that he and Lucy had a thing going a bit after I broke the news to him, but she ended up moving back to her hometown. Since then, I don't know if he's even been with a woman."

"Chances are he hasn't. In case you haven't noticed, the wastes out there aren't really prime real estate for women. So if you're going to secure him, you make sure to hit that nail fast and hard." said the older woman.

The newly established bartender thought long and hard about their conversation over the next couple of minutes, then finally made a decision. Nodding with confidence, and fire in her eyes she decided. "Alright. I'm going to." she said.

OoOoO

A little bit after Maggie had fallen asleep on one of the couches on the side of the room, Billy approached John again. The eye-patched man had covered her up with his coat, which was harder than usual considering Liberty had taken post over her sleeping form, eye-balling anyone who approached to make sure they weren't a threat. After explaining his purpose, to cover her up in case she got cold, the hovering robot finally allowed him to continue. Even John's new canine friend was sitting, curled up next to her, eyeing him suspiciously.

Billy nudged John with an elbow and smiled at him. "This is a nice bash you threw for her." he said as he looked around at the makeshift decorations. Above the bar hung a few letters that made up the words 'hAPY bIRthDAY'. Apparently, the crew in charge of that had run out of the material they used, and had to improvise a bit with the lettering. In the corners were small bulbs of lights that were encased in a colored glass boxes, cascading lights of different shades around the room. And on top of it, the radio was finally working again and playing music, a cheerful song named 'Atom Bomb Baby'. The only thing missing from the scene was...

"Happy birthday!" shouted Moira as she came in the door backwards. Everyone looked at her as she turned around, a comical look about her. On top of her brown hair were two pointed party hats that she'd apparently made herself. Each was sticking up off one side of her head, making her look like she had horns, and she painted cartoon figures all over them, from horses, to cats, to puppies, all of them holding wrenches or hammers. When she spun around, Mary gasped. In her hands was a cake unlike anything she had ever seen before. That is to say, she had never actually seen a real life cake before. Mostly just in books and on billboards. In the middle of the cake was a single candle, which was much bigger than was probably used in the old days. "Go ahead and make a wish birthday girl!" said Moira as she held the cake forward.

The woman just stared at it in shock, before looking up at the shop owner. "Where did you get this?" she asked incredulously.

Moira beamed at her. "Oh ya know. Little bit of sugar, a little bit of magic, a little bit of molecular engineering on a box of Fancy Lads." she said as the redhead blew out the candle. "Besides, I studied to become a cook when I was younger, so consider this practice." she said.

John and Mary both looked up at her. "Genetic repair, mechanical engineering, and culinary arts?"

"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I grew up, so I tried them all." she said happily. Then she turned and set the cake down on the bar before eyeing a bowl of dark liquid. "Oh! What's that?" she asked.

"Nuka-Cola Cherry..." said John, still eyeing her oddly. The woman turned and clapped excitedly, showing her grey cartoon fox that was sewn into her jumpsuit.

"Oh! I've never had cherry before!" she said and walked off excitedly to grab a drink.

 _"I'll cut the cake!"_ said Wadsworth as he approached the delicacy with his buzzsaw arm ready.

But John immediately snapped his arm out, pointing at the robot. "That's a negative Wadsworth!" he said forcefully.

 _"Yes sah!"_ shouted the robot before he hovered over to continue barkeeping. Mary looked at him amused.

"Bad experience." he said, leaving it at that.

"So, I actually had a bit of a request." said Billy before taking another sip of his cola. "Maggie's birthday is coming up soon, and I was wondering if you'd be able to do something like this for her."

John just chuckled. "Sure. We'll probably have to recycle a few things here and there, but I can probably pull something off."

"So..." said Mary as she tugged on John's sleeve. "I was actually hoping to talk to you for a moment when you get the chance." she said, looking up at him hopefully. The gunman just nodded, then took her arm gently before leading her upstairs and away from the chattering crowd. She looked at the ground nervously as she steeled herself for the big question. "I...I wanted to apologize, first. And explain myself." she said, getting a curious look from him. "Before, when you asked me if I'd move in with you now that you had a house, the reason I said no wasn't because I didn't like you. It was because I owed a huge debt to Moriarty, and he'd never let me leave until it was paid off." she said, still unable to look up at him.

His eyebrow raised curiously as he looked down at her in her shorts and comfortable tshirt. "So, he was extorting you just like he was Gob?" he asked.

She nodded. "Sort of. Gob didn't really have a choice when Moriarty got him. It was either that, or die in chains. I did have a choice, and I chose stupidly. He said that if I worked for him, I'd experience a lot of new things, and earn caps while doing it. And...well...he wasn't wrong." she said with spite in her tone. "I got plenty of experience..." she said with air quotes. "...and I did earn caps. Unfortunately, those caps all went towards my ever growing debt towards him. He charged room and board for employees, but at nearly triple the price. And nobody could say shit to him because it was his place." she said with a sigh.

"And because of your profession, you weren't allowed to leave the saloon..." he said, more a statement than a question. She just nodded her head. "Why didn't you explain that to me? I'd have understood that a lot more than you just calling me kid and brushing me off." he asked, crossing his arms.

"You have to understand, in that profession a lot of guys fall for you and you have to react the same way every time." she said, planting her hands on her hips. "You have to let them go, to brush them off if you want to continue. And I had no choice but to continue. And..." she said, lowering her head again. "I...didn't want you to do anything stupid."

"Like what?" he asked.

"If I told you my situation, you may have thought you could get me out of it somehow. I didn't want you endangering your life trying to fight a bastard like him. I knew that if you tried, you'd have died. He always had guys in here that were watching out for his best interests, and if you tried anything before you became..." she said, letting her eyes dance up his body. He was currently just wearing a pair of loose work pants and a black tshirt, as well as his boots. The tshirt was one of the original ones he had brought with him from the vault, and since then his mass had grown quite a bit, making the shirt about as tight fitting as it could be without him having to donate it. The result made her mouth begin to water. Remembering that she had just stopped mid-sentence, she reached up and covered her mouth. "Uhh...became you. You know what I mean." she said, looking away in embarrassment.

He chuckled lightly at her. "Yeah, I get it. Moriarty would have strung me up like a piñata back then. Well, his hired help would have anyway." he said shrugging.

She nodded. "So...I couldn't exactly go anywhere." she continued.

"I understand." he said as he reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "No hard feelings, alright kid?" he said.

She gave him a playful glare. "Thanks." she said. Then she looked down again. "But...that wasn't the only thing I wanted to talk to you about." she said, her nervousness creeping back into her. She was amazed to find herself feeling this way after so long. She really felt like a teenage girl about to pass a cute boy a note in a classroom. She recalled briefly when he had first left the vault, she had laughed at him for seeming so simple and innocent when he used the term 'going steady'. But now here she stood, her stomach full of so many butterflies that she could probably fly. Finally, not wanting to drag this out. She looked up at him, and he looked back at her shorter self as he leaned against the wall. "I wanted to ask if the offer was still on the table." she said, her hand fidgeting wildly.

She slowly looked up and saw the shocked expression on his face. She couldn't really determine whether that was good or bad, it was just surprise. Though right now, her internal sensors told her that anything that wasn't outright joy was bad. Too bad her sensors were correct. Soon after, he looked at the ground with a contemplative look. "You're always free to move in with me anytime you like." he said. She recognized his words immediately for what they were. Very carefully selected. They were both silent for a long moment before she finally spoke again.

"There's someone else, isn't there?" she asked, not really needing an answer. But she felt the butterfly feeling wilting within her as she saw his head nod once. Even so, she put on a brave face for him and put her hands on her hips. "Bet she's not as hot as I am though." she said jokingly, trying to take the sting out of the situation. He chuckled at her for a moment.

"I know that game. And I'm holding my tongue on it. Because no matter the answer, it ends up badly for me." he said.

She finally let out a loud sigh. She may not have gotten what she wanted, but at least she tried. There was that at least. "Well, I guess birthday wishes don't come true." she said teasingly as she poked him in his hardened stomach. But she squeaked when he grabbed her and hugged her tightly. Immediately, the butterflies lit up again and went nuclear. She couldn't help herself as she reached up and grabbed his head, pulling him into a liplock that startled him. But he didn't pull away, and that was more than anything she could have asked for. Pulling away before she got too wound up, she just hugged him back tightly. "Thanks stud, I needed that." she said, now smiling brightly. "You treat her right, and make sure she does the same to you." she said, planting one last kiss on his cheek before returning to the party.

OoOoO

A day after Mary's birthday party, the gunman knew he had work to do. His progress of finding his father had halted after he visited the GNR for multiple reasons. Meaning he was now a year behind his father in terms of catching up. A year was a long time in the wasteland. In the vault, a year passing meant that someone had grown their hair out, or maybe had a new improvised tattoo made from ball pen ink and a converted electro shaver. In the wasteland, a year was a long time for the many dangers to find someone and swallow them into the darkness of never being found. But he had confidence in his father. If he'd been born outside the vault, as Moriarty's terminal, and Moriarty himself said, then he had proven that he could handle himself outside the vault. So he had to believe that he was still alive somewhere. And he would be starting his search at Rivet City once his new armor was ready.

The dog that had followed him home was currently curled up on the couch while he tinkered with the armor that was now parked next to his work bench. Thus far, he'd taken the armored plates off, which were much too heavy to carry around, even for his outrageous standards. Without the plates, the armor looked like a skeletal golemn with a fusion pack on the back of it. Also inside the back framing were several circuit boards the controlled the internal functions as well as the link to the helmet HUD. But something was off about the curcuitry in the back plate.

"Hey Elsa, can you take a look at something for me?" he asked.

 _"Sure, what's up?"_ came a voice from his pipboy, but it wasn't Elsa's. At least, that's what he thought. He pulled the computer up and looked at the screen to find a slightly different avatar than the usual child-like one she had before. Now, she was taller, her form more curved, her pixelated chest more ample, and she had the appearance of an adult. Her voice, as well, was more pronounced and less squeaky. His eyes widened enough that he thought they might roll out of his head as he looked at her.

"Uhhh...Elsa?" he asked.

She smiled up at him from the screen. _"Yes?"_ she asked.

"What happened?" he asked incredulously as he stared down at the no doubt adult version of her. She still had her jumpsuit, but he imagined this was what she looked like if she could actually age.

She kept her smile, and originally was going to play like she didn't know what he meant. But she knew that acting would just delay the inevitable. _"I thought it was time for a change."_ she said, nonchalantly as she crossed her arms. _"Why, you don't like it?"_ she asked, a mask of irritation on her digital face.

"Well, it's not that. It's just...why the sudden change?" he asked as he sat on the couch, his free hand reaching over to scratch the dogs ears.

 _"Oh, I don't know. Thought I'd trade the old one in for a new model, updated graphics, not as childish, that sorta thing."_ she said, her voice hardening at the end. He sighed and slapped his forehead.

"That's what this is about..." he said, knowing he'd stepped into something deep this time. "I'm sorry I called you childish..." he said, but she cut him off.

 _"No, you were right actually."_ she said, getting a startled look from him. _"I played a child in the sim so long that I just kind of assumed the identity, even when I broke away from the protocols. So, I figured it was about time that I changed the identity. I'm not a child, I'm an adult."_ she said.

He looked down at her solemnly. "You aren't going to stop joking around with me are you?" he asked.

 _"Oh hell no. I'mma school your ass any time I get too."_ she said, pointing up at him. He chuckled making her smile slightly. _"I can change my personality about as much as you can. So don't worry, I'm still the same old Elsa Watson. Just...bigger."_ she said squeezing her own chest. He glared at her, making her snicker at him.

"Classy." he said, then refocused his attention. "In any case, I want you to check out this control board that's installed on the armor I...received." he said, not wanting to bring up Stevie Mack any more than he had to.

 _"Sure, just plug me in. But keep in mind, I'm not that experienced with power armor."_ she said as he pulled the cord from the pipboy and inserted it into the slot on the back. She scanned the device multiple times before scratching her chin. _"Hmm, there's a receiver on here."_ she said as she processed the data that her feelers were sending her.

"A receiver? For what?" he asked, confused slightly.

 _"A remote signal. There are processes stored in the circuitry that are activated remotely. Unfortunately, without activating them, I won't be able to tell what they were meant to do."_ she concluded.

"Yeah...go ahead and scrub those. I'm going to be removing the receiver components myself. Whatever that was intended for, if it's even still active, I don't want someone activating something in my armor if I don't know what it does." he said. She nodded, an hourglass appearing above her head. About five minutes after it appeared, it vanished, and she smiled.

 _"Done. The reserve processes have been erradicated."_ she said.

"Good, now, let's get to fixing this suit up." he said.

 _"You could always ask Moira for help. She knows everything."_ she said jokingly.

A look of enlightenment appeared on his face. "That's...not a bad idea." he said with a smile.

She looked up at him worried. _"You know I was just joking, right?"_ she asked, but she went unheard as he headed for the door. _"Oh no..."_


	41. Reconstruction

OoO( 41 )OoO

Two days. Two days of chaos were what in store for him when he invited Moira over to help him with his suit of armor. After inviting her over, the first thing she did was squeal and jump for joy when she found out she'd be helping to design his new armor. He let her burn off her energy for about five minutes before he realized that she wasn't stopping. So he stepped up and placed his hands on her shoulders to calm her excited frame. Much to his surprise, he was barely able to keep her still.

But she got the point and finally inhaled sharply. "Alright alright alright! I'm okay now!" she said, letting out a small squeak. He eyed her sternly and she reached up and covered her mouth to prevent any further excitement from escaping.

"Alright, before we get started, there's someone I have to introduce you to." he said. Placing his hands on his hips, he eyed her like a father would a daughter. "And I want you both to be on your best behavior." he said.

"Cross my heart, hope to be eaten by deathclaws." said the woman as she smiled brightly and crossed her heart. He looked at her oddly because of her unique expression, then shook his head.

"Right...anyway." he said as he pulled up his pipboy and showed her the display screen. "Moira, I'd like you to meet Elsa. Elsa, you've probably heard of Moira." he said.

Elsa appeared on the screen again and looked at Moira, then wave. _"Hey."_ she said simply.

"Elsa? I used to have a friend named Elsa!" she said excitedly as she eyed the caricature. Her eyes widened when she spied Elsa on the screen.

John looked at her oddly. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Is...is she...an AI?" she asked.

"Sure is. She was inside a superstructure underneath Bailey's Crossroads." he said, wondering quietly to himself if allowing these two to meet would end in his explosive demise.

Moira looked up at him, her eyes wider. "B-Bailey's Crossroads?" she asked. He just nodded, giving her a suspicious look. Suddenly, the woman snapped up as straight as a board, and scratched her chin with her hand. "I never thought in a million years there'd be anything under that ole ruin." she said.

"Yeah, found a few things actually. One of those, I'm going to be working on over here for a bit before I start helping you two with the armor." he said. But Moira had already grabbed his wrist to look at Elsa again.

"Awwww...she's so adorable..." she said, gushing over the pixelated girl. Elsa just looked at her stunned.

 _"Who...me?"_ she asked.

"Yes you, little cutie." said the woman happily.

"Uh...Moira...focus." said John as he snapped his fingers. "You get started on working on the armor. I'll start repairs on the VATS system." he said. The giddy woman looked up and nodded her head of dark brown hair. "Good." he said, looking down at the pipboy. He couldn't believe he was about to say the words, but he had to for now. "Elsa, release the biometric seal." he said.

She gasped in horror. _"R-Really?"_ she asked, started at the order.

He just nodded. "Yes. I'm taking off the pipboy for a while, and Moira is going to use it without the seal. She'll require your help with the armor." he said.

The non-girl avatar looked to the side. _"Alright, alright."_ she said. There was a click on the underside of the pipboy, and for the first time in a long time, he reached up and pulled off the arm mounted computer.

He held it over to the woman, who took it and immediately snapped it onto her arm. "All ready to go Elsa." she said happily.

 _"You got it toots. Let's get this show on the road."_ said the virtual girl. Moira plugged the pipboy into the endosuit and began to diagnose the systems.

"What kinda armor are you wanting to turn it into exactly?" she asked.

He thought about it for a moment, before finally deciding. "Moveable, and can fit under a duster." he said, pointing to the long coat hanging from the back of the door.

"Hmmm, that'll take a lot of work, but I think I can manage." she said. John smirked, then turned to his workbench, where he had the remaining pieces of his VATS headset as well as a newly purchased pair of wrap-around goggles.

OoOoO

Lana had been strolling through Megaton after her lunch. She found herself bored most days, only having the excitable Moira to keep her entertained with her ideas of grandeur and talk of inventions. Despite the woman's free spirited attitude, and seemingly empty head, she was practically a genius, making their conversations fascinating to say the least. And considering most of the citizens of Megaton hardly travelled outside the small city, it was unlikely that her job here was going to be very fruitful.

But the woman hadn't been in her shop today. Instead, she was greeted with a sign that had a cartoonish recreation of Moira making a sad face, as well as the words 'Sorry, We're Closed.' She pondered the sign for a moment before Sheriff Simms walked by with a morbid look on his face. She looked up at him curiously. "Something wrong Sheriff?" she asked.

"Yes...and no I suppose. I should be grateful...but I'll be damned if he doesn't make more work for me." said the man as he shook his head.

"John?" she asked, getting a nod. "How so?" The sheriff tilted his head towards the armor that he was walking towards, signaling her to follow. She kept pace with him until he opened the door leading to the inside of the armor, which was guarded by a heavy duty Mr. Gutsy robot named Deputy Steel. When she saw what he was referring to, her eyes widened. "Holy shit..." she said.

"Yeah, something like that." said the man with another sigh. The armory, which before had consisted of a few racks of weapons and a missile launcher, was now piled high with weapons of almost every kind. There was barely enough room to squeeze through to get to the back shelf. "He said that Moriarty had given Talon Company his whereabouts, who then hired a gang to capture and kill him. But apparently, Reilly's Rangers, the Regulators, and the Brotherhood of Steel all came together and crushed them, letting him go. This is all of their weapons and gear that he brought with him on the back of that super suit he came walking in with." he finished.

"Do you need someone to sort them?" she asked curiously. He stared at her stunned for a moment.

"Technically, it's my job. And I don't think that Deputy Steel here will allow anyone into the armory without me with them anyway. So..." he said as the robot began examining Lana with a scrutinizing robotic eye, be she cut him off.

"John can help with that, I'm sure. And besides, my purpose here is to take notes on any technological equipment that comes into the city. What better way to do that than to watch the armory?" she asked hopefully. He still eyed her suspiciously. She sighed and put a hand on her hip. "Look, I've been here for a few weeks now and all I've managed to get out of it was John's VATS system. Since then, I've been talking to Moira for entertainment. Please!" she begged, clasping her hands in front of her. "Give me something to do!"

He chuckled at her eagerness, and finally nodded. "Alright. If you can get John to reprogram Steel here, then that's fine. You'd be taken a load off my back, so know that I definitely appreciate it." he said, then closed the armory door. Tipping his hat to the woman, he walked off towards the saloon with a newly painted sign. Instead of the giant flashy 'Moriarty's Saloon', it now held a sign that said 'Boomtown Tavern', a name decided by the two new owners, Mary and Gob. The redhead turned away from the saloon and headed for John's house. Sometimes, when she was bored, she also went to his place and chatted up Wadsworth. The robot was extremely interesting, considering he'd been around longer than all of them. Almost two hundred years longer. So his jokes, his banter, and his wit were all on point for the most part.

She walked up to the door and was about to knock when she noticed a funny smell emanating from the home. Inside, there was a lot of noise that sounded like grinding metal, as well as whirring machinery. "Uhh...hello?" she called loudly through the door as she knocked loudly. The door almost immediately swung open, allowing a billowing cloud of smoke free from the house and Wadsworth floated out the door.

 _"Oh! Lady Lana! Thank goodness you're here! It's terrible!"_ he said, his voice sounding as if he were sobbing.

She looked at him sharply. "What is it Wadsworth?" she asked, reaching back for her hidden laser pistol.

 _"They...they...they made a complete mess of the place after I cleaned it so thoroughly! Do you know how hard it is to get metal shavings off the ground!? And the smoke! Ugh!"_ he shouted dramatically as his eyes pulled in to emphasize his emotion. _"That'll stain the walls for weeks!"_

She sighed and let go of her laser pistol, patting the robot on the head gently. "Don't worry Wadsworth. Cleaning staves off the boredom, remember?" she asked.

 _"I...I...I suppose you're right. Otherwise I'd be alone with my thoughts, and nobody wants that."_ he said, giving a light chuckle.

"So, what the hell is he doing in there?" she asked, still unable to make anything out through the smoke.

 _"They're working on that blasted eyesore of a suit of armor he brought home not long ago. At first, it was just the woman. But I think she made the suit start dancing by accident, and he had to step in..."_ said the robotic butler as he scratched the underside of his chrome shell thoughtfully, an oddly human trait, she thought. But the butler eyed her severely. _"If you intend to go in there, the be careful. For the last two days they've been working on that pile of scrap and have ended up starting more fires than even I care to put out."_ he said huffily.

She chuckled as she pulled up a bandana from around her neck, and made herself a makeshift breathing mask with it. Stepping into the smoke, her eyes started to water almost immediately. But she stopped at hearing her name. "Hey Knight McGyle. How have you been?" asked the voice of the wanderer. "Oh...sorry, hold on." he said, before a loud whirring sounded, and a huge fan cycloned all of the smoke out of the house and into the open air, leaving the air relatively normal. When the smoke cleared, she saw him wearing a pair of squarish goggles that wrapped completely around his head and a type of mask that covered his mouth, nose, and most of his lower jaw. It, also wrapped around his head.

"What the hell are you wearing?" she asked incredulously. He chuckled, then pulled off the goggles and tossed them to her. She looked at the inside and her eyes widened. Sliding them over her head, she placed the lenses over her eyes and gasped as once again, she was seeing the VATS system he had created, but this time in both eyes. "Incredible...but how...?" she asked, unsure of what she even wanted to ask.

"On my last excursion, the lens of the original system was shattered. So I had to make a new one. The display device still operated, it just needed something to project onto. So I installed it into the goggles. And Moria..." he said, glaring at the woman again. "Somehow figured out how to reverse engineer and replicate it, so I had her create one for the other lens as well. They're both powered off the same cell."

The redhead smiled happily as she gazed at Moira, who had taken a small break to sip on bottle of Nuka-Cola through a crazy straw that she created herself. "You can replicate these?" she asked, excitedly.

"Sure can, but the parts are a bit hard to come by, ya know. It just so happens that the armor here had the components, and we wouldn't need them for his upgrade." she said before she slurped away at her straw again.

"Amazing..." she said as she pulled the goggles off and handed them back.

"The ones she makes won't be as functional as mine though. Elsa is the one with the capabilities to combine the three modes into one, as well as the targeting function. But you can still essentially use them to see what you need to." he said.

 _"That's right, I'm a big shot. He just admitted it."_ said the computerized womanly voice from his pipboy, which was currently mounted to the skeletal endosuit. Lana leaned down and looked at her curiously.

"Well, you've gotten bigger." she said with a chuckle.

 _"Hehe...you're just jealous."_ said the pixelated woman as she poked the sides of her bosom. Lana's eye twitched and she stood up straight, ready to get defensive, but John cut them both off.

"Can I help you Lana?" he asked, interrupted the brawl that was about to happen. The redhaired woman looked up at him, then nodded, crossing her arms in irritation.

"Simms needs you to reprogram Deputy Steel in the armory so that I can go inside freely. He's tasked me with sorting the weapons that you brought back from your last trip." she said. He reached up and unstrapped the breathing mask from his mouth, then set it on the workbench.

"Sure, easy enough." he said as he wiped his hands off.

"So, what the hell are you all doing in here anyway?" she asked curiously. He just smiled and walked over to a set of armor that was attached to a mannequin.

"I call it, the AD Series, model Aries." he said. The woman walked over to the armor and knocked on it gently.

"AD series?" she asked curiously.

He nodded, then hit a button on the pipboy. The Knight gasped gently as the armor automatically unbuckled itself from the mannequin and folded itself up so that it looked like nothing more than a pair of gridiron shoulder pads. He lifted the collar like device from the wooden holder and placed it over his head so that it rested on his shoulders, then hit the pipboy again. This time, it folded downwards, then locked into place around his torso. "Moira?" he signaled.

"You got it bestie." she said as she stood up with a pistol and fired two shots into his chest. Lana covered her ears, but couldn't take her eyes away from the breastplate, where both of the bullets were stopped cold. "There's only one more test we have to perform on it, unfortunately I don't have any energy weapons..." said Moira with a sad expression. She then looked over at Lana, hinting at her. "If only we had someone nearby who was awesome, and pretty, and amazing..."

The Knight glared at the woman, then pulled her energy weapon free. "Alright alright you suckup." she said as she raised her weapon and aimed at John's chest. "Are you sure about this?" she asked. He just nodded with a smile. "Alright, your funeral if it doesn't work." she said, then pulled the trigger. The weapon fired with no kickback, and a bright red laser hit him square in the chest, then stopped. She gaped at the armor, which only had a minor burn mark on it. "Holy shit..." she said as she took a closer look.

John, who was in his jumpsuit currently, reached over and grabbed the rest of the pieces, which like the torso, electronically locked into place around his arms, legs, and waist to form the full suit. "How do you like it?" he asked.

Looking up at him, she smiled brightly. "Can you make me one?" she asked.

OoOoO

Weeks, it had been weeks since he had last seen the wanderer, splayed out on the table in Doc Church's clinic. Shortly after seeing him in that depressing state, days even, he'd heard rumors that the crippled man had risen to his feet again and destroyed the slave market far to the north. He literally couldn't believe his ears as the tale was told to him, and he ran to the clinic to find out for himself. Sure enough, there was no gunman, and Doc Church confirmed the story. As if to drive the final nail in the coffin, this Three Hound guy on the radio reported it with much merriment a day later.

Feeling empowered by the actions of the supposed vault dweller, he began to tell those who would listen around town about his experiences with the man he had unwittingly named Archangel. A small, but interested throng of Megaton citizens stood in front of him as he recanted his tale of near death when he first encountered the man, and how God had sent him as a symbol of retribution and change.

Much to his dismay, as soon as he hinted at religious implications, a few of the citizens had wandered off. Apparently, they'd had enough of Cromwell and his flock as well. Despite the shrinking numbers, he continued from memory to preach his belief in the God of his mother. A while back, he'd asked a simple request of the wanderer. And while he hadn't returned with the good book yet, he certainly made up for it by confirming his belief in him as a representation of the Almighty on Earth. Who else could he be after all, if the stories were true? He stepped through the hell that was Super Duper Mart to retrieve food, then gave it freely to the common house on his return, taking enough to survive alone. He hadn't turned water to wine, but he turned the destructive, poisonous power of radiation into energy for the entire city to use freely. And only recently, he'd heard the story of the Bethesda Towers, where he'd been captured by raiders and Talon Company. This final story was a correlation that neither he, nor anyone else could deny.

He was hung by his arms and legs by those who wanted to silence him, his words, his deeds, to show those of the wastes that he was nothing but a man. They stabbed him, over and over again with blades, continuously torturing him as he hung, unable to free himself of their grip. The symbolism couldn't be any more clear to him. Super Duper Mart had been his descent into hell to save a single soul. He took one tiny core from a bomb and used it to give the entire city relief from the sun, from the heat, and from the sand. The way he was laid on the table, looking as dead as anyone he'd ever seen, only to get up and walk away as if resurrected from the dead. And his capture by the raiders and crucifixion had been one of his most defining moments. He was sure of it, this man truly was, if not God himself on Earth, then an emissary meant to cleanse the wasteland of evil. With this in his head, he continued to preach until the day finally came when he saw him again.

And that day was today. Having been starved of the man's presence for ages now, he stood and watched over one of the catwalks as Cromwell preached his nonsense about the now constantly glowing bomb core bringing them to the promised land. He snorted in contempt at the idea that an inanimate object such as that could be worshipped by so many while his tales of an actual person going out and doing things that even the saints of yore weren't able, got turned heads. But still, he liked to keep an open mind, and liked to listen to the rambling man's sermons just to see where this idol worship stemmed from. He was about ten minutes into a new recanting of how the bombs falling had been the work of Atom, when a shadow appeared from nowhere. Turning, he saw the man he'd been waiting to see for a long while leaning on the rail next to them.

"Curious isn't it?" asked the gunman as he looked down at the congregation below.

"W-What's that?" he asked dumbly.

"How the human mind works. How something so deadly and destructive could be regarded as a god." he said.

"I-I suppose so." said Michael as he turned back to the gathering. "The weak minded seek to worhsip anything they can just to sate their need for answers."

"Is it really any more weak minded to worship a bomb than it is an invisible, undetectable deity?" asked John, who never broke his eyes from the flock below them.

Michael's eyes widened. "I...don't know what you mean. The spirit of God is everywhere, I can feel it in me, in you, in everything." he said, slightly hurt at the words.

Then, Archangel turned to him and stared him directly in the eyes, piercing him down to his core almost immediately with those glowing, radioactive green iris'. "Your worship is on the macro scale, a God of the Universe, of the Multiverse, whatever there is out there. Theirs is on the micro scale. The atom, that which makes up all matter in the known universe. You really aren't all that different the two of you." he said, reaching back behind him and into a satchel he had on his side.

Michael looked away as if contemplating. "I suppose it's not that ridiculous..." he said shrugging lightly. He turned back to the wanderer, only to see a thick book laying flat in the man's hands in front of him. His eyes widened when he saw the words 'New Testament', as well as the symbol of a cross ornately drawn into the cover with golden stenciling. He was speechless for a long moment as he reached up to take the book, his hands brushing over the cover lightly. "W-Where...?" he asked, his question going unfinished.

John gave a friendly smile. "The building that I was...indisposed in a few days ago..." he said, clenching his teeth at the mention of it. "...had a safe in it. After my rescue, we found the safe, cracked it open, and inside were a few weapons, a bottle of two hundred year old scotch, and that. I figure that you asked a while ago, it was about time I returned on the offer I made." he said as he let the man take the book, then leaned back on the railing.

Michael held the book close to his chest and looked up at the wanderer, who was now wearing a new set of armor, as black as the abyss. Over the armor, he wore the dark duster with '101' sewn into the back, and had two menacing weapons over his back, one a long rifle, the other a monstrous shotgun. And on his head was a pair of rectangular goggles that wrapped around his entire head. "It's really true isn't it?" he asked quietly.

"Hmmm?" questioned John, who barely heard the inquiry at all.

Michael shook his head with a bright smile. "It's nothing...I'm just...overwhelmed. Thank you again." he said, nearly in tears by that point.

John looked at him oddly. "It's not problem, really. Just remember my words, alright? This town isn't a battleground for two religions to go to war with one another. You must have tolerance for one another." he said sternly as he eyed the man.

The ex-raider just nodded happily. "I...I understand. Don't worry about me, I'll teach those who want to learn. I'll not step on any toes." he said.

John placed a hand on the man's shoulder lightly. "Glad to hear it. Now, I'm leaving town again soon. I want you to watch over the town like I do. Protect these people, as they're all good people...even if some can be annoying." he said, amused as Nathan Vargas popped into his head.

"You have my word." he said proudly. He was given the task by the Archangel, he was given a purpose again.

"Thanks for the help." said the man as he stood up and took a rifle from his back as well. It was a sniper rife with a long, smooth barrel and a crosshaired scope. "Keep this in case you need it." he said, holding it forward as well.

Michael eyed the weapon cautiously. "Why would a man of the cloth need a rifle?" he asked.

"Every shepherd needs to protect his flock from time to time." said the wanderer, allowing Michael to take it. "Consider it as a sign of my trust that you've let your past go." said John, before he turned around and walked towards the tavern. Michael just fell to his knees, in awe of the events that had just transpired.

OoOoO

Two days later, the group met up outside Megaton again one last time. John stood across from them all in his new armor, his goggles, and his duster, with both weapons slung across his back. His pipboy was currently sealed to his arm once more.

"Well, you're probably going to be gone for a while, huh?" asked Simms.

"Yeah, I've got some time to make up in searching for my father. It's been too long since I was on his trail." said John as he nodded to the sheriff. "So, I'm picking up the trail at Rivet City, and I'm going to hope to high hell that he hasn't done anything too dangerous since he left." he said with a sigh.

Moira, who was standing next to Simms, smiled brightly. "You remember to bring me that information I asked for!" she said as she waved at him.

"Yeah yeah, Rivet City's history. Got it!" he said with a chuckle.

Suddenly, out of the crowd, Lana McGyle stepped out from in between Gob and Mary and eyed him with a smile. She was completely armored up in her Brotherhood recon armor, and had her laser pistol at her side and her laser rifle in her arms as if combat were waiting around the corner. He looked at her curiously, but she spoke before he could question her. "I'll be going with you to Rivet City." she said confidently, her blue eyes sparkling.

He stared at her oddly, then shrugged. "If you like. The more the merrier." he said with a smirk.

"We'll catch up with you sometime. We're gonna stay here a bit longer before moving back to the compound to inaugurate our new member." said Reilly as she patted Cid on the arm.

"We'll send you invitations to the wedding." said Brick sarcastically, getting her an elbow from her orange haired leader.

"You stop getting your ass kidnapped." said Cid.

His face darkened. "Yeah, that won't be happening again..." he said darkly, killing Cid's smile.

Unsure of what to say, the mercenary stayed quiet. Finally, Mary, Michael, and Gob said their goodbyes, with hugs and handshakes. Together, the two of them turned away from Megaton as the others watched him go. Before long, the pair were gone over the hilly horizon, and the citizens of Megaton returned to the town.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** So, apparently this site is going through a phase where it doesn't let me get reviews from Ch. 40. =/ The two people that I actually did get reviews from don't show up in the reviews when I go to the site, so I'm not sure what's going on there. If you reviewed Ch. 40 and want me to see it, please PM it to me, as I have no idea what's going on with this one.

Also, before people start getting crazy about the whole religious tone, just keep in mind that it's going somewhere. This isn't me putting my character on a pedestal or anything like that. This is the viewpoint from one man whose world changed in a manner of days, and when something that traumatic happens to you, this can sometimes be the side effect. Just bear with me and see where it goes, I promise you'll at least be satisfied with it.

And on a final note, I've finally caught up to my story in game, except that I found out that Clover is actually a brainwashed slave, and not really like the character I made her out to be in here. Either way, she's staying, as are other characters that I accidentally miscast from a lack of playing the game fast enough. That won't be the case in the future, as I am now exactly where the current story takes place. Hope to see more reviews from you guys if FFNet lets you. D:


	42. Formicidae

OoO( 42 )OoO

"So, I thought you were supposed to be stationed at Megaton. Why the sudden urge to see the world?" asked the gunman as they cleared the wasteland and stepped into the city limits of a small suburb on the outskirts of DC.

Lana scanned the area, her laser rifle primed to fire in case they had any unwanted visitors. "Doc Church gave me a holotape back in Megaton that was supposedly from an android who was on the run. I intend to find out the truth of the matter." she said as she stepped over the broken scraps of a car whose nuclear cell had gone into overload long ago. The dog that had come with them hopped up onto the shell of the vehicle, then padded down next to her, panting happily as he expelled the heat from his body.

John looked at her as they entered the ruins of the lost city, with crumbling and destroyed buildings all around them. "Android...like a...robotic human?" he asked curiously.

"That's what the tape says. It said that he was on the run, and was looking for a surgeon and a tech expert to wipe his memory and give him facial reconstruction." she said, her eyes immediately locking onto the wiggling appendages of a radscorpian. Her rifle was up immediately, letting out a burst of laser fire that devoured the creatures outer shell, leaving it in a smoking heap on the ground. John, who had his rifle up and aiming at the next of the giant creatures, suppressed the trigger on his long rifle. The gun hardly kicked back against his powerful shoulder, and sent a magnetically launched round directly between the mutations many eyes. The super-heated ballistic smashed into the creature and went clear through it, practically turning it inside out as the vacuum that followed twisted its insides. Lana watched in awe as the effect exploded the creature, sending limbs and green gore splattering over the destroyed road. "Where did you get that thing?" she asked eyeing his rifle.

He just chuckled as he pulled out the spent microfusion cell and reloaded another one. "Easy Knight, don't start eyeballing my piece now. I'm a taken man after all." he said jokingly, getting a playful glare from the woman. "It came from the same place that my enhancements did." he said as they continued walking down the street.

"The underground armory?" she asked, getting a nod from him. Reaching up, she scratched her chin thoughtfully. "I'll have to give that place a visit someday." she commented.

"I...would shy away if I were you." he said, nervously. He knew from talk around the wastes that the Outcasts were essentially a rogue faction of the Brotherhood of Steel, and didn't exactly know how his new allies would take the news that he had helped out the black armored splinter cell.

"Why is that?" she asked, making him flinch.

Deciding to bite the bullet, he just sighed. "Currently, the underground facility is under the control of the Outcasts." he said, making her cock an eyebrow at him. Turning to look at her, he gave her a look that let her know he was dead serious. "The men and women in that bunker are my friends and allies, and I wouldn't take kindly to anyone trying to strong arm them." he said, making his stance on the matter clear.

She nodded. "I got it, don't worry." she said, slightly bitter at the fact that she'd probably never get to examine that technology. "In any case, the android said on the recording that he escaped from the Commonwealth up north." she said, avoiding the topic of the Outcasts.

"Sounds like a criminal if you ask me." said the gunman as he perused the landscape with his scope.

But she shook her head. "Not so actually. The escape, the surgery, the memory wipe, it was all because he wanted to be free." she said, stopping as another round flew and blew apart an ant that had appeared on the horizon.

"Free? What do you mean?" he asked as he reloaded again.

"He was apparently a slave up there. Being synthetic and all, I imagine they thought he was property, and his escape probably pissed them off." she remarked as they came upon a small eerie neighborhood.

"Well, if something I created just up and walked out the door, I'd probably be chasing it too." he said jokingly. But the look on her face wasn't amused.

"So if Elsa, Wadsworth, or Liberty said that they wanted to live their own lives, you'd tell them no? That they're your property?" she asked, a bit of bite in her tone.

His eyes widened slightly. "No...of course not." he said, not really having thought of that angle before. "So, he's fully sentient and didn't want to serve anymore?" he asked, getting a nod from her.

"As I said, he recorded the holotape that pretty much explained it all. They use them as tools, and he was sick of it." she finished as she looked around at the neighborhood around them. There were a few buildings that still stood here, and a ramshackle little shed next to one of them that looked like it had been recently built.

"Okay, and where does Rivet City come into the picture?" he asked. But before he could get an answer, the dog next to them barked loudly. They both looked at the creature, who was staring down the street. John pulled up his scope and immediately spotted what caused the dogs agitation.

"What is it?" she asked, readying her rifle again.

"A kid...he's being chased by ants." he said as he swerved his crosshairs over to one of the attacking soldier class ants.

The kid, who was wearing a pair of shoddy overalls with a t-shirt underneath ran for his life as one of the ants exploded behind him. The shot echoed around the buildings, making his eyes widen as he saw the two figures in front of him, standing in the middle of the road. "Please! Help!" he shouted, his bare feet slapping the pavement as he raced for the two.

Lana pulled up her weapon and began to gun down one of the larger creatures, that looked about the size of a mastiff. "Holy shit, is that thing...?" asked John, but before he could finish the question, one of the ants let out a gout of flame that licked at the boys heels. He immediately fired on the insect, killing it instantly.

When the young boy finally made it to the pair, he swung behind John's duster, his breath heaving as the two finished off the rest of the swarm that had been chasing him. Immediately turning to the boy, the redheaded woman was on her knees with a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked.

The boy looked at her, his eyes showing terror. "Please...please! You have to help my pappa!" he shouted, clutching John's duster desperately.

John knelt down as well and snapped in the boy's face with his fingers. "Slow down, tell us what happened." he commanded. His tone, while it had an air of authority, also had an urgency that made the boy snap out of his stupor.

Nodding, the boy let out a loud breath. "My name is Bryan, and my pappa and I live in that house over there." he said, pointing to the house next to the shed. "We were having lunch and there was a crash from the other room. My pappa grabbed his gun and told me to run to the shelter but...the ants...they were waiting!" he said, beginning to sniffle.

"Don't worry, just stick with us and we'll see if we can help your dad." said John, his tone softening at the mention of his father. Standing up, he nodded to Lana. "Let's go." he said, and she immediately got to her feet and the pair of them led the way to the house. Bryan followed them, but kept his distance, just in case there were more inside. John approached the door and looked around at the house, immediately noticing smoke billowing out of the windows of the building. Suspecting he didn't have long before the fire consumed the house, he kicked the door open, and immediately jumped aside as another spray of fire shot from the door.

"Shit!" shouted Lana as she too spun to one side of the door, waiting for the flames to die down. "I don' t think they're supposed to do that!" she shouted.

"No kidding!" shouted the gunman back as the flames finally died down. Not wasting the opportunity, he spun into the doorway, now wielding his shotgun, and fired a round directly into the head of the creature that had attacked them. It's head burst open, and the body thumped to the floor immediately. But it was quickly replaced by two more. These however, didn't stand a chance as the wanderer fired at one twice in a row, splattering its head and abdomen to pieces, while Lana fired across from him at the other, the cell overcharging and incinerating the creature before its fire could be released.

Both of the adults stepped into the house with their weapons raised and their eyes scanning every entrance into the room they were currently in. One thing they had missed however, was something that Bryan noticed immediately. The smoldering body of a man holding a .32 revolver in his hand. The young boy ran over to the body and dropped to his knees. "P-Pappa?" he asked desperately, wishing it not to be so. John and Lana both looked at him, looks of sympathy on their faces.

"You stay with him. I'll clear the rest of the house." he said to the redhead, who nodded.

Lana once again knelt down by the young boys side and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. To her surprise, the boy turned and hugged her tightly as his tears started to pour down his face at the loss of his father. She just sighed and looked at him sadly, running her hand over his short brown hair. "It's alright. Let it out." she said softly.

John had gone upstairs to the second floor, where he ended up finding another two of the ants, and one room that was entirely on fire. After disposing of the creatures, he immediately turned around and hopped down the stairs again. "We should get out of here. The house isn't going to hold much longer before it's an inferno."

Lana looked up at him and nodded. Rubbing the boy's back, she whispered gently to him. "Come on, let's get you out of here." She stood to her feet, allowing him to slowly do the same, and they all left the house for the middle of the road, well enough away from the burning home. "Let's head over to that diner, at least we'll be out of the open." he said, nodding towards a small blasted out dive across the street from the home. The three moved over to the building and sat at one of the tables inside.

Bryan just stared down at his lap as he sat at the table. John felt a bit awkward in his current situation. He didn't exactly know what to tell the young man, as he'd never experienced what he had. At least, not to this extent. His father had left him, but there was hope of seeing him again. Thankfully, Lana spoke up before he could. "I'm sorry Brian." she said.

The boy stayed silent for a while longer before finally speaking. "It's fine. He'd been in there for a little while before you came along. So I guess in a way I already knew." he said, still sniffling.

In an effort to both get more information, and to avert Bryan's attention away from his late father, John spoke next. "What's the deal with these ants? I've ran into quite a few in my time, but none of them have ever breathed fire." he asked.

Bryan looked up at him and shrugged. "I dunno. They didn't used to. Dad used to be able to chase them away with a couple of shots from his gun. But recently, they started getting super violent and began breathing fire." he said with a sigh.

"How recently?" asked John curiously.

Bryan was taken aback at the interrogation, but began to think. "I think...maybe about a month ago?" he said, more a question to himself than an actual answer.

"Did you notice anything else change around here around that time?" asked John as he leaned closer inquisitively.

"Uhhh..." said the young boy as he scratched his head. "Not much. The town has pretty much been the same." he said as he continued thinking. Suddenly, her perked up, his eyes wide. "Oh! Doc Lesko! He moved in around the same time!" he said.

"Tell me about Doctor Lesko." said John, now leaning back in his chair as he offered the young boy a bottle of water from his ruck. Bryan took it gratefully and gulped down the clean water before finally speaking.

Bryan nodded as he swung his feet in his chair. "He was a strange man. He paid pappa some caps to help him build a shack and carry a bunch of junk into it. Pappa always called him an egghead, but his head was shaped regular, so I didn't get it."

John nodded to him. "And he stayed in that shack over there?" he asked, pointing over to the ramshackle shed standing up next to Bryan's now blazing house. The boy just nodded. "What kind of equipment did he bring with him when he moved in?"

Bryan reached into his pocket and pulled out a key that he then laid on the table. "He had one of those television machines with the green letters on it. I'd go in there to play and he'd be typing on it. He never wanted to play." he said, then his head shot up. "Oh yeah! He also had one of those shiny metal men!" he said, some of the cheer returning to his voice.

"Shiny metal men? Like a robot?" asked Lana, piecing the boy's unusual wording together.

Bryan nodded again. John scratched his chin. "Well, I think I may see where the problem may have started." he said with a sigh. "Do you know what happened to Doc Lesko after your dad was attacked?" he asked.

Bryan shook his head mournfully. "No, he disappeared. So did the Brandice family. They used to live in the house across from me, and Will, their son would play with me a lot. But they all vanished a few days ago. I...I think the ants got them." he said sadly.

John nodded. "I'm going to check out the shack for any information. You stay here with him." he said, then looked down at the dog who was staring at him curiously. "You too." he said with a slight smile. The dog barked as it sat on its hind end. Lana reached over and rubbed the boys back as he sat in the booth next to her. John made his way over to the ramshackle hut and used the key that Bryan had given him to open the door.

The inside was as dark as night almost. The only light currently came from a small terminal screen on the table, and a few indicator lights on what looked like a Protectron docking station. Lighting up his pipboy, he looked around the place and chuckled. Why someone would put a lock on a place that looked like you could sneeze the door down, he'd never know. But, kicking aside all the junk on the floor, he sat at the terminal and got to work.

At least, he tried to. The first screen that popped up was an Admin Locked screen. He grunted in irritation and pulled out the cord on his pipboy, then inserted it into the terminal docking port. "Elsa, run the unlocking software for me please." he asked.

 _"Or I could just unlock it myself."_ she said haughtily.

"Okay Elsa, unlock the terminal for me please." he said, giving her a playful grin at her showing off.

 _"Only because you asked so politely."_ she said, then took a few nanoseconds to dismantle the terminal security. _"Huh, formicidae?"_ she asked. When he looked at her curiously, she answered. _"His password."_

"That actually clears up a lot of questions we have about the ants..." he said. This time, it was her turn to stare at him inquisitively. "Animalia, Arthropoda, Insecta, Hymenoptera, Apocrita, Vespoidea, Formicidae. The scientific classification tree of ants." he said, then began typing on the terminal.

 _"Gee, a scientist moves in and locks his terminal with the Family class name of ants, and a month later all the giant ants in the area are bloodthirsty killers and breath fire. I wonder if there's a relation."_ she said sarcastically.

"My thoughts exactly." he said as he pulled up the scientist's notes on the terminal. His eyes flitted across the screen as he read them out loud. "Note 1, Where did I go wrong? Batch A27 is a complete failure. I must return to my original formulas and begin the process all over again. Perhaps the pressure of working in these conditions without proper laboratory equipment is to blame, or perhaps I simply didn't splice the correct genetic instructions, or perhaps I am fatigued. Whatever the case may be, A27 is proving to be a disaster. I must introduce a new formula soon or I may not be alive to see my hypothesis come to fruition." he finished.

 _"Yep. Mad scientist. A regular Doctor Frankenstein."_ she said with a sigh.

He continued to read into the next note. "Sample location discovered. I've found the perfect speciment for my experiments inside Marigold Station! I've set up shop underground for now while I prepare the experiment. All I need is a bit of last-minute programming on my robot and it will be ready to perform the delicate injections. Soon I will prove to everyone that my formula is a viable alternative to the destructions of these misunderstood beings." he said, then leaned back and glared at the terminal. "Right, as if tearing limbs from a human being is something that could be misunderstood." he said in irritation.

 _"Well, we not only found out what happened to the ants. But we also found out where to find the culprit."_ said the AI as she lounged in her virtual world.

"Hold on, there's one more on here." he said, then pulled up the last of the doctor's notes. "Dangers...I realize the dangers involved in tampering with nature. I've heard the rhetoric and the hoopla about "playing God". However, I am determined to reduce these poor things back to their original state when they were harmless. Only through genetic recoding is this possible. All that is needed is a proper test subject. My search continues as I tweak the formula." he finished, then sighed and stood up. "What an idiot."

 _"I don't know, he does have good intentions."_ said the virtual girl.

"Tell that to Bryan's father." he said as he left the shack and closed the door behind him. By now, the house next to him had collapsed in on itself and was consumed by the raging inferno. He could feel the heat coming off the boy's former house as he walked back to the diner. When he sat down at the table again, he looked at the boy. "I've got a pretty clear idea of what happened to the ants, and whose fault it is. And I'm going to take care of it right now." he said, his tone edged with ice.

Lana and Bryan both looked at him in surprise. But Bryan was the one that spoke. "Good. Make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else's family." he said, looking back at the table again. Lana had to restrain herself frum hugging the child endlessly.

"Do you have a place to stay until I get back?" asked John as he stood up and pulled his shotgun off his back.

Lana looked up at him oddly. "He's not coming with us?" she asked.

The wanderer shook his head. "Likely, there's be more ants where we're going. If they swarm us, I don't want the worst happening to him. So I want him to stay up here where we've cleared the ants out until we get back."

"I can stay in the shelter. It should be safe there." said the boy, who pointed at the small portable fallout shelter built into the ground outside the diner.

John reached up and scratched his head. "A nuke shelter huh?" he asked, his eye twitching. He knew that if a nuke went off anywhere near this area, the shelter and anyone inside it would probably land in the Mid-West. Raising his shotgun, he hit the shelter with a blast from the vicious weapon. The shot easily ricocheted off the smooth surface of the metal wall, leaving not a scratch on the shell. The action surprised both of the two sitting down, and the dog as well, who barked at him, then laid his head in Bryan's lap. The boy stroked the dog's ears gently.

"What the hell was that?" asked the armored woman.

"Seems sturdy enough. If any ants surface while we're gone, it should keep you safe. And it locks from the inside, so in the off chance anyone unscrupulous comes by, they wouldn't be able to get in either." he said, nodding. He then turned to the boy and smiled. "Don't worry, we'll make sure whatever caused this is taken care of. Then we'll be back for you, alright?" he asked, making sure to let the boy know that they weren't leaving him behind.

Bryan, much to the surprise of John and Lana both, smiled. "Alright. I'll be fine in the shelter." he said, then stood up and sighed lightly. "I wish I had met you guys before, then maybe my pappa would still be alive." he said as he headed to towards the cylindrical shelter.

Both of the warriors grimaced. "I'm really gonna let whoever did this have it when I find them." said Lana as she drew her weapon off her back.

John watched the boy go, then turned to her and smiled. "Let's at least make his stay enjoyable." he said.

OoOoO

After stuffing the shelter with an assortment of Nuka-Cola, snack cakes, and other treats for Bryan to keep himself busy with while they were gone, John also decided to leave his canine companion with the boy until they got back. Having no objections, the dog just laid down and laid its head on the boy's lap. Bryan, who had grown to like the dog, pet him with a smile, making it known how much he wished he had a dog.

Together, the pair left the suburb and stepped into the dark underground of the metro station. "Did you ever name your dog?" asked Lana, the thought popping into her head suddenly as they walked through the terminal together. She hopped up onto a Nuka-Cola machine that had fallen over in the middle of the long tunnel.

He looked at her, stunned for a moment, then began thinking. "Not really, I just call him Dog." he said.

She gave him a deadpan look. "Real creative." she said sarcastically. Her eyes turned and spotted a thin silhouette framed by the light coming from one of the booths in the center of the large concrete terminal. Before the bombs fell, there must have been many different people walking the platforms, awaiting their trains. She immediately recognized what the figure was, and raised her laser rifle. A shot of superheated red light blasted the groaning creatures head from its shoulders. "Great, ghouls..." she said with an exhausting sigh.

"You think you've seen enough of them? The last time I was in a metro, one of them shattered my spine." he said as he readied his weapon as well for any incoming fights. Reaching up, he pulled the goggles down over his eyes, and they immediately lit up any of the creatures in the area. Smiling lightly, he raised his shotgun, and the two of them began to blast away at the walking rad magnets that were wandering around the platforms. After a few minutes, the creatures were eliminated, and the train station was clear. John stood next to the booth, waiting for Lana to return, when he spotted a body inside the small ticket stall. Opening the door on the far end, he approached and began to examine the body.

The redheaded Knight approached finally and looked at him curiously under the dim booth light. "What're you up to?" she asked as she leaned over the wall of the stall.

"This guy here...is strange." he said. Despite not seeing her curious look, he somehow knew she was looking for more answers. "This place was surrounded by ghouls, but he doesn't have a bite on him." he said as his hand slid down the chest piece of the man's armor. "Hmmm..." he pondered as he found a small hole right above his heart.

"What is it?" she asked.

"There's a bullet hole in his armor, meaning someone around here has a high powered gun." he said as he looked down at the man's clenched hand. Reaching down, he opened the digits and saw a folded piece of paper gripped inside his fist.

"How do you know he's still around?" asked the woman, her paranoia getting the better of her as she looked around nervously to make sure nobody was around.

"He was freshly killed. Maybe a couple of hours ago." he said as he unfolded the paper and looked at it. It was a note that appeared to be written by the dead man. "If you're reading this, then I'm dead. And you've got a job to do. In Detour Tunnel B, I've hidden a package inside the maintenence closet marked with a flashing light. I locked it, and left the key inside one of the old firehose boxes along the tunnel. Your job is to get the key, unlock the closet, and take the package to Rob McLaren in Girdershade. Just watch your back, because the asshole who shot me is still around somewhere, trying to find that package. But he won't be able to get to it, seeing as the dumbass can't read. Do this, and you'll receive the payment that was meant for me, which is a substantial amount." John finished reading the note with a slight grin on his face. "He must have been a hell of a go getter to make his final words to the world 'Please finish my last job.'" he said amused.

"No kidding." said the woman as they both stood up. John exited the booth and looked down at one of the subway tunnels beneath their feet. Above it, faded with time, was marked 'DT B'. He just smirked and headed for the broken escalator.

"Well, let's get down there and find out what was worth protecting." he said.

OoOoO

Ten minutes of investigating later found them in front of the maintenence closet in question. The light could be seen for almost half a mile down either side of the tunnel, at least, before the collapse of one of the tunnels. But to them, it was as clear as day when they finally turned the corner. Approaching the door, John reached up, grabbed the light, then ripped it off the wall, stopping the flashing immediately.

Lana giggled at the action. "Light sensitive?" she asked. He glared at her.

"Ever since I left the vault, I've always had issues adjusting to the sun. Now, we've been in darkness for almost half an hour. I'd rather not start off this ant crap with a headache." he said as he tossed the light over his shoulder and into the car of the wrecked train behind him. "Now then, let's see what this was all about." he said as he used the keycode that had been written on the inside cover of the firehose case and punched it into the pad next to the steel door. The door slid open quickly after the light on the pad turned green, and they walked inside the small closet to find a small box in the corner. It was metal, and had a flip top lid on it.

Reaching down, he picked it up and looked at Lana, both of their burning curiosities about to be sated. Turning back to the box, he flipped it open, and both of them stared at the prize in shock. Reaching down slowly, the wanderer picked up the flimsy piece of cloth by one of the shoulder straps. It was a fancy, well-preserved, and very skimpy, piece of lingerie that had somehow survived the bombs of the Great War.

After a few moments of staring at the outfit, John turned to her with a stupid grin on his face. Lana's face immediately lit up with a disapproving glare. "If you even insinuate that I should try it on, I assure you that your healing abilities will not be able to piece you back together when I finish with you." she said with a growl.

He laughed as he folded the cloth back into the box. "Easy easy, I was just kidding." he said. Even Lana cracked a slight smile at the amusement of a man using his last words to protect a piece of underwear. The two put the package away inside his ruck, and were about to leave when a man with a sniper rifle on his back, and a double-barrel shotgun in his hands stepped into the doorway.

"You got exactly one fucking second to give me that package before I put two new holes in you." said the man with a snarl. John looked at Lana, who sighed, and shook her head. Chuckling to himself, the gunman lifted his hands with a dark smile, then cracked his knuckles.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** I wanted to apologize to everyone for the delay in the chapter. I recently had to go to the ER for kidney stone issues, and afterwards I was on high dosage medication. As it turns out, my writing ability gets a bit loopy when I'm in Candyland. But all that's over now, so things should proceed as usual from here on out. Unless I get another one. In that case, just hit me in the head with a supersledge, because it'd be less painful than having to go through that again. -_-

Also, there is something I wanted to say. I don't normally do this kind of thing, because I think creative writing is inspired by reading other's written works. So if somebody says they want to use something of mine from one of my stories, I happily say 'Of course!', because I, like many, appreciate when my work inspires people. However, in this situation, I noticed a rather popular story on the list that had been dead for a long while start to come to life again after my Operation Anchorage chapters surfaced. And as I began to read their updated chapters, to say they would be similar to quite a number of my own scenarios would be seriously undercutting how astoundingly close they are. Pretty much carbon copy situations (not entire chapters), one after another after the story started again.

If you enjoy my story, and it inspires you to write again, please feel free to do so. I'd never stunt someone's urge to write fiction simply because they want to borrow a thing or two from me. As a matter of fact, Myetel's Mass Effect story Spirit of Redemption is what inspired me to rewrite my entire collection of stories so that they're better, cleaner, and much more enjoyable. And when I do finally write a ME story for myself, if not straight borrowed, some stuff from her story will be heavily referenced in mine. The point I'm getting at, is feel free to use what you like. But if you're going to extensively borrow from someone else's story, it's at least polite to say "Hey, read this guy's stuff." or "Inspired by [insert name here]".

To the rest of you who are still fans of this story, please feel free to ask if you want to borrow something from mine, and I will afford you the same courtesy. Thank you all again for reading, and expect another chapter soon. ~ ** _RiotDragon_**


	43. Them!

OoO( 43 )OoO

Unreal. That was really the only word he had for the situation he found himself in right now. His head was swimming with stars, his back was in severe pain, and now he was flat on his ass on the safe-walk outside of a subway maintenance closet. He pulled the trigger, he knew he did. But it didn't do anything. If he hadn't felt the kickback in his hands when he fired, he'd have thought the weapon hadn't fired at all, perhaps he'd accidentally put in two dud shells. But he felt the kickback, heard the roar of the barrel as he had so many times before, and still, the man stood there as if the the buckshot had phased right through him. Then the punch came, and it felt like he had stuck his face out in front of a train. The resulting impact blew him out of the closet, and ended with him denting the side of the train car that had been derailed outside.

Now, the black armored figured stepped up to him, flexing his punching hand again as his duster moved around him like scales coiling around the muscles of a snake. And the eyes, they were the eyes of a devil, glowing and piercing him down to his inner core as they judged him. Lug Nut could only stare in awe as the man stepped in front of him and stared down at him darkly.

"So, I take it you killed the original owner of the package?" he asked in his icy tone.

"Wh-Wh-What are you?" asked the man stupidly, completely ignoring the question.

John glared at him, then cocked his fist back and punched the train behind the man. While it didn't move, the door that he had hit caved in and crumbled under the mighty attack. "I asked you a question." he said, his tone laced with more venom than before.

Terrified of the consequences, the man finally answered. "Y-Yes! I did! Please, I'm sorry!" he said, clapping his hands together as if praying and bowing his head.

"Are you a raider?" asked the wanderer.

"N-No! I'm just...a courier..." said the man as he got to his knees and bowed lower, as if standing before a medieval king.

Reaching down, the gunman grabbed the man by the chin and lifted him with one hand until he was dangling like a sack of meat. Seeing the duster clad inhuman grab a knife from his side, he slammed his eyes closed and waited for death to take him. But instead, a sharp pain split his right cheek. Before he could even scream, he felt the soothing effect of a stimpak entering his system. When he opened his eyes again, the glowing glare was donned by a smiling man. "There are ways of getting work without killing others. You now have my mark. If I ever see this mark on your face again, and you have killed out of greed or malice, your suffering will have you begging me to kill you." he said, then threw the man to the side. Immediately the courier scrambled to his feet and sprinted down the tunnel at full speed.

"You think he was actually a courier?" asked the woman as she stepped up to him.

"Either that, or he thinks he looks good in lace." John joked as they stepped out of the closet. "Well, that was a fun distraction. But let's say we find this asshole and get out of here. I've seen enough underground to last me millennia." he said, getting a chuckle from the redhead. Together, the two stayed silent for the rest of their journey down the metro tunnels.

Deciding that the best way to find the missing Doc Lesko was to follow the ants, the pair constantly had to fight through swarms of the annoying insects. At one point, as they were travelling down a long stretch of the only tunnel that hadn't been blocked off, a wall they had just passed ended up breaking down and six of the monstrous insects crawled out. Lana targeted one and blasted away until there was nothing left of its head but a strange gray viscera, while John had to dodge out of the way as a blast of fire nearly consumed him.

When the wanderer rolled to his feet again, he was directly next to one of the bigs, and sent a kick into its thorax that sent it into the concrete wall. The large bug fell to the ground and didn't move afterwards. After a rough bout of gun and laser fire, the two finally killed all of the invading insects. Lana was bent over with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily at the energy she spent dodging and rolling away from the flames.

"What's the matter? Getting soft?" asked the gunman jokingly.

Lana glared at him and gave him the finger as she stood straight again, still breathing heavily. "Go to hell." she said as she turned to walk away. But John stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?" she asked, lifting her rifle again in case he saw more insects.

"There's a body over there..." he said as he lowered his goggles. "It's only been dead for a couple of hours." he said as he saw the heat signature still remaining within the core of the body. But the limbs and the head had all released the heat, leaving them blue in his scanner. Walking over to the body in question, which had been tucked into the alcove of the passage connecting two of the underground tunnels. Kneeling down, he easily saw what had killed the man. What few shreds of clothes he had left were singed and burned to near nothingness. The skin underneath showed blistering and warping, both signs that the man had been exposed to high temperatures for a long while. But the finishing touch to the man had been a crushed windpipe and severed spinal column. "One of the ants got their pincers around his throat." he said. His eyes traced down a small chain that had been around the man's neck. At the end were a pair of holotags.

"He was Brotherhood?" asked Lana as she scanned the dog tags. Almost immediately, she spotted a huge difference from the Brotherhood tags and the ones around his neck. "Enclave!?" she asked, almost horrified as the words left her mouth.

Reading the inscription, he sighed. "William Brandice. The kid's neighbor." said the man as he pulled the tags off and stood up. "He mentioned that they had a kid and a wife as well. I wonder if they're down here somewhere." he said, looking around at the dimly lit tunnel. "Let's keep moving." Unbeknownst to John, his question would be answered sooner than he thought. About five minutes down the next tunnel and he heard a soft sobbing coming from another of the maintenance closets. Turning to the woman, he whispered to her. "I think you should answer the door. My appearance probably wouldn't help their situation." he said.

She nodded, then stepped up to the metallic door and knocked gently. A muffled voice came from inside the closet. "W-William?" asked the voice desperately.

"I'm afraid not. Can you open up the door? I need to speak to you about him for a moment." said the woman gently.

"How do I know you won't kill us as soon as I open the door?" asked the woman's voice again.

"I mean you no harm." said Lana, trying to soothe the woman. But her attempts fell on deaf ears.

"No! He told us not to trust anyone! He told us to wait until he got back!" she shouted. John had listened patiently for a minute or two, but he was slowly losing his patience as the woman grew more and more agitated. Finally, after the woman started shouting at Lana to shut up and go away, he put a hand on her shoulder, motioning her to step aside.

"Mrs. Brandice!" he shouted. At hearing her name, she went quiet. "My name is John Ronas..." he said, then heard a gasp within the closet that didn't sound like it had come from the woman. "Lana, my partner, and I need to speak to you about your husband. Is Will Junior in there with you?" he asked.

"H-How do you know our names?" she asked incredulously.

"Bryan Wilks, the boy you lived across from in Grayditch told us about you. He said that you were a very nice lady, and that Will Junior was his friend when you still lived there." said John.

For a long moment, there was silence. Finally, a higher pitched voice, cracking as his puberty began to show through, spoke up. "Are you really John Ronas?" asked the boy. He didn't know whether his mind was repressing the fact that a lot of people in the wasteland knew who he was, or whether he was just an idiot. But he gently banged his head against the door.

"That's my name, has been since I was born." he said. "Can you please open the door? We've already taken out the ants, so you don't have to worry. We won't harm you." he finished as he stepped away from the door.

"O-Okay...but we have a gun, so don't try anything funny." said the woman. They could hear her rise to her feet and shuffle over to the doorway, then almost instantly, the door buzzed and it swung slowly open. John turned away immediately, and Lana smiled at the woman.

She was smallish, with brown mousy hair, and currently wore a dress and a pair of house shoes. Her features were slightly plump, and in her hand was a .32 revolver, and she had a look of terror as she pointed the weapon at Lana. The woman continued smiling however. "What's your name Mrs. Brandice?" asked Lana politely.

"Sh-Sheila." she said, trying to hide her son behind her, but failing miserably as the teenager constantly poked his head out from behind his mother to catch a glimpse of John.

"My name is Will!" he said, smiling and showing a missing tooth.

"Good to meet you Will. My name is Lana, and I'm with the Br..." said Lana, but John spoke up and cut her off.

"She's with me." he said, still facing away from the woman.

"Why do you have your back turned?" asked Sheila as she pointed the gun at him.

"Because, the first time I look at someone, it always scares them. And you're in a dire enough state that you don't need anymore scaring." he said.

"I wanna see!" said Will, but his mother swatted him on the back of his head.

"Quiet down." she said, then looked back up at him. "Turn around. Or I'll...I'll shoot ya." she said, her voice too shaky to really sound commanding.

"Alright, I'm going to do it slowly though. And please, don't be scared of my eyes." he said, then slowly turned around and looked at them both. The woman gasped in horror, but Will did the opposite.

"Cool! It is you!" he said as he whizzed past his mother and ran up to John. "How did you get eyes like that? Can you shoot laser out of them?" he asked, question after question flooding from the boy's mouth. The sheer excitement of the child made John laugh in genuine mirth, something he hadn't felt for a long time.

"Alright alright, settle down. You come over here with me, and she's going to talk to your mother, alright?" he asked.

"Sure!" he said, then turned to his mother. "See you in a minute mom!" he shouted, then went with John over to the other side of the decades abandoned railroad tracks.

Lana sighed, vowing to get the wanderer back for making her do the talking. But she turned to the woman, who looked at her, as if surprised to see her there. "Y-You said you had to talk to me about my husband?" she asked. Her face was curious, but her voice told the story that she already knew.

Finally, the redhead sighed and nodded. Reaching out, she took the woman's hand and opened her palm, then laid something in the flat of the her hand. When Sheila saw the small object, she immediately teared up and dropped the gun, covering her mouth with her now free hand. "I'm very sorry." said the Knight as she stood there awkwardly.

But the response she received wasn't what she expected. "Stupid stupid stupid!" she said, silently shouting to keep Will from hearing. "I told him it was stupid to go out on his own! I told him he was a fool, but he didn't listen! And now he's...he's..." she said, then sighed and began fanning her face. Lana just stood stunned as the woman seemed to go through ten kinds of emotion all at once. From sadness, to anger, to frustration, to more anger, and back to sadness. Finally, she seemed to calm down again and acknowledge Lana. "Don't worry dear, not your fault." she said rubbing her eyes in frustration, and to dry away her tears.

Lana eyed her and rubbed the woman's back gently. "We found him a ways back. And from the looks of it, the ants had gotten the better of him." she said.

"He always did believe he was above nature." she said with an exasperated sigh. She put her hands on her hips and looked at her fellow woman. "What are we to do now? He was our driving force. Without him, we won't even be able to make money..." she said as she leaned down and picked the fallen weapon up off the floor.

"After we finish our work here, we're heading to Rivet City if you want to come with." said Lana. The wife's head snapped towards her, looking at her with wide eyes.

"You mean...you would take us there?" asked the mousy woman. Lana reached up and rubbed her neck gently, realizing she really should have asked John before offering to escort the pair across the wastes. Holding the revolver forward, she smiled brightly. "I-If you did, you could have this weapon, and the one back at our house as well. My husband kept one locked underneath the bed to keep Will out. Please, you must get us out of here and...somewhere safe." she said with another heaving sigh. "Without William, we're doomed. We couldn't even make it out of these tunnels."

Lana rubbed her head gently, then nodded. "Alright, it's fine. Keep the gun though, you may need it." she said as she turned towards the wanderer, who was now lifting the front end of the train car for the boy's amusement. She chuckled as the boy started gawking all over again.

"Whoa! You're like...like...Grognak!" he said. John's eyes opened wide and he dropped the train as his hand slipped, making a loud klaxon down the entire tunnel. Thinking back on all the nicknames he'd been given, he'd never once been called his own childhood hero. The thought that this kid had acknowledged him as something he himself idolized when he was younger made him feel like he could lift a mountain. Smiling down at will, he ruffled the boy's blonde hair.

"Thanks kid. You're not so bad yourself." he said, then looked up at Lana. "Everything alright?" As he asked, he looked over at the woman who, besides some puffy eyes and sniffling, seemed relatively calm.

"Uh...yeah. So, they're coming with us." remarked Lana as she chuckled at him nervously.

John's eyes widened. "Oh, really?" he asked.

Will immediately ran over to his mother and began shouting excitedly. "Can we go with them mom!? Please? Can we?"

She patted his head gently to get him to calm down and looked up at John. "I suppose it's up to them." she said, looking back and forth between the Knight and the gunman.

John sighed, then smiled widely. "Alright, but only because I might need Will's help to defeat the evil Barbarian King." he said, remembering one of his favorite issues of the comic book he loved as a child. Will's eyes widened in wonder, and his mother chuckled.

"Alright then, but he's got plenty'a training to do." she said as she patted him on the head again.

OoOoO

Week after week after week of nothing but studying, samples, tests, second tests, hypotheses, theories, solutions, bases, acids, third tests, mutagens, formicidae, beakers clinking, bunsons burning, brilliant scientist perspiring, and then fourth tests! Weeks of this same routine day in and day out would have normally been exactly what Weston Lesko loved. But after so long with so few results, he was more and more likely to go insane down here.

Although he did love the quiet of the underground environment, away from all the noisy nonsense back in that backwater suburb, it did leave him to his thoughts a little too often. He didn't have anything to occupy himself while he was waiting for test results. Back on the surface, there was at least someone to allow himself to talk to, though none of the idiots above were smart enough to comprehend his ramblings, it was refreshing having someone around to bounce his own voice off of. Back in the labs when he was younger, he used a model human skull to talk to, but that weirded people out, made them feel uncomfortable.

Now, with the constant cycle of circular failure, on top of the lack of presence around him to share his musings with, his mind was starting to split open. He was even hearing voices. At first, they were quiet, but after a few minutes they began to get louder. He growled as he typed away at his terminal. Finally, after they continued to grow in volume, he grabbed his head and shouted, "Would you quiet down! I'm trying to work!" Suddenly, much to his surprise, the voices vanished. "Oh...thank you." he said, then began to type away again.

But he jumped in surprise when the door to the metro slid open and a man walked in and glared at him. "Don't thank me yet Doc." he said.

"Wh-Who are you?" asked Doc Lesko as he rose to his feet. "And why are you in my lab?"

"To be completely honest, I didn't expect to find you alive down here." said the gunman as he crossed his arms. Certainly the man seemed intimidating. He stood a few inches higher, wore abyssal black armor beneath a duster, and had eyes that glowed like a barrel of nuclear waste. But a man of science is not one to be intimidated by mere thugs.

"That is precisely why this is the ideal place for my work. Do you even realize you're trampling about in a delicately balanced and highly sensitive experimentation area?" asked the doctor, his voice rising as his anger at the intrusion began to overpower his surprise that anyone found him.

"Yeah, about that. Why don't you go ahead and tell me about these experiments." said the brown-haired man as he pulled out the doctor's own seat and sat in it.

Weston sighed and rubbed his head. "My experiments are of a complex nature and would take a scientist to explain..." he said, then his head snapped up, as if he got a sudden realization. "Oh...wait. I'm a scientist! How marvelous!" said the doctor, now in a much better mood, not realizing that his need to bounce ideas off of someone was being sated. Immediately, the man began to brush aside many of the tools he had set up on the table and held up a small chalkboard filled with calculations. "My foray into reducing the girth of these insectoid creatures is of utmost importance. I intend to generationally reduce their immense stature by way of a pre-birth induced mutagen. Isn't that clever?" he asked, looking as if a couple of boulders just dropped off his back.

The wanderer scratched his chin thoughtfully for a moment before responding. "So, you're trying to make them smaller over time by introducing specific DNA altering mutagens into the eggs." he said as he leaned forward in the chair.

Doctor Lesko took a step back, eyeing the intruder with a new appreciation. "My word! You understand perfectly! How marvelous!" he said dramatically as he lifted a few environmentally controlled vials from the table and held them in front of the man.

"Alright, got that. Would you care to explain the fire breath and the not so small sized ants?" asked the new comer as he examined the vial, seeing its molecular content scrawled across the vials label.

Weston scratched his head sheepishly. "W-Well, I'm afraid I've made slight miscalculations in the mutagen. Instead of lowering their size, the brood hatched with a new biomechanism. I call the genetic aberration pyrosis; the ability to emit flame from their bodies." he said with a heavy sigh. "I've been trying to correct the error, but I can't get near my equipment."

Finally, the gunman stood again. "I'm a man of medical science myself, but I'm well aware of the protocol of such experimentation. Why wasn't this test of yours done in a controlled environment before you unleashed hell on the town above?" he asked, his voice growing sharp.

Once again, Lesko was stunned, both at the tone change, and at the newcomer's knowledge of scientific method. "Your knowledge of experimental procedure surprises me!" he said, then sighed again. "Indeed, I have skipped a step and directly modified an entire brood. Perhaps I was too hasty...but...I was so certain it would work!" he said, slamming his fist into his palm. So enamored with his monologue was he, that he didn't realize that the intruder had stepped up close to him. Within seconds, he was dangling in the air by the man's hand clamped firmly around his throat.

"You skipping that step resulted in the deaths of two good men from Grayditch." he said, the anger in his eyes now piercing the doctor. "Tell me Doc, do you know a boy by the name of Bryan Wilks?" asked John. The doctor struggled with his hand, then pointed at the hand frantically. "Oh...right." he said, then dropped the man to the ground.

Weston coughed heavily before finally getting to his feet. "Yes, I know of Bryan. He often came by my study next door. Asked too many questions. A constant distraction to my work." he said, then when he saw the anger flare up again, he took a step back. "Look, science requires sacrifice. I've made peace with the...hwik!" squeaked the doctor as the man's hand shot to his throat again.

"Made peace with the fact that your negligence as gotten two people killed already?" he asked as he pulled a shotgun off his back and pressed it to Weston's chest. "Tell me Doc, I forgot whether I put the safety on or not. Is finding the answer to that worth your life?" he asked.

"N-No! Please!" shouted the scientist. Again, John let him go. "I-I apologize for any grief my actions may have caused. But you must understand, I'm doing this for the betterment of man!" he pleaded. The gunman slide the shotgun over his back again and crossed his arms.

"Science is an amazing thing in the right hands Doctor. But when you abuse it, and when you get careless, it becomes lethal. Right now you are trying to fix another mistake caused by someone who used science carelessly. So in the future, I'd advise you make sure to follow every protocol when doing such sensitive experimentation."

"I can assure you, that will be my top priority." said the man, who had put more distance between him and the stranger.

"So, what do we do about our current situation?" asked the wanderer as he plopped back down in the chair.

Doctor Lesko stepped over to his terminal and opened up a screen that showed the inside of the cave. John leaned forward and noticed immediately that it was a live feed of the queen's chamber. The gargantuan insect was at the back of the cave while a protectron paced around inside the cavern as well. Off to the right of the well lit cavern was another terminal sitting on a table. "We need to get to my terminal. On it, I've got the formula for the mutagen, as well as a program that will send an inhibitor pulse out for miles. The pulse will sever the brood's connection to the queen, and cause them to frenzy, tearing themselves and each other apart."

"If the issue is with their connection to the queen, then why not get rid of her?" asked John as he ran a hand through his every growing hair. By now, it was down to his shoulders.

"If the queen were to be harmed in any way, I'd lose months of research!" he said forcefully. "I need her alive to continue the experiments as planned. Unfortunately, one of her abominable Nest Guardians has severed my link to my terminal down there. And I wouldn't be able to get past them. But you..." he said, looking at John with a hopeful glance.

"But I might be able to take out the guardians for you." said the gunman, getting an excited nod.

"If you did, I'd be able to proceed with my work! Please, you must help me!" said the scientist.

The wanderer stared at the live feed for a long moment before finally standing up. "Fine. We'll help you get to your terminal." he said as he once again pulled his shotgun off his back.

The doctor looked at him curiously. "I'm sorry but...we?" he asked.

Lana stepped into the chamber this time, her laser rifle already off her back and in her arms. "Yes, we. And while we're down there, you're going to keep the Brandice family company." said the woman as the two others stepped in behind her.

OoOoO

"So, are we really going to let this guy go?" asked Lana sourly as they crept down the tunnel that led to the queen's nest.

John shook his head. "Not entirely." he said, then placed a finger to his lips as he saw the abdomen of one of the guardians poking out from behind a stalactite. "How are we going to take care of this? If these have hivemind as well, then as soon as we attack one, the rest already know we're here." he asked her in a whisper.

"I...actually think I have an idea. Hold still." she said as she stood up and began digging in his ruck. He almost fell over twice with the way she was manhandling his equipment, but finally she crouched next to him again holding a couple frag mines. "We set these up, and anything that gets past our guns gets a boom to the face." she said.

"Sounds like a plan." he said as he took a few from her. Together, they spaced the sensory weapons out so that they wouldn't trigger one another, then gathered far enough back that they didn't end up tripping them themselves. Pulling his long range rifle off of his back, he loaded a cell into it and took aim. "Get ready!" he said loudly enough for the nearest of the ants to hear.

And hear it did. Turning, it charged towards the pair. In return, it received two shots from a laser rifle that burned through its hide, then one superheated round that tore it from head to abdomen, killing it quickly. As if on cue, the rest of the guardians raced around the corner and headed towards them. "Shit...I'll take left, you take right!" shouted Lana as she aimed for one of the creatures.

John slid his crosshairs over the creature on the far right, and the two fired across each other's path. His magnetically launched round slammed into the guardian like a truck, blasting its head clean from its thorax. Her shot was less damaging, but no less effective. One of her shots on the creature hit its antenna, searing the appendage from the owner's head. The ant let out a loud shriek before it spun around on the one behind it and gripped it by the neck.

John took one more of the creatures out with his long range before he saw exactly what the woman had accomplished. Two of the ants now fought a battle against one another that would result in at least one of their deaths. The two giant insectoids battled for minutes, lifting each other, clamping, biting, shooting fire, until finally the frenzied one grabbed the other and hurled it down the natural corridor, and right into the mines. The detonation shook the ground, and sent and ichor splattering against the walls.

Both of the humans hid behind pillars of stone when the blast went off, keeping them safe from shrapnel and ooze alike. And when they stepped out again, they realized that the blast had not only killed the one that had triggered them, but the other was unlucky enough to be so close to the blast that the detonation literally ripped its legs off. It lay on the ground, wriggling in a pool of its own blood as the two approached.

Pulling her weapon up, Lana ended the creature, turning it to a pile of ash. "That was five right?" she asked as she lowered her weapon and looked at him.

"Correct. There's one more though." he said as he continued walking forward.

She looked after him oddly, then followed. "But, he said there were only five nest guardians!" she said curiously.

"Five nest guardians and one queen." he said, then looked her dead in the eyes.

She nodded in acknowledgement. "Ahhh, gotcha." she said, then followed him down to the cavern. When they stepped into the light of the larger cavern, the queen noticed them and immediately let out a hiss of anger. Smiling, the gunman stepped over to the terminal, then connected the device with his pipboy.

"Elsa, copy the mutagen formula." he said.

 _"You got it boss."_ she said as she immediately copied the data from the terminal and put it on the pipboy for safe storage. Having the formula, he reached down and took three grenades from his belt and pulled the pin on all three, throwing them towards the queen as she launched a blast of acidic spit at him. He ducked behind the terminal, which caught the shot and began melting immediately.

But the egg shaped devices went off, and along with Lana firing red hot lasers directly into the creatures endoskull, it was blasted to pieces, then the pieces caught fire, resulting and a shriek from the ant queen that made both of the humans cover their ears in pain. The shriek ended, only to have others begin from outside the room. "Let's go." said the wanderer as he began to walk away from the now lifeless insect.

When they arrived back in the lab, they were met by a furious Doctor Lesko and a very excited Will Brandice. "How could you! Your buffoonery has cost me months, maybe even years of research! All you had to do was kill them and leave the queen alone!" he shouted.

"That was awesome! It was all like BOOOOSH!" shouted Will as he reenacted the short battle with the ants.

 _"Heh, my kinda kid."_ said Elsa from the pipboy.

Ignoring both of the other two, John focused solely on the doctor. "What I did was prevented you from committing genocide on these insects Doctor." said the gunman firmly, making the man wilt.

"G-Genocide? What are you implying?" asked Weston desperately.

"Tell me Doc, what do normal sized ants eat?" asked the wanderer.

Weston scratched his head, unsure of where the man was going with the question. But he humored him regardless. "Well, their diet usually consists of seeds, nectar, and other forms of plants. Of course, some are carnivorous and make their way on other insects, worms, and even other colonies of ants." he said, reciting the information off the top of his head.

"Now let's say that you end up actually succeeding in your experiments. All the ants you produce are now regular sized again. So, what do they eat?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips.

The other three in the room looked between the two men as Doc Lesko dawned a look of understanding, then misery. "They...they wouldn't have any food source..." he said as he reached up and held his head. "How could I have missed something so simple?" he asked himself in frustration.

"They would have only themselves to feed on, and predators much more massive than they are destroying them. Resulting in their complete annihilation." said the gunman.

"I...You...You're right. I just thought..." mumbled the doctor as his own thoughts ran through his head. But he was surprised when John put a hand on his shoulder.

"You are doing good work Doc, it's just not the right time for it. First, we need to create a world they can live in before we can return them to themselves again. And that's why I want you to come with us to Rivet City." said John as he plugged his pipboy into Weston's terminal.

"Rivet City? What awaits there?" he asked, then spied the man hooking up to his computer. "And what are you doing?"

"I saved your formula before I destroyed the queen. Your progress is still intact. You just need new specimens. And while you come with us, your data will be right here for when you return to finally complete your work." said John as Elsa transferred the file onto the terminal.

Weston looked at him for a long moment before he sighed. "Alright...you're correct. I can do nothing for them at this time." he admitted, none to happily.

"Good, now we have one more passenger to pick up before we go." said Lana as she turned to the family and motioned them out the door.

OoOoO

It had been at least two hours since they had left him with the dog. In that time, he had munched away at the snacks they had left him, then grown bored of that and began to talk to the dog, asking if he knew any tricks. When the dog tilted his head curiously at the boy, he just laughed and petted the creatures ears happily.

It was about halfway through his wait that he started to hear a loud shriek across the town. Standing up, the young boy slid the door open slightly and peeked out with one eye. To his amazement, two of the ants that had wandered into town were now fighting to the death. Tearing limbs, breathing fire, and slamming each other onto the ground until one of them was dead. "Whoa...cool." he said as the victor looked up to the sky and let out another loud wail, before collapsing to the ground, engulfed in flames.

The shrieking died down, and it was almost deathly quiet for another hour. Finally, when he started to nod off, the door slid open and the man was there again, staring down at him. "If you're tired, I can come back later." he said with a smirk on his face.

But Bryan immediately got to his feet. "You should have seen it! The ants, they went all crazy and started ripping each other apart! It was awesome!" said Bryan, excited to see the man again.

"I know right!?" asked Will from behind him.

"Will?" asked Bryan, his eyes wide.

"In the flesh." he said proudly. The gunman and Lana smiled, along with Sheila as the two boys reacquainted themselves. But he eventually had to cut in.

"Bryan, do you know of any family you may have anywhere?" asked John as he knelt down.

Bryan looked at him, then scratched his head. "Uhh...I think my pappa said I had an aunt in Rivet City. Her name was...Vera." he said, as he recanted the memory.

Lana chuckled and elbowed John. "Convenient." she remarked.

"No kidding." said the gunman as he reached down and ruffled the boy's hair. "Well, that's where we're headed. Wanna come with?" he asked.

Bryan's face lit up immediately. "Really? You mean it? Can I?" he asked, his voice cracking as he did.

John nodded, but gave him a stern look. "Yes, you can. But you both have to be on your best behavior." he said, looking from Will to Bryan again.

"Yes sir!" shouted Will.

"You got it mister!" repeated Bryan.

"Whoa! Is that a dog?" asked Will as he immediately turned his attention to the canine.

John rubbed his head as Lana chuckled next to him. "What have I gotten myself into?" he asked.

"It's called parenthood." said Sheila as she patted him on the back. "Just be lucky it's temporary for you." she said, on the brink of laughing herself.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Sick again. x_x But I'm keeping my promise that these are going to be on the regular again. So they might be a bit off, but I'll go back and correct them when I'm better.

Also, to those reviewers who are reviewing as a guest, if you'd like me to respond to your reviews, please either sign in, or post as your full username. I had one who mentioned that my character inspired theirs (maybe it was just the name, too sick to remember), but I do enjoy reading fics as well. And I'm more than happy to check them out. In the meantime, my gonna beat the shit out of my pillow with my face. Goodnight all, hope you enjoy.


	44. Crossing the River Styx

OoO( 44 )OoO

After a brief visit to the GNR building, the small group of travelers found themselves inside another metro leading south, towards the fabled Rivet City which they had heard so much about, but never visited. The going was relatively quiet, aside from a few encounters with radroaches and molerats, which were easily dispatched by the pair of guardians for the group.

Just in case something were to happen, Sheila was told to keep her pistol ready, and Doc Lesko was given a pistol as well by the gunman. But they had yet to run into anything that the Knight and wanderer couldn't handle themselves. After having traveled for most of the day, they stopped to rest at the main booth of one of the metro tunnels. It was dimly lit enough to be able to see throughout the whole terminal, but dark enough so that Will, Sheila, and the dog could actually take a nap.

John smiled as he saw the woman and her son sleeping while leaning against the inside of the booth, while the dog laid its head on the boy's lap. Sitting down himself, he leaned back against the outside of the booth and slid his goggles down over his eyes, double checking to make sure there was nothing trying to sneak up on them. While nothing harmful came into his eyesight, the vision of a young boy did. Lifting the scouter from his eyes, he looked up at him and smiled. "Shouldn't you be getting some rest?" asked the gunman.

The young boy nodded, but sat next to John regardless. "Maybe, but I can't sleep right now." he said, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

The wanderer looked down at Bryan curiously. "What did you need?"

The boy was silent for a long moment before finally speaking. "I wanted to know how you got so strong." he said, looking up at the gunman. John thought about it for a moment, wondering whether the boy was referring to his actual physical strength, or his ability to survive the craziest shit in the wasteland. But he got his answer soon after. "You and Miss Lana both are so powerful. You can walk around the wasteland and go anywhere you want to. But if I tried to, I'd be toast for sure."

John smiled and ruffled the boy's hair gently. "Don't worry Bryan, you've got some growing up to do before you get there. But it kinda comes naturally once you have to fend for yourself." he said, looking back over the dank terminal. He remembered his first encounter outside the vault and how devastating it was to actually gun someone down and kill them. The first time it hit him, back on Officers O'Brian and Richards, he nearly dropped his weapon on the spot and curled up in a ball. The only thing that kept his legs moving was the fact that Jonas had been killed, and he likely would too if he stopped.

Bryan looked up at him curiously. "They said you came from a vault. Is that true?" he asked.

"That's right. I spent nineteen years of my life underneath the ground." Bryan went wide-eyed at the statement.

"Do they train you to use guns down there?" he asked, his curiosity growing.

John again looked over at the boy, then smirked. "Actually, no. If the Overseer found out that the regular citizens had a gun, they'd be thrown in the klink for a couple of hours after having it confiscated." he stated, remembering an incident with Butch back when they were around fifteen. The thick-headed boy managed to sneak a pistol from the armory and showed it off to his ganger buddies. Unfortunately for the pompadour wearing brat, Officer Kendall happened to be right around the corner. Neither John, nor the not-yet-formed Tunnel Snakes heard from Butch for the rest of the day.

"So, how did you learn to get so good?" asked the boy.

"Well, I actually have my father to thank for that." said John as his memories flew back to the day when, yet another flash of blinding light, brought him into a new era of his life. "On my tenth birthday, he got me a BB Gun and created a small place where I could practice it. So I got pretty good with aiming and firing. But I wasn't used to the kickback that real guns fire with. So the first time I had to fire a real one, I was a miserable shot." he said, chuckling as he remembered the recoil almost making him smack himself in the face. But his chuckling stopped when he remembered that his first shot had taken out Officer Kendall's leg.

"Whoa. So what about everything else?" he asked. John looked at him for clarification. "I mean...you're so brave. I heard about you on the radio with pappa, before the radio show. The real things you did." said the boy as he looked up at the man. John looked at Bryan, his glowing eyes no longer causing the boy to flinch or gawk. "They said that you've killed supermutants, and those scary ghouls. Is that true?" he asked.

John just nodded. "Yeah, it's true." he said with a heavy sigh.

"How?" asked Bryan, who had perked up at the answer. "Can you teach me to be strong?"

John looked at the boy curiously, then smiled and reached down, ruffling the kid's hair. "I suppose I could give you a few lessons." he said, getting an excited smile from the boy. "But, you have to do some growing up first. I'm gonna find you a place to stay in Rivet City where you'll be safe to grow and get stronger. And when I come back to train you, you're going to have to be ready, alright?" he asked.

"Awww..." Bryan looked down at the ground, a disappointed sigh escaping his throat.

"Hey, none of that. How many kids your age do you see making it outside the bigger settlements of the wasteland?" he asked. Bryan shrugged. "Not many, because they're safer inside the walls of a city. They can't defend themselves against the bigger threats out here. So, when you get older, I'll come back and teach you how to survive. Alright?" he asked. Bryan nodded, then leaned back against the booth again. John smiled, and did the same, closing his eyes with a smile.

OoOoO

About two hours later, the small family was woken up so that they could continue their trip. The faster they got to Rivet City, the better, considering he had a few non-combatants tailing him. They traveled the rest of the way through the metro and approached the grate leading to the surface when John stopped them. "Hold on..." he said as he unconsciously held a hand up to his goggles.

Lana looked at him worriedly as she readied her rifle. "What is it?" she asked.

"Strange heat signatures outside." he said as he turned to look at Lesko. "You, come with us. The rest of you, stay in here and try to stay out of sight." he said with a nod. They did as he said, and John ordered Dog to stay behind with them. Together, the three ascended the ramp leading out of the metro and into the open air of the streets. Lana had her rifle ready, John had his shotgun in one hand as he ripped the grate open, and Weston carried a 9mm pistol in his shaking hands.

"Why must I come with?" asked the good doctor as he reached up and adjusted his glasses.

"Because, I may need you to verify how they died. If not, you can run screaming back into the subway." said John, who got an amused giggle from Lana. When the way was open, the three of them stepped up the stairs and all three of their eyes widened at the sight. To say it was gruesome would be an understatement worthy of an award. Bodies lay everywhere, most of them decorated with Talon Company armor. "What the hell happened?" asked the gunman as he walked up and looked at one of the corpses. Kneeling down, he examined the hole that had been blasted through the man's stomach. The armor around the wound was smooth, almost too smooth to come from anything ballistic. That left energy weapons, but laser weapons didn't pack this kind of kick, unless there was some kind of laser cannon that he wasn't aware of.

He had examined the wound as well, noticing that the man's insides had been cauterized, leaving no blood dripping from anything that the blast didn't destroy immediately. "Ummm...I think you should see this." said Weston, who was standing about ten feet away behind a decrepit mailbox. Both John and Lana congregated around the mailbox and gasped in horror at what they saw. Behind the mailbox was a man, at least that's what he used to be. He still had his armor covered legs, but from the waist up, he was nothing but bleached bone and melted skin. He looked like something out of a horror film, and most of the skin looked like it had melded to the metal of the mailbox as well. Lana immediately covered her mouth, then ran off and puked into one of the trash cans that were left behind by the old world.

"What the hell can do this?" asked John as he slid his goggles down again and looked around. One odd thing he noticed was that all of them were giving off odd temperature spikes, usually around the wounds.

"You can see with that thing right? Is there anyone around?" asked Lana as she approached again, panting from the exertion of vomiting. She approached from the other side of the mailbox this time, in order to keep from seeing the horrifying spectacle. But when she approached, she noticed the wanderer smiling. "What the hell are you so happy about?" she asked, slightly agitated.

"I'll tell you later." he said as he walked away from the body. "In any case, there's nothing around. I've checked xray, ladar, and thermal, and there's absolutely nothing. So either someone has invented a new kickass brand of stealth gear, or they did this and ran immediately." he said as his smile faded.

"Good, I wouldn't want to tangle with whoever did this." she said, looking around at the rest of them.

"Lana, you collect the rest of their weapons, and any of their goods that are salvageable. Weston, you help me move the bodies out of sight so we can get let the others come out without..." started the gunman, but the scientist just shook his head.

"There's nothing offensive about some dead bodies. They'll have to get used to it if they want..." said the scientist, but he stopped in his tracks when John stepped up and stood in front of him, glaring down into his eyes.

"That wasn't a request." said the man.

"R-Right." said Lesko as he turned and grabbed one of the men laying on the ground by his leg. Dragging him off behind the metro station, where the gunman carried two more, he just mumbled to himself. "Bloody barbarian."

When they were finished, John's ruck was full of new energy weapons, and all but the one mailbox Talon merc had been removed from sight. Lana, out of respect for the others, took a car hood and just covered the man from view. It was either that, or one of them would have to pull his half skeletal, half melted body off the mailbox, a job which none of them were openly volunteering for. When everything was clear again, John turned to Lesko. "Have you ever seen anything like that before?" he asked.

Weston reached up and scratched his chin. "I believe so, though I tend to stray away from the weapon sciences. I believe a few of my colleagues referred to them as plasma weapons." he said, getting a curious, but disturbed look from Lana.

"Plasma? That was plasma?" she asked.

He just nodded. "I can't say for sure, but the exothermic release shows that there's a huge difference between it and laser refractory weapons." he said thoughtfully. "The refractory weapons produce a focused beam of energy in a straight line. These weapons seem to shoot bursts of plasma energy that are so concentrated, they actually consume matter at an incredible rate." he said, then waved his hand at the wanderer and Lana. "Oh, that's enough about that. Such a droll subject."

"Even so, someone wanted these men dead, and did a thorough job of making sure they were." said John as he turned back to the metro. "Let's get everyone to Underworld before nightfall. We can at least stay the night there before moving on to Rivet City." he finished.

OoOoO

An hour later, they made it to the Museum of History. When they approached, John was again greeted by the door guard, Willow, who took an interest in the people he had with him. "Bringin' a bunch of tourists in?" she asked.

"Tourists?" he eyed her oddly.

"Yeah, you know. Coming to the Mall, seeing the sights. Ya know. Tourists." she said, getting a chuckle from him.

"Something like that." he remarked as he turned to the others. Immediately, he could see the look of disgust on Sheila's face, and the look of wonderment on both of the boys. "Let's get inside before you guys trip over your jaws." he said in amusement. Once they were inside the museum proper, the gunman turned to the mother and stopped her from going forward. "Sheila, look. I'm aware that your husband used to work for the Enclave." he said. She flinched at the remark, knowing the wanderer's first impressions of the so called 'remnants of the American Government.' "I don't blame you, or him for anything, and I'm not going to judge you for it either. But I'm also aware of their stance on the mutants of the wasteland."

She nodded. "He did have a rather sore spot about mutants. Said ghouls were nothing more than walking target practice..." she replied.

John rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Well, the people of this city are good people. So I'd refrain from any kind of judgmental attitudes towards them. They've taken me in before, and they've rescued more humans than the Enclave will ever care about. So if you want to stay in the city with me, then bite back on what you've been taught about them." he said, his tone making it clear whose side of the argument he was on. She just sighed and nodded. Then the wanderer turned to the two boys. "Alright kiddos. We're going to be in the city of the ghouls for the night. So try not to stare too much, and treat them with the same respect you treat me with. Got it?" he asked, getting a salute from Will, and a nod from Bryan. "Good. Let's get inside." he said, then turned and opened the door to the actual Underworld settlement.

All the ghouls inside turned and looked at him, and he smiled at them. "You still got the password smoothskin?" asked Winthrop.

"Hades." said John simply as he opened the door for the rest of the humans. "I've got a few in my party this time, and we're going to be staying the night. Think you can put up with us?" he asked in a friendly tone.

"Depends, as long as we don't hear the word zombie, I think they'll be good. Besides, we could use the caps." said the mechanic as he looked at the newcomers. One, a small rotund woman, looked extremely nervous coming in, but the two boys beside her looked as if they had just walked into a toy store. "If you're looking for food and beds, Carol's Place will set you up. It's on the second floor, first door on your right. Otherwise, you're free to roam around if you like. Just keep out of doctor Barrows way, and don't touch Patchwork. He's...a character you don't wanna meet."

John nodded to him then motioned for the others. Together, the party went up to Carol's Place and scheduled beds for the night, and food. When he finally had the bill settled, he stared at Carol for a moment as if remembering something at the back of his mind. She stared at him oddly as he eyed her. "Look honey, if you're gonna ask me out, I'm afraid I'm taken." said the ghoul woman. John chuckled lightly, causing her to smile.

"Actually, I think I've heard about you before..." he said, rubbing his head gently. Suddenly, a thought jumped into his head. "Oh yeah, do you know somebody named Gob?" he asked. Immediately, despite her missing facial features, her face was a mask of surprise.

"Wha? You've heard of Gob? Do you know where he is?" asked the woman, almost desperately.

John nodded. "Actually I do, he's a friend of mine back from Megaton." he said. The words were practically an elixir of life to the woman, who let out a sigh that sounded like it weighed a couple tons.

"So he is alive and well then?" she asked, still searching his piercing eyes for any lies.

He just nodded and placed one of his hands over hers. "Don't worry, he's running a tavern there. He's his own boss, making money, and works with a girl I'm pretty sure he has a crush on." he said, smiling at her lightly. She smiled back as much as her face would allow her to.

"Oh thank goodness." she said, letting out another sigh of relief. "When he left here, he vanished. No trace of him. I thought the worst had happened." she said, shaking her head. "You have no idea how grateful I am that you've brought me news of his safety."

He looked at her curiously. "So, is he like...your son?" asked John as he leaned over on the counter curiously.

"Yes...well...sorta." she said, running her hand through what remained of her hair. "See, we ghouls can't really reproduce. But Gob has been like a son to me since he arrived here, so yes." she said in her more feminine gravelly voice.

"I see. Well, I'll tell him you're doing well too. I'm sure he'd be glad to hear from you if you sent him letters." he said as he stood straight again.

"I...I'll try now that I know where he's at." she said with a chipper nod.

"Glad to hear it. In return, can you tell me where I can get rid of these..." he said, knocking on his bag, resulting in the loud thunking of assault and energy weapons.

"Sure, you can dump those for caps at Tulip's shop, Underworld Outfitters." she said, then looked down at the desk. "Uhh...just, please be careful around her. She only became a ghoul recently, so she's still attracted to smoothskins. She might...grow attached." said Carol.

John cocked and eyebrow at her curiously, before putting on a dashing smile. "How do you know ghouls aren't me type?" he asked. Her eyes immediately widened. It took a couple of seconds to realize that her own joke had been flipped on her. As she chuckled, he just returned with a dramatic pose. "Besides, women of all kinds swoon before me..." he said, right before a boot flew from across the room and collided with his head, causing him to land flat on his face.

"That's enough out of you Casanova." said Lana, who was smiling and missing a boot.

John rubbed his head and got to his feet. "Well, I guess I'll go where I'm wanted then." he said in a mock offended tone before turning, sticking his nose up, and exiting the store.

"He's a hell of a cartoon isn't he?" asked Carol.

"Just as much as his radio show." said Lana, laughing at the theatrical exit.

OoOoO

When he entered the Underworld Outfitters, he was immediately aware of the ghoul behind the counter, staring at him intensely. "A-Are you here to shop?" she asked, her voice having a lot less of the gravel sound than most ghouls. If he had to judge, she sounded like a teenager with a sore throat.

Nodding his head, he smiled. "Mostly here to sell, but I'll take a look around and see what you have." he said. The ghoul girl put her arms behind her back, as if trying to hide fidgeting hands. He pulled his ruck off his back and began to unload the numerous energy, and ballistic weapons that they had collected from the dead mercenaries. When he was finished, her eyes were wide with surprise.

"How did you carry all this stuff? You'd need a brahmin to carry a load like this." she said with surprise as she looked up at him curiously.

He just scratched his head. "Well, it's a long story. But let's just say I put my back into it." he said, chuckling.

"I see..." she said, almost playfully as she began to tally up the weapons that Lana hadn't taken for herself. When she finished, she looked up at him with a small smile, her body gently rocking back and forth on her heels. "Anything you wanted to throw into the mix?" The gunman examined the shopkeep's inventory thoroughly before deciding that more ammo and medical supplies couldn't hurt in their journey through supermutant territory. Once the trade was settled, he nodded to her in thanks and was about to leave, when she stopped him. "Ummm..." she said, making him stop in the door and turn back to her. "I don't...suppose...you'd have a drink with me later." she said, looking at the ground meekly.

He smiled at how human she seemed in that moment. Most of the ghouls he'd met to this day, even the ones he liked, had a relatively sour demeanor about them that seemed to be a trait from their mutation. She was free from such a thing, giving her an air of innocence. "Sure. I'll meet you at the bar next door whenever you're off." he said with a chuckle, then left when she gasped in surprise.

OoOoO

His next stop was the bar itself, known as the Ninth Circle. As he entered, all of the ghouls immediately froze in place and looked at him, as if he were an intruder. Most of them who were familiar with the gunman, just went back to their drinking and talking. But the bartender wasn't as immune to the man's presence as the rest were. He continued to star at John as he approached the bar and sat at one of the stools.

"What'll it be stranger?" asked the ghoul, who wore a pristine, pin-striped, pre war business suit.

"I don't know, it's been a while since I had a drink. So I think I'll take just a beer for starters." he said lightly as he looked at the bottles behind the counter. But his eyes widened considerably when he heard the click of a cocking shotgun behind him. He just sighed to himself and rubbed his forehead. "Do you treat all your customers this way? Or am I just special?" he asked, his mood taking a dive immediately.

"Thing is, I know all about you. And so does Talon Company. Your head is worth a fortune, double what it was a month ago kid. So no hard feelings." said the man behind the bar.

John just smiled. "What's your name ghoul?" he asked, his soul piercing eyes now locked onto the bartender's.

"Ahzrukhal. Now that you know me, it's time to get down to business. Charon, try not to make a mess." said the man as he went back to work with a smile.

"Charon is it?" asked John. "I can promise you that if you don't drop your weapon, you may not walk out of here in one piece."

Ahzrukhal laughed at the wanderer, his throaty, gravelly laugh sounding more like a deathly cough. "He doesn't have any choice. He's honor bound by contract to follow every order I say. So save your breath."

John shrugged. "If you say so..." he said, then kicked both feet out at the bar, launching him backwards in his stool and knocking him into the ghoul guard. Charon, while he still held the shotgun in one hand, was thrown back onto the ground by the full body assault.

The gunman immediately jumped to his feet however, and leveled the playing field by ripping the weapon from the ghoul's hands. But much to his surprise, he received a punch that actually winded him. The impact hit him in the stomach and drove the breath from him temporarily, which was more than enough time for Charon to grab him by the head and send an armored knee crashing into his cheek. The blow sent him crashing through a table, the former occupiers scattering for the corners.

John got back to his feet, then cracked his neck with a glare on his face. "Alright, that's it." he said as he rose to his feet and turned back to his opponent. The ghoul had already closed the distance between them and was reaching to grab him, when the gunman grabbed the ghoul's wrist and swung him like a bat, throwing him into the far wall with a crash. Almost immediately, the bodyguard was back on his feet again. "You're a hell of a tough nut to crack, you know that?" asked John as he prepared for another assault. The two raised their arms and grabbed each other's hands in a tight grip, wrestling each other for power over one anothers stance. Another surprise to the gunman was that the ghoul actually managed to hold his own, even against his own herculean strength.

Despite the ghoul's tenacity however, John won in the end, and pulled the bodyguard over one shoulder, slamming him to the ground harshly enough to stun the resilient mutant. Standing back to his feet, John's eyes locked onto Ahzrakhal, and he began walking towards him. "Charon, what the hell are you doing? I said shoot him!" shouted the bartender as he fled to the far end of the bar. But he didn't get far before the gunman grabbed him by the back of his suit and spun him around, locking an arm around the bar owner's throat.

By the time he had the man secure, Charon already had his shotgun and had it aimed directly at Ahzrukhal. The ghoul master's eyes widened and he struggled to get free, but to no avail. "Hear that Charon, he ordered you to shoot. So do us both a favor and pull that trigger." said the gunman. The bodyguard growled at him as all the former patrons watched in fascination from the corner.

"Don't you dare point that gun at me Charon!" shouted the trapped ghoul, right before the gunman's arm squeezed, making him squeak loudly as his air was cut off.

"I didn't say you could speak." said the wanderer forcefully as he choked the barkeep. "Now, here's what's going to happen. Charon, throw your weapon behind the bar." he commanded. When the ghoul didn't move, John squeezed again, and Ahzrukhal let out a strangled yell.

"Do what he says goddamn you!" shouted the bar owner. Reluctantly, Charon, who was probably the smoothest skinned ghoul John had ever seen before, tossed his weapon away. His face was tough, his nose missing, and his eyes bloodshot. But it looked as if he had lost all the skin he was going to, leaving behind the underlayer that looked as if he were a frowning, reddish-brown skull.

John reached into his pocket quickly before turning the bartender towards the safe that was built into the wall next to the register. "Now, I've got three caps in my hand, and you're going to sell me his contract." said the gunman, getting a look of surprise from the bodyguard.

"Like hell I - aaaechhhk!" shouted the ghoul as his neck was squeezed again.

"It's either that, or I pop your head off like a cork asshole. Take your pick." he said forcefully.

"Fine! Just let me go!" shouted the bartender as he tried to struggle again. But the click of a pistol pointing into his back stopped his dancing immediately.

"That's the last time I'm going to ask you nicely. Cooperate with me, or you're a dead man." said the gunman with an icy tone. Turning towards the safe, Ahzrukhal slowly spun the combination lock until it clicked, then he pulled the safe door handle and opened it wide. "Get the contract out and set it on the bar." commanded John, the barrel of his weapon now grinding into the man's spine. "And let me see your finger twitch towards that pistol. We'll see who's a faster draw." He was referring to a pure chrome colored pistol that looked large enough to swing as a melee weapon. The metal was carved from steel, the handle was inlaid with ivory, and along the barrel and in the ivory, was an etching of a dragon.

The ghoul, following orders to a tee, reached in and grabbed a folded slip of paper from the middle shelf of the safe. "Here, it's right here." he said, laying it gently on the bar, right next to where John had laid his caps.

The wanderer looked over at Charon, who looked back at him. "Is that your contract?" he asked. But the ghoul bodyguard said nothing. John glared at Ahzrukhal. "Tell him to answer my question." he said.

"Answer his question Charon." said the barkeep nervously.

"Yes, it is." said Charon in a surprisingly deep tone of voice.

John eyed him curiously, then looked at Ahzrukhal. "Tell him to tell me the truth." he commanded forcefully.

Ahzrukhal growled, but did as he was told. "Tell him the truth." he grumbled.

"No, it's not my contract." said Charon.

John gave a good humored chuckle, before grabbing the bar owner by his head and slamming his face into the counter. "Last chance asshole." he said as he held him against the bar in a crushing grip.

"Alright alright!" shouted the ghoul as he reached in again and pulled out a rolled up parchment that looked like it had seen years of age. Setting it on the bar, he raised his hands up. "There!"

John looked over at Charon again, who nodded to him. "Good, now this is a binding deal Ahzrukhal. I get his contract, you get these three caps and your life. Deal?" he asked.

"Yeah yeah you bastard. Now let me go." growled the barkeep. John took the rolled up paper and threw Ahzrukhal against the wall, where he fell on his rear end. Turning to Charon, he smiled.

"Sworn to follow the orders of whoever holds this contract, right?" asked the gunman. Charon donned a sour look again, then nodded. "Good." he said, then immediately tore the scroll in half. Charon's eyes went wide as he watched the gunman do the same thing over, and over, and over, until they were nothing but flakes of paper. Dropping the confetti into an ashtray on the bar, he grabbed a bottle of the strongest liquor behind the glass that he could see, then doused the pieces in it. Then with one final move, he took the lighter that was laying on the bar and lit the concoction, sending it up in flames. "Follow your own orders from now on. You'll live longer." said the gunman.

Charon walked around the bar and stared hard at the wanderer before him. Reaching down, he picked up his shotgun, then immediately aimed it at John's head. The gunman, while surprised, ducked before the shot went off. But the blast had his ears ringing. Jumping up, he grabbed Charon by the throat, and by his gun hand. "That's gratitude for you..." growled the man.

"You should really learn to watch your back." said Charon as he looked down at the shorter smoothskin. John looked at him curiously, then turned around and saw Ahzrukhal dead, with the pistol in his hand, and buckshot in his head. The blast had torn half his face off before killing him for good.

John smiled lightly, then let go of the ghoul bodyguard. "I guess you're right." he said, dusting himself off.

"Did I miss a party?" asked a familiar feminine ghoul at the door. John looked up and saw Tulip standing there, staring at both him and Charon curiously.

John just chuckled as he jabbed a finger in his ear to try and get the ringing out. "Something like that..."

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** For those curious about Charon's appearance, think Red Skull from Captain America, but more ghoul-like, like the ones in Fallout 4. And to those not in the know, despite how the game pronounces his name (Shar-en), the mythological being he was named after, the boatman of the River Styx, was pronounced (Kha-ron). So that's what I prefer to call him. Just a thought...not important to a written story. _

Also, thanks for the well wishes everyone, and the advice. :] I'm feeling much better now, and will hopefully be able to pump out more chapters as a result.


	45. Revelations

OoO( 45 )OoO

"You are unbelievable, you know that?" asked the redheaded woman as she took a drink from a beer sitting on the table in front of her. John looked at her incredulously, as if asking what she meant. He sat across from her at the table of the Ninth Circle bar, while Tulip sat on his left, nursing a mixed drink, and Charon on his right, just staring at the table.

"What did I do?" he asked defensively, a beer in his hand as well.

"Everywhere you go, you find some way to cause trouble!" she said laughing. "We were literally here for less than half an hour and already one person is dead, and one has vowed himself to your service. Not to mention furniture and structural damage." she said, looking over at the far room where the slamming match between Charon and John had taken place. The wall in the back had a hole in the plaster the size of the ghoul, and a table that was now firewood thanks to the flying gunman.

John took another swig from the beer and looked away from her. "S'not my fault I'm popular. Maybe you're just jealous..." he said.

"Oh yeah, so jealous of getting suplexed through tables and walls. What a life I'm missing." she said sarcastically before polishing off her own beer and ordering another from Greta, who took over running for the night after Ahzrukhal was dragged outside and dumped into the metro. Apparently, none of the ghouls in the place were much of a fan of him in the first place. When John approached Winthrop about the incident, he just brushed it off as the wanderer defending himself, and asked that he disposed of the body.

After he came back, he found that many of the meandering ghouls actually seemed...happier. A few of them even patting him on the shoulder when he walked past. Suddenly, the amused silence between the pair was broken by the younger ghoul's voice. "So...are you two...uhh...seeing each other?" asked the curious woman, looking between John and Lana.

The redhead had just taken another sip of her fresh beer, when the question immediately made her spray the drink across the table. She inhaled sharply and began coughing loudly as she cleared her throat, then laughed even louder. John just glared at her from across the table, where he'd gotten a face full of the brew. The liquid now dripped off his face as Greta handed him a napkin. "You don't have to laugh that hard." he growled.

As if to put emphasis on it, she let out one last, "HA!" at the end before taking another drink.

John just turned to Tulip with a smile. "In case she wasn't blatantly obvious, that was no." he said.

Tulip looked down at her lap nervously. Lana eyed the ghoul, and could have sworn that if the woman had a face, she would probably be blushing. "Oh...uhh...good. I mean...okay..." she said, fidgeting again, her drink nearly untouched.

"So troublemaker, what's our plan once morning comes?" asked the Knight.

"Short of a meteor crashing in front of me, I'd like to ignore everything else and make a straight line for Rivet City. The supermutants that inhabit the downtown area have quite a presence there, and I'd rather not linger with the amount of bystanders we have with us." he said, finishing his own drink.

"It'd be best if they were left here." came the deep tone of Charon. They all looked at him in surprise, as up to this point, he had yet to say a word. "If they don't have any combat experience, trying to cross a warzone with them will end up in them, and you getting killed." he said.

John eyed him curiously, then smiled. "Well, if you're afraid, you're free to stay here." he said, getting a stern eye from the new companion. "I told them I'd get them to Rivet City, and that's what I intend to do. While I'm sure they'd be safe here, I don't know if they would be able to stay for long before having to leave." he said, looking around at the ghouls of the Underworld. They were all very polite, aside from his new self-proclaimed bodyguard, and the dead barman that was now rotting in a metro. But with as much exposure as the ghouls are prone to, having so many around a family of humans could be detrimental to their health. Not to mention food and water contamination that the ghouls didn't have to worry about.

"Why wouldn't they be able to stay for long?" asked Lana.

"Ghouls don't have to worry about purifying water or food. They can eat and drink all they want without having to worry about the radiation harming them. Them however..." he said, referring the Sheila and the two boys. "They require radiation free sources of nutrition in order to live."

"Which they will no doubt have at Rivet City." said Lana, finishing his statement. She'd had only minimal experience with actual sentient ghouls. Most of the time, if the Brotherhood ran across the mutants like those in Underworld, they would run them off as if they were ferals, leaving her a bit lacking in the knowledge department.

"Even ghouls can suffer from radiation." said Charon as he looked at the wanderer. John looked at him oddly. "The small amounts from food and water are negligable at best. They spend a lifetime eating and drinking it, which doesn't harm us the way it does humans, but it does get us in the long run by slowly turning us into ferals. And if a ghoul is exposed to high amounts of radiation all at once, they end up the same way." he mentioned.

The wanderer nodded solemnly. "So...ghouls don't age, but over time the consumption of irradiated food and water..."

"Eventually turns them into ferals." finished Lana.

Charon nodded. "It's the closest thing we have to a life span."

"But if they were given purified food and water, they could live forever?" asked John.

"We're not certain. There's no living ghoul that anyone is aware of who has had a lifetime supply of purified food and water. We mostly subsist off of what we find."

"Which is irradiated..." said John as he sunk deep into though. After a minute or so of silence, his head popped up as if a lightbulb just lit up over it. "Charon, the transformation into a ghoul is a slow process, usually caused by over exposure to radiation, right?" he asked. The ghoul looked at him curiously, but nodded. "Wouldn't something like that be able to be reversed? It is a genetic mutation after all..." he said, scratching his chin.

"Nobody cares enough to find out." said Tulip sourly. "Usually, the only positive attention given to ghouls by outsiders is warning shots. And when we do actually have a scientist that tries to make some kind of breakthrough..."

"They have to work with radiation, and end up turning into ferals as a result." said the gunman, plopping his chin into his palm again. "I'll have to look into that in the future. In the meantime, you all get some rest. Me and Lana are gonna go bug Doctor Barrows for a few." he said, standing up. Tulip also stood up next to him, followed by Lana and Charon. John nodded to the other two, signalling them to go ahead. Once they had left, he looked down at the ghoul girl.

She couldn't look him in the eyes due to nervousness, but she spoke anyway. "I...I wanted to thank you for drinking with me. Most smoothskins would laugh me out of my shop for asking." she said.

He smiled and patted her on her bloused shoulder. "It was fun having a drink with you. We'll have to have another sometime." he said cheerily.

She looked up at him, then quickly hugged him. "Please stop by the store if you every come by Underworld again." she said, then released him and headed for the door to the bar. She was gone before he finished registering what had even happened.

OoOoO

Doc Barrows, who was never thrilled to have guests in the first place, was downright irritated as the pair of smoothskins that entered his clinic began tag teaming questions at him. At first, it started off with his experience as a surgeon, then began to get more technical. Twice he had to confirm that he had no technical experience with anything outside of medical equipment. It took him about a minute longer to realize where all this questioning was going.

"Is that about that synthetic man bullshit?" he asked, his tone grumbling out his irritation.

John and Lana looked at each other, then back to the ghoul doctor. "So you have heard about him." said Lana.

"Of course I have. They sent me that damn holotape requesting a reconstructive surgeon and someone who was good at editing algorythms. Said it was for some kind of synthetic smoothskin that wanted to run away from the Commonwealth." finished the doctor.

Lana immediately stood up, her hands clenched anxiously. "Do you still have the tape?" she asked.

Barrows just shook his head. "Got rid of it. No purpose in keeping it. If it was real, I have minimal experience as a reconstructive surgeon, only going as far as sewing up bullet holes and occasionally stitching a limb back on. And I'm not a tech expert at all, so they'd have no use for me." he said, then eyed them darkly. "And that's IF it was real, which it isn't."

"I'm sorry...I'm gonna let you finish that...but stitching limbs on?" asked John incredulously.

"Of course. Ghouls have pretty basic regenerative properties, but they can lose limbs just the same as humans can. And if you reattach it in time, it just grows back together." he said, leaving the wanderer wide-eyed. The glowing-eyed man stroked his chin as if deep in thought.

Lana, however, continued her questioning. "In the holotape, did they mention anything about a location?" she asked desperately.

The doctor thought back over the recording, then nodded briefly. "I contacted the frequency once just to see if it was legitimate. They said that if I knew anyone who fit the bill, to send them to Rivet City. After the deed was done, they would be moving to a more secure location. Of course, I don't know anyone who's technologically adept enough to pull something like that off, so I never contacted them back. Who knows, they might still be in Rivet City, waiting for someone to come along."

She breathed a sigh of relief as she sank back into the chair. "Well, at least we're headed in the right direction." she said.

"You've been awefully quiet for a while." mentioned the doctor as he looked at John suspiciously. "What's rattling around in that smooth skull of yours?"

"I had an idea about possibly reversing the mutation that turns humans into ghouls. I think your revelation that ghouls have the ability to reattach their limbs may have just convinced me that it's possible." he said, still not looking at the doctor. Instead, his eyes were scanning the wall as he searched the depths of his brain palace for anatomical and genetic information. If it was going to be possible, Moira would definitely be needed.

Doc Barrows looked at him, his eyes as wide as possible as he sat silently. He looked at him a long moment before asking another question. "You really think that's possible?" he asked incredulously.

"Anything is possible Doc, the question is, do we have the resources to pull it off." asked the wanderer as he finally looked at the man.

 _"Can we get back to the topic of this synthetic man for a moment?"_ asked a synthetic voice from his wrist. John looked down at the cartoon woman curiously.

"What's got you so fired up about the topic?" he asked.

 _"If he is on the run, he was stupid to send messages out like that."_ she said, crossing her arms with an adorable look of irritation on her face.

"How so?" asked Lana, sitting up as she too looked at the digital woman.

 _"Think about it. If you're someone who keeps a bunch of starving dogs in a kennel, then one of them gets loose, where is the first place you'd look for them?"_ she asked.

Doc Barrows, not entirely sure who he was talking to, was the first to respond. "You'd probably find them where there's food." he said.

 _"Exactly! If the creators of this android are looking for them, and I assure you are, where is the first place they're going to look?"_ she asked. John looked at Lana, who looked at him, and they both shrugged. Elsa just smacked her head. _"I'm dealing with scrubs..."_ she said to herself, then looked up at John. _"The first place an android would go to get away from his keepers is to get a new face. If he kept running looking the way he did, they could track him to the ends of the Earth! He has to get his face changed, and the first place you go for that...?"_ she asked, leaving off the end.

"Is a doctor..." said the Knight. "So, if he's been sending these messages to the doctors in the Capital Wasteland, then there's a chance his chasers are already onto his trail." she said, almost jumping out of her seat.

 _"PreCISELY!"_ shouted the AI as she looked up at the woman. _"The first place the 'Institute' would look is at doctors and surgeons. And each and every one of them now have a signed confession letter from him."_ she said.

"Great, so now we're trying to beat them to the punch." said Lana, leaning back in her chair with a sigh.

John looked over at her curiously. "Why are you so interested?" he asked.

"Because, first and foremost, if he is sentient, he deserves to be free. He didn't choose to be created, and certainly shouldn't be held in slavery for something he had no control over." she said, eyeing him with her sparkling blue eyes. "Second, if he were to cooperate with the Brotherhood, not only could we protect him, but he could also help us with technilogical advances far beyond anything we've found yet."

 _"That's if your overlords don't put him on a leash just like the Institute."_ said the digital woman from the pipboy.

"They...I'll...handle them." said the Knight agitated. To be honest, she hadn't thought of that. But she knew Elder Lyons, and knew he was sympathetic to things that the West Coast Brotherhood chapters wouldn't be. He had to understand.

"We'll take it slowly once he's found. Before then, we have to outrun the Institute that he mentioned and make sure they haven't taken him already." said John.

"So you actually think this is real?" asked Doc Barrows as he watched them both stand up.

The gunman just chuckled at the doctor. "Doc, I've seen a lot of crazy shit out there. This, this isn't too farfetched." he said, heading for the door. "Alright, get some sleep. We're going to be moving fast tomorrow, straight to Rivet City, no stops." he said to the woman. She nodded and left the clinic for their beds in Carol's Place. John however, turned and sat in front of the doctor again. "Alright, ask me already." he said.

"How can it be done?" asked the doctor frantically.

OoOoO

When he told her they were going to be moving fast, he didn't realize how true the statement had been. Despite being superhuman killing machines, the big green monsters still needed sleep to function at top condition. As such, they left early in the morning, before the sun even rose in order to hopefully skip past the sleeping giants. Unfortunately, the cold air had gotten to Will in an unexpected way. The boy sneezed, and all hell broke loose.

First, a sentry that hadn't been looking their direction, immediately spun around and began firing a minigun towards them, yelling obscenities as he did. John grabbed the boys and immediately dove through the window of a building just as the line of bullets smashed into the wall wear he was previously standing. Lana did the same, but with Sheila, and Doctor Lesko was thrown into the building one handed by their new ghoul companion. "Everyone stay down!" shouted John as he pulled his long rifle off his back. Running past the two women, he darted up the stairs and leveled the rifle on the sill of a window. Despite the dark, he could still see the relative outline of the monster that was firing at them. But his eyes told him of an even bigger threat. The green horde was waking up.

He aimed through the scope, his glowing eye reflecting light off the rounded glass, making the scope look like it was lit by LED's. When he had a focus on the creatures head, he squeezed the trigger and watched as the green giant's head splattered into the air. Standing again, he looked down into the streets and saw the beasts organizing an attack and firing on the building with their own firearms. He cursed to himself, then pulled his shotgun free from his back. Lances of laser light could be seen shooting from the bottom floor window, the beams sometimes scoring, sometimes not.

John jumped out the window and slid down the side of the building, where the rubble from the collapsed building next to it built a makeshift ramp up to the window of the floor he was on. When he hit the ground again, he rushed forward to engage the mutants, but a fleshy arm reached out and stopped him. He looked over to find Charon, standing next to the building. "What are you...?" he asked.

The ghoul just looked at him. "Watch." he said, then nodded towards the charging mutants. The first of the group began rushing across the street towards their building when Charon pulled up a detonator and slammed down on the button. Suddenly, bright explosions lit the night air and shook the ground beneath them. Explosives blew up and tore the frontline mutants to shreds, sending blood and gore splattering over their comrades. John was nearly knocked on his ass from the detonation, but stood his ground and watched as the explosion sent the ones who weren't injured rolling backwards on their own hind ends.

Charon immediately grabbed his shotgun, then turned to John. "I've still got enough explosives left to collapse this building. Set them up." said the stern ghoul as he marched towards the supermutants. John watched him go in awe, then reached down and grabbed Charon's bag. Dashing inside the building, he started slapping the blocks of explosive on the supports of the structure, making sure to be generous with the amount he set.

"Everyone! Get up and come with me!" he shouted as he bolted up the stairs. The family, as well as Lana, and Doc Lesko sprinted after him. Dog broke Will's grip on his collar and bolted out the door, leaving the child shouting after him. But Lana grabbed him and ascended the stairs to find the gunman planting more of the explosives on the structure of the next floor. Then he ran up the stairs again and did the same for the top until each of the building's main supports were set with bombs. "Cummon!" he shouted to the panting family as he opened the door on the far end of the room and stepped outside. They stumbled after him and found themselves looking up at the night sky from the roof. They all shouted in horror as they saw with their own eyes the mass of monsters rushing towards them. "Get your asses over here!" he shouted as he stood next to a long rusted away antenna on the roof.

His mind flashed back to the roof of the Our Lady of Hope hospital. Immediately, he grabbed the sides and began to push with all his might. The metal began to groan as he felt the stomping of the monsters beneath his feet, telling him that they had entered the building. Finally, with a loud snap, it broke and swung downwards until it fell across the chasm that led to the next building. With a loud crash, it broke through the top of the crumbling roof. John grabbed Sheila and pulled her towards the antenna. She knew what he was asking and immediately backed away. "Are you crazy!? I can't!" she shouted.

He glared at her fiercely. "If you don't, you die!" he yelled as he pulled Lesko in front of her. The man immediately scrambled across the antenna and over to the next building, screaming as if his life depeneded on it, and it very much did.

"I...I...I just can't!" she shouted again, trying to back away more. But John gripped her arm tightly, not letting her escape.

"Lana, hurry and get the boys over. I'll handle her!" he said over the thundering of the mutant's footsteps. The Knight nodded, slung her laser rifle over her back, then grabbed the boys and immediately began to slowly walk over the downed tower. The gunman then turned back to the woman with a dark glare. "If you don't cross now, I'm going to pick you up and carry you across. How safe do you think you'll be then?" he asked.

She continued to ramble out excuses however. "Please...no..." she mumbled as the door to the top floor busted open and Charon ran over to him.

"What the hell are you still doing up here!?" he asked angrily.

"Time's up lady." said John as he turned to Charon. "Get her over by any means necessary! I'll hold them off this time!" he shouted. The ghoul didn't argue, and just grabbed the woman, throwing her over his shoulder as he powered across the makeshift bridge, leaving her nothing to do but to scream for her life. John turned and saw the mutants flood out of the door, practically busting the wall down as they did. Pulling out his shotgun, he threw himself forward and smashed the face of the first mutant in with his knee. He blasted the next two away with the monstrous shotgun, before he felt his leg grabbed. Almost immediately, he was swung like a hammer throw and smashed into the concrete floor. The shotgun went flying off the roof, but he grabbed the monster's head as the beast swung him upwards again.

Locking his hands behind its head, he swung downwards and used his momentum to roll kick the monster into several of its bretheran. Once again, however, two of them grabbed an arm and leg and began to pull him taught, like a cord of rope. He groaned in pain as they pulled on his muscles, then another punched him directly in his armor. While the damage was negligable, the force blew him against the concrete wall again, nearly leaving him breathless. Two of the monsters jumped on him and held him tight as a third approached with his own power rifle. "Tiny man strong. Tiny man not so strong anymore." said the one holding his gun. The crowed of mutants jeered and roared loudly at the words. "We see how strong you are." he said, then raised the rifle and pointed it directly at John's chest as the two holding him held his arms and legs.

Suddenly, the mutant next to him began to sniff him with interest. "Human smell...not human." said the creature.

The one with the rifle looked at him with anger. "What you talking about?" asked mutant, ready to blast his own comrade for interrupting his fun.

At that moment, the other green giant holding him began sniffing him as well. "Human smell...strange."

Finally, the third lowered the weapon and walked over to the wanderer, who was groaning at the grip they had on his limbs. Leaning forward, he began to inhale deeply as he took in the scent of the gunman. The green man's eyes widened exponentially as he looked at the human in front of him. "You...you smell like...metahuman!"

"What the hell is a metahuman?" asked John through gritted teeth. His head was swimming at the moment, probably a result from a concussion. He had kissed the concrete a couple of times there after all.

The supermutants laughed at him. "We, metahuman." said the one that had commandeered his rifle. "You...you are one of us..." he said mockingly.

John's eyes widened as the words hit him. But he didn't have long to think on it, as the mutant holding his rifle hit the floor shortly after its head exploded. John took his chance and smashed his forehead into the one holding his right arm and leg, crushing its nose and sending it stumbling back. He then spun and grabbed the other's arm, pulling it over his shoulder and slamming it into the ground with enough force to crack the concrete. The others moved again, but not before he grabbed his rifle and sprinted for the edge of the building. He dove off across the bridge, hoping to land and follow the others, but apparently one of the big greens had caught onto his plan. The bridge moved, and he missed it, only managing to reach out and grasp it with one hand.

He yelled in pain as he felt his arm dislocate from the sudden stop, but reached up with his other and grasped the metal bridge, after sliding the rifle strap around his neck, to keep him from falling to his...possible death. Suddenly, the bridge jolted again, and he nearly slipped. One of the support cables that had detached long ago from the ground swung around him. The mutant holding the bridge suddenly fell backwards as his head exploded as well. The metal frame slammed down onto the side of the building when the green monster dropped it. The resulting shockwave jarred the gunman free from the tower and sent him spinning down into the darkness.

Filled with pain and anger, as well as the memory of what they had just said, he lashed out and grabbed the cable and held on with all his strength. The combination of gravity and momentum made him swing like a pendulum towards another building. With his speed and weight, he easily crashed through the wall where he was sent rolling down a set of stairs, just to crash into another wall and finally stop.

"Hit it now!" shouted Charon as he continued aiming down his sniper rifle. Lana, who had been next to him slammed her finger down on a button that was glowing red right as Dog barked from right next to her. Soon after, the building where the supermutants had been vanished in a blinding flash of fire. Sheila had to pull the boys down again from their hiding spot further down the road as they popped their heads up to watch the detonation.

The heat washed over the street, nearly making the woman turn away as she watched the death of the horde. But instead of continuing to watch, she bolted for the building that the wanderer had hit and began running up stairs until she found him, breathing heavily and lying on a stairwell. Immediately, she helped him up to his feet. "What'd I say? Troublemaker." she said as she dragged his limp form down the stairs.

"Kiss my ass Knight." he said, making her chuckle as he breathed heavily.

"Come on, let's get you somewhere where we can fix you up." she said as she dragged his limping form out of the building and into the street. Most of the debris from the blast had passed by that point, making it safe to continue in the open.

Unfortunately for the trio, the detonation hadn't killed them all. A few that were still in the streets were now roaring towards them at high speed, extremely pissed and burned from the blast. Lana let go of John and immediately went on the defensive. The surprise factor made Charon drop his sniper and dodge one of the beasts before he was hit by the train of muscle. John growled, his anger getting the better of him now. Leaning over, he grabbed his arm and slammed the shoulder into the wall of the building he'd just come out of. He yelled in fury, then dashed straight for the third and final of the mutants.

Charon had to dodge again as the mutant pulled up a nearby mailbox and swung it like a mace. Jumping up, he grabbed the mutants head and began to dig his thumbs into the beast's eyes. He felt his digits puncture the soft orbs, but even that didn't slow the monster. It slammed the mailbox into his side, sending him careening into the side of another building. Shaking the stars from his eyes, the disgruntled ghoul looked up at the flailing giant, seeing that his attack had been more than effective. Looking over, he noticed the gunman's shotgun lying next to him. For the first time in a long time, he smiled, then grabbed the monstrous weapon.

Lana had a little more trouble with hers than the others did. She dodged back and forth as the creature slammed its limbs into the ground trying to crush her. But she was more than fast enough to avoid it. Each time she tried to reach for her rifle however, he was back on her in its frenzy. She backed away from another swing when she felt her shoulder armor scrape against something. Turning briefly, she noticed the cable hanging from the tower that they'd used as a bridge, which now sat leaning over a crumbling wall. Smiling, she dodged another swing, then grabbed the metal cable and thrust herself forward, wrapping the wire around the beast's neck. The monster grasped at it, but it was wound too tightly for him to get a grip on. When she finally coiled it enough, she stabbed the sharp end of the stiff line into its shoulder, then jumped up into the window of the crumbling wall and did an acrobatic dive, grabbing the end of the metal tower. With her weight added, the leverage broke.

She flipped forward and landed on a pile of rubble, ending up sliding down it on her backside and back out into the street. The tower however, fell fully into the building, jerking the cable, and the supermutant up into the air. The giant yelled as it felt itself pulled into the air, but went silent as gravity did what it did best. With the cable around its throat, it bounced up, then fell back down and slammed into the ground. The pressure from the cord had sheered clean through its neck, sending the green head rolling down the street.

John had taken a more direct approach with his. So full of anger and fury, he charged the beast and traded blows with the monster, sending out wall shaking punches and taking them back with the same ferocity. But with the gunman being quicker, he didged one swung, unbalancing the frenzied brute. Jumping, he slammed his foot across the monsters back, sending it tumbling forward onto its back. He was immediately on the creature, raining blows onto the mad giant. Punch after earth shaking punch collided with its already fire damaged face until finally it stopped moving. But John didn't. He continued to pound away at it until its skull had fully caved in.

Both Lana and Charon pulled the gunman off the supermutant's body, where he pulled away from them, trying to get at the creature again. "John!" shouted Lana. He turned and glared at her with a look that would have terrified almost any raider in the wasteland. "It's dead!" she pleaded to him. "And...Bryan is watching..." she said, looking at the ground.

The gunman's eyes hot over to the kid who was now peeking at him from over the top of a barrier down the road. Finally, his fire died down. "Let's go. The sun will be rising soon." he said, then grabbed his rifle from the ground and turned to walk down the street, towards the family and scientist. Dog followed in his trail, as did Charon. But Lana watched him go, a sad look on her face as she did.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Thanks to the reviewers again. You guys keep this story alive. To those who don't review, I'm at least glad you are enjoying the story. :]

Also, I'm in the market for some cover art for the story itself. If any artists out there would like to draw me something simple so I can put it on the cover of this, you get full credits and a super thanks from me. I enjoy the one that's up there now, but I feel it doesn't relate enough to the story...so yeah. Please PM me if you are interested.


	46. The Next Step

OoO( 46 )OoO

"Are you sure?" asked John forcefully as the group walked through the ruins together. As it turned out, the group of mutants had they had taken out were gathered from around the DC area as a first wave of an assault on the Brotherhood posts to the north. After reporting the incident over the radio, the Brotherhood thanked them profusely for very handily cleaning up what could have been a very effective surprise attack. The sun had risen now, and because of the large amount in the party they had just obliterated, the ruined streets they walked through now were all but empty, giving the gunman plenty of time to think.

 _"Look, I think about ten thousand times faster than you do, alright? As a matter of fact, by the time I finished telling you that, I checked your vitals...one thousand, eight hundred, and thirty three more times just to be sure. There is nothing wrong with your vitals, there is nothing wrong with your cellular structure, and there are no mutations...aside from the crazy ladies, in your body. You are perfectly normal. Well...you know what I mean."_ she said, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"Sorry, it's just..." he said, but she cut him off.

 _"Look, I know. I was up there with you in case you forgot. I heard what the meat heads said."_ she remarked, taking a softer look and more sympathetic tone. _"The way they said it, I'd have thought the same thing. But without any idea what exactly they were talking about, aside from what they were smelling, there's no way for us to get anymore information. I have constant surveillance over your system, and if anything changes, you'll be the first to know."_ said the AI woman.

The gunman just sighed to himself. "Alright." he said, lowering his arm.

 _"That's really bugging you, huh?"_ she asked.

"When you have a giant mutant tell you you're just like he is, it tends to bother you." he said, his ears twitching as he began to hear music.

 _"Well, don't worry. If I start sensing you turning big and green, I'll let you know."_ she said playfully.

"Thanks." he said, looking at her sternly. Finally, he stopped and looked around as he heard the music again. "Does anyone else hear what I'm hearing?" he asked.

The others stopped as well. "Actually, I do too." said Lana as she reached back and drew her laser rifle. "Where's it coming from?" she asked.

"I believe it's radiating from that colonial over there." said Weston as he pointed at a house not far from where they were standing.

"Let's avoid it. The less people we run into, the less drama we have to deal with." he said. They all continued, but as they actually began to walk past the blaring house, the music cut off suddenly. They all turned towards the house just in time to see the doors slam open.

"That's it! I'm done! I don't care if I get killed out here, I'm sick of your shit Dukov!" shouted the voice of a half naked woman stomping her way out of the house. John just rubbed his temples in irritation. He hated when he was right. The topless woman, who saw their group immediately, started power walking towards them.

"Get your candy ass back here whore!" shouted a man in a very thick Czech accent.

When the woman finally got to them, Sheila covered both of the young boy's eyes. "Go fuck yourself for once you prick!" shouted the woman, who had no qualms about hiding behind the imposing looking gunman.

"Talk to me like that again you cunt and I'll make you radroach food!" shouted the man as he came outside with a whiskey bottle in his left hand, a revolver in his right, and wearing nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms. His head was shaved almost completely to the scalp, and his chest was covered in hair. When he approached the group, he looked at John threateningly. "Who the fuck are you clownshoes?" he asked, pointing the revolver at him.

The gunman sighed to himself. "If you keep waving that gun in my face, I'm going to be a very big problem for you." he said in the same icy tone that had become a staple of his caricature on the radio.

The man, named Dukov, lowered the pistol as he looked up into the glowing eyes of the wanderer. "Wait a good goddamn minute...I know who you are..." he said, slurring his speech drunkenly. "You're that pansy bitch on the radio, always saving people, always doing good deeds to get him laid." he said, laughing at his own joke.

John looked back at the woman hiding behind him. "Is he normally this obnoxious?" he asked.

"No. Normally he's worse." she growled from behind him.

"Maybe before I get used as a bullet shield, you should explain exactly what's going on." he said, looking down at the chestnut haired woman.

"This bitch belongs to me! That's what's going on. And you're going to step out of the way before I put a round in your ass." he said, his accent getting thicker as he took another swig of whiskey.

"I stayed here for safety, and played his little games so that I wouldn't have to hazard the wastes. But he tried to put it in my ass!" she said incredulously. "That's where I cross the line bastard!" she shouted from behind John again.

John groaned as the two began bickering back and forth, Dukov calling her names that had Sheila gasping, and trying to cover the boy's ears as well, and the woman shouting back at him. "Is she your slave?" asked John, loud enough to shut them both up.

Dukov looked up at the gunman with an angry glare. "It doesn't guddamn matter if she is!" he shouted, once again waving the pistol around. "She's my..." but he was silenced when the wanderer's hands shot up, one to his gun hand, the other to his throat.

"Yes...or no." commanded John.

Dukov knew the next couple words out of his mouth might determine whether he was still alive or not. He wasn't sure how the fabled gunman had such a strong grip, but he knew that with a flick of the man's wrist, his head my be hanging limply from his body. "N-No!" he choked through the grip.

"Then how exactly does she belong to you?" he asked, his tone just as deadly.

"She owes me her life!" he sputtered.

"Bullshit!" she shouted, still hiding behind the wanderer's duster.

"Enough!" shouted John, his anger rising again. He shoved Dukov back on his hind end and whipped out a pistol from inside his jacket faster than the Czech man would have given him credit for. The gun was a gorgeous pistol, inlaid with ivory and a handle and barrel inscribed with a black dragon. "I've had enough! She's coming with me, and if you even flinch while she goes to get her stuff, I'll paint the ground with your insides!" he yelled, feeling the veins in his eyes swell with blood. The woman looked up at John hopefully, and he nodded towards the house. "You all go with her and make sure she isn't annoyed by anyone else." he commanded. Charon drew the shotgun, which he had yet to give back to John, and Lana toted her laser rifle as they escorted the woman back into the house.

"You're making a mistake..." said the Czech man as he spoke from the ground. "I'm a very dangerous person to..." he said, but he scrambled backwards when the gunman fired a round between his legs. The gangster looked down at his pants and saw the crotch of his pajamas with a hole in it. His heart nearly failed as he saw the burned hole in the trousers.

"Luckily for you and her, the only thing big about you is your mouth. If you'd like to keep what manhood you have, I suggest you keep it shut." he said threateningly. Apparently, the threat was very much understood, as the man no longer made another peep. A few minutes passed, and the woman finally came out with a pair of overalls on covering her bouncing chest, and a pair of worn sneakers. John eyed her curiously. "Is that all the clothing you have?" he asked.

She glared at the man who was now silent, just sitting on his rear end. "He got rid of most of it when I came here. Said I didn't need clothing." she spat.

He just sighed, then turned to the ghoul. "Keep your gun trained on him. If he moves, turn him into a mosaic." he said. The ghoul nodded, understanding clearly what he was saying. Holstering the pistol again, he slid off his duster, then reached up and held up his pipboy. "Elsa, disengage armor locks." There was a slight hissing sound, then he reached inside the collar. Suddenly, the armor that was down over his stomach began to slide upwards into the chest piece, and the arms did the same until the entire upper set of armor was back in its 'football shoulder pads' looking form. Reaching up, he lifted it off of himself and sat it down on the ground, leaving him in a dark grey jumpsuit from the waist up. He then unzipped his jumpsuit and peeled the top half off, revealing a red tshirt underneath.

The woman's eyes widened considerably as he lifted the shirt from his torso, showing the sculpted, muscular figure beneath. "My goodness honey...what have you been eating?" she asked.

He looked at her and gave her a sarcastic answer. "Recently? Supermutants." he said as he offered her the shirt. She took the clothing, dropped the shoulder straps on her overalls, causing Sheila to cover the boy's eyes yet again, then slid the shirt on before fastening her clothing up again.

"I'd believe it." she said as she lifted her bag onto her shoulder again. The gunman donned his armor once more, then slid the jacket over his shoulders.

He then turned to Dukov, who up to that point, had just been watching the scene. "Hey, clowndick. I'm taking her with me. If I find out you followed her, and continued to bug her, I'm coming after you." he said, then slid the gun into his holster once more. Turning, he grabbed the edge of a burned out car and began lifting it. While he was straining, and using a lot of his strength, he did manage to get it above his head, before he tossed the mechanical husk into a desroyed light post, sheering the car in half and snapping the top of the structure off. The woman, Sheila, and the boys' jaws nearly hit the ground at the display. "Let that image sink in, and imagine what I'll do to you if you cross me." he said, then walked over and crouched down next to the man. Looking him dead in the eyes with his radioactive glare, he ended the conversation with one question. "Do we have an understanding?" The man just nodded frantically. The gunman got to his feet and turned to the others. "Let's go." he commanded.

With no more words, they all left the stupefied man sitting on his rear end in broad daylight.

OoOoO

 _"He's too close to take these ones out. We're going to have to let him do it himself."_

 _"We were given orders..."_

 _"Our primary order was not to be seen! If we attack now, he's going to see us. And if he sees us, imagine what happens then."_

 _"Fine, but you're filing the report if he ends up dead."_

OoOoO

Finally, the long sought after Rivet City battleship was in view. The large city, built out of a beached aircraft carrier, was visible from a long way off. The group let out a sigh of relief as they spotted the carrier, and began to pick up their pace. Unfortunately, and much to the frustration of the gunman and the Knight, they weren't the only ones that were near Rivet City. A shot sounded across the broken ruins, resulting in the gunman stumbling back about a foot.

He growled viciously, then pulled his rifle off his back as the round that hit him in the chest fell to the ground harmlessly. "Get to cover and keep your heads down!" he shouted as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes. Immediately, he spotted three figures hiding in the rubble. He dove over the small wall of a crumbling building nearby as another round fired behind him, followed by two more that also missed. He low crawled a few feet as the bystanders he had with him all fled into a building for better cover. Whoever was firing was trying to kill him, not them, so he was confident that they were relatively safe.

When he heard three more shots, he jumped up and aimed at the first he saw. It was a man on top of a dilapidated building, holding a sniper rifle and reloading. Aiming down his scope, he fired the first round, causing the man's skull to explode into the blue sky. He heard another shot, and felt the round nick his cheek. Reaching up, he grabbed his face in pain. But another shot rang out, this time from the building next to him. Charon had fired, and hit one of the snipers in their throat, causing the man to fall from his perch and land with a sickening thud twenty feet below.

John saw Lana bolt from the building as well, but there was something different about her silhouette. Lifting his goggles, he only saw distorted light. Focusing on the task at hand again, he dove again as the third sniper shot cracked across the ruins. The perpetrator was laying on the crumbling floor of a collapsed building. He was reloading his rifle to take another shot when blasts of laser fire from beneath him lanced through the floor and directly through the soft organs between his legs. The man dropped his rifle and clutched his manhood just as the weakened floor collapsed below him and slammed him head first into the rubble below, resulting in his head twisting an angle that he couldn't possibly recover from.

Lana shrugged off her cloaking and raised her rifle again as she saw more men appearing from the buildings around them. She immediately took out two of them with one shot as her ionized bolt flew and speared through one of the men's heads, then hit the other directly between the pecs, burning his armor away and opening his chest cavity.

As a few more hidden figures jumped from a building further down the street, Charon hurled himself out of a window next to them and immediately vaporized one of their heads with his super shotgun. One of the two others turned and started firing his assault rifle, but the ghoul grabbed the barrel and shoved it in the direction of the other attacker. The man's trigger happy nature ended up putting around fifteen rounds in his comrade's body. The ghoul spun around and fed the man a monstrous kick to the windpipe that crushed his throat.

John, who was seeing the entirety of the enemies numbers through his goggles, had waited for four of them to turn the corner before firing his long rifle. The idiots had an assortment of assault weapons pointed down the path at him, ready to fire. The round he fired took out two of their legs, sending one flying straight from the man's knee, and the other tore off completely from its impact to the shin. The two men went down screaming as John reloaded his rifle. But the other two weren't thrown off at all it seemed, and they began to fire on his position. The gunman slid behind the wall of an alley briefly while he reloaded, then dove out and rolled to his feet, taking the last two by surprise. Firing at one, he hit the man directly in the armor. The superheated round, at almost point blank range, blasted through the armor, through his organs, and through the back of his armor to slam into the building behind him. The man just sunk to the ground, dead.

The wanderer immediately closed in on the last of the group, locked the rifle behind his head, then thrust a knee into his chest so hard that it lifted him from the ground and dropped him onto the stomach. John lifted his foot and slammed down onto the man's throat so hard that his neck snapped immediately.

Lana had jumped into another squad of the attackers with her stealth, killing one immediately by burning a hole through his cranium with her laser pistol. She spun and backhanded the second, grabbing his arm before rolling over his back and snapping the limb viciously. The other two men backed up frantically and began firing at her with their own assault weapons, but she yanked her prisoner up and used him as a shield. The bullets slammed into the man's body, armor or not, over and over again until he was nothing but an ammo riddled corpse. When both of their weapons clicked to the sound of an empty magazine, she dropped the dead weight and bolted forward. Jumping up, she stepped on the first attacker, making him fall backwards and slide as if she were riding him like a skateboard. The struggle ended when she blasted his face from his skull with a shot from her laser pistol.

But the Knight stumbled forward when she felt two rounds slam into the back of her armor. Spinning, she shot her weapon up to finish off the last of them, but out of nowhere, Dog jumped up and latched onto the man's throat, shaking himself violently until the soft flesh tore like a napkin. The ambusher went down screaming and gurgling on his own blood. The woman smiled and knelt down to pet the dog. "Good boy." she said as he wagged his tail.

John reached down to one of the men he had destroyed and pulled the overarmor off of the ambusher's torso. He snorted as he saw that beneath the layer of cloth was the Talon Company logo. "Of course..." he said, kicking the body angrily. "They just don't fucking learn, do they?" he asked before turning to the building where the others had taken cover. Entering the doorway, he saw them all huddled in a corner crying. "It's alright, the coast is clear." he said gently, but they didn't move. Walking over to the small group, his eyes widened in horror as he saw Bryan with a bullet hole in his stomach, and blood pouring from the wound.

OoOoO

He'd heard it. He knew he heard it, and he wasn't taking any chances today. The bridge was swung away from the mainland platform to keep any troublemakers from trying to get to the city. He was currently on the hull, watching through the scope of a long range rifle as a small group of people hurdled towards the access tower. Reaching over to the radio he had on his shoulder, he squeezed the channel button. "Officer White, we have newcomers approaching the main gate. Sync me up to the intercom so I can speak to them." said the man as he watched them sprint up the stairs. One of them was holding a body as he ran, causing concern in the Chief.

Almost as soon as they hit the top floor, his radio activated and the voice of the man yelling into the intercom hit him. _"Please, bring the bridge around! We have a child who was shot in a firefight further north when we were ambushed by Talon Company!"_ yelled the man.

The Chief hit his feed and responded as he continued to watch through the scope. "We heard the firefight from here, but didn't see anything. How are we to know you weren't the ones doing the ambushing?" he asked.

 _"I've got a dying child in my arms! You can hold a goddamn gun to my head the entire time if you have to, but please, at least take him inside and get him some help! He's currently suffering from ensanguination and needs blood fast!"_ shouted the duster wearing figure.

The Chief growled to himself and turned his channel back to the normal band. "White, get Doctor Preston up here as soon as possible and bring the drawbridge around. I'm going to meet the newcomers in the middle before I let them in." he said.

 _"Ten-Four Chief."_ came the call over his radio, then the crane holding the bridge swung around and lofted the heavy metal platform into place. He stood up and slung the sniper rifle over his back and pulled out a shotgun, then jumped off the top of the ship and landed heavily on the opposing platform below. He stepped out onto the bridge as the arrivals began crossing.

"Stop right there. I'm coming to you. Let me see the boy." he commanded. Immediately the man growled, but did as he was told. Walking forward, the Chief examined the child in the man's arms. He had indeed received a wound to the stomach, and judging from the pale color of his skin and the dilation of his eyes, he'd lost a lot of blood already. "Here, I'll run him to the doctor." said the man. John glared at him, his anger once again rising. But he knew that Bryan's life was hanging on by a thread at the moment, and if he didn't get assistance immediately, he'd end up dying. Reluctantly, he held the boy forward. "Stay here, once he's in the doctor's hands, I'm coming back to talk to you." The Security Chief grabbed the boy in his arms, then turned and ran back to the entrance so fast that even John was stunned.

He looked down at his hands, seeing the boy's blood covering his armored gloves. He felt like he had stared at it forever, not realizing that the others had finally caught up and were standing behind him. Minutes felt like hours as he stared at the life blood of the orphaned boy. Lana slowly walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "John...there wasn't anything you could do..." she said, but he jerked his shoudler away.

"What good am I if I can't protect one goddamn kid!" he shouted, then punched the bridge beneath him. Lana took a step back as she felt the power in the attack reverberate through the metal and into her feet.

"I'll ask you not to do that again." came a voice in front of them. The wanderer looked up and saw the man from before in front of him. Wearing body armor and a couple of lethal and non-lethal weapons, it was easy to see he was from the security force. But something strange about his green eyes bugged him. "This is our only method of entrance into the city, and if it breaks, we'll be trapped without supplies." he mentioned.

"Apologies...it's just...the boy." said Lana.

The man nodded. "I understand. According to Doctor Preston, it was clean through and through. He'll be just fine once we get some blood back into his system. He'll need a transfusion though, and we don't have any citizens with the boy's blood type." he said, looking down at John.

"What type is he?" asked the gunman. He knew that he himself was the rare AB Negative. But his hopes were crushed when the man answered.

"Your medical terminology had the doc bring his test kit. After taking a sample, it shows he has B Negative. John was ready to break down and punch a hole through the bridge when the woman behind him spoke up.

The redhead stepped forward. "I'm type O!" she said hopefully. "That can be used universally, can't it?" she asked.

The wanderer looked up at her hopefully. "Yes, it can. Almost anyone can take a transfusion of type O." he said, then stood and turned to the Chief. "What do we have to do to get into the city? I have a family here who were torn apart by mutant ants and an Entomology specialist." he said, nodding towards Shelia, Will, and Weston who were standing behind him.

"My name is Chris Harkness, I'm Security Chief here at Rivet City. They can come in as long as they don't make trouble. Hell, even she can." said the man, looking over at Lana. "We already have one of her group here who has been more help than hinder. But you..." he said, eyeing John. "I've heard a lot about you. And I know what kind of trouble you tend to get into."

John clenched a fist in irritation. "Trouble tends to find those who want to help others." he said.

But Chris nodded to him. "I understand. I just need you to know that I'm fair about self defense in here. But I'll have no trouble making. That means no intimidating, or gallivanting to citizens. Some of them are more prone to your presence than you may think." he said.

The gunman looked at him oddly. "How do you mean?" he asked.

Chief Harkness just sighed. "Look, a lot of people listen to the radio, and know who you are. Some might approach you for reasons I can't fathom. I don't want you leading them on, or making them believe anything that isn't true. If you have business here, please get it done without interfering with everyday life." he said, eyeing the younger man scrutinizingly.

John was taken slightly aback at the request, but nodded. "A-Alright. I don't usually propagate rumors about myself anyway."

"Glad to hear it. Now let's get you inside so we can get him hooked up." said the Chief, who turned and began to walk across the bridge again. John and the others followed him into the carrier soon after.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** I'm aware that Dukov's place is actually further north than where I put it here, but to keep Big J from having to travel back and forth to Rivet City over and over, I just moved it a squidge to get everyone in one go. Doesn't really change the story much, but I know people out there sometimes look for 100% accuracy in story elements like this.

This is also the first time I've had no context on dialogue. Hopefully that pays off later. Thanks again for the reviews and you all stay awesome!


	47. Reprieve

OoO( 47 )OoO

Two days had passed since the shootout in Downtown DC. Two days had passed since Talon Company had attacked him in the streets. And two days had passed since Bryan had taken a bullet for his incompetence. Almost as soon as he was in the hatch of the ship, he, Chief Harkness, and Knight McGyle sprinted across the markets towards the doctor's office. They immediately hooked the redhead up to a plasmapheresis, which began pulling blood from her arm, and pumping it into the young boy's. Though extremely nervous, considering she had never donated before, she put on a brave face and looked away when Doctor Preston inserted the needle into her arm.

For two days, the wanderer had sat next to the boy while he lay unconscious on his hospital bed. The doctor had sewn up Bryan and cleaned the damaged tissue almost as soon as he arrived in the room. Even John was surprised at the man's speed and accuracy, but was extremely grateful for the man's proficiency. The wanderer just sat, staring at the child as he slept in the hospital bed. His color had returned, and despite his own medical knowledge, the doc had assured him that the boy was recovering fine. Still he sat and watched.

He was reliving it over again. The nightmare from the Anchorage simulation was returning full force now. Any time he closed his eyes for a bit of rest, he was surrounded by the bodies of those who he should have protected. Regardless of what Elsa told him, it still left a traumatizing mark on him as he saw them die. The man turning to ash, the burning man falling from the tower, the woman who had been stabbed in betrayal, the private that had died behind the wheel of her vehicle, the sergeant who was killed by machines. And finally, the friend who sacrificed himself to complete their objective. Since he had left Bailey's Crossroads, they had been with him. From time to time, it was a pleasant trip through his memories. But mostly, he'd had the same nightmare of being surrounded by their broken, bleeding, and burned bodies.

This time however, Bryan was there. He laid on the ground, looking up at John through his watering eyes, holding the wound in his stomach as an ocean of blood crawled out from under him. And no matter what he did to try and save them in his nightmares, they always looked at him as if it were his fault before eventually letting out their last breath. Since his capture from the raiders, he'd had a bit of a reprieve from the torturous dreams. But now that it had happened again, they were washing over him once more.

The redheaded woman entered the room with another tray of food, a concerned look on her face as she spotted him in the same spot he'd been for two days now. Walking over, she sat the tray in front of him. "You should really get some sleep." she said as she put her hands on her hips. He just continued to stare at the boy who was now lying on the medical bed. "John..." she said, trying to get his attention. But again, there was no response. Finally, getting fed up with being ignored, she grabbed the tray and threw it against the wall. Even the stony expression'd gunman jumped back in surprise and looked up to her. "You answer me when I'm talking to you!" she shouted, glaring at him.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked, his tone showing his irritation.

"What's gotten into me?" she asked incredulously. Pulling a chair over, she slammed it in front of him and sat in it backwards so that her arms could rest on the back of the seat. "I'll tell you what's gotten into me! You have!" she growled, pointing an accusing finger in his face. "I work for the Brotherhood of Steel John. Do you know how many people I've seen walking down the road you're on right now?"

His eyes widened briefly before looking away. "What the hell would you know?" he asked bitterly.

"What I know is that you're walking off a cliff. Time and time again, I've seen soldiers come back with brother's holotags that have the same damn look on their face that you have now. They blame themselves, there was something that they could have done that they didn't, if only they'd thought of that, then their brothers would still be alive!" she said dramatically before snorting and glaring at him again. If he didn't know it was scientifically improbable, the gunman would have thought that her hair was going to burst into flames.

"Yeah, well I'm not them!" he shouted.

"You think?" she asked, almost chuckling. "That's funny, because right now I see you dragging your feet around here and killing yourself internally over not being able to stop time or catch bullets. Tell me what about that sounds logical to you." she harped.

"You don't know what the hell I've been through." he said angrily, turning away from her. But another voice spoke up this time, one that he didn't expect.

 _"She's right."_ said the digital voice from his pipboy. The gunman's eyes widened and he glared down at her on the screen.

"You too!?" he shouted incredulously.

 _"I was there John. From the time you entered the simulation, to now, I've been there the whole time. I saw you turn down a destructive path that nearly got you killed multiple times. What you're doing right now by not eating, not sleeping, and shoving your friends away is the same thing you did back then. You segregated yourself from them, thinking it would hurt less when you finally died."_ she said, looking up at him worriedly.

"You of all people should know what I've seen and what I've had to go through..." he quipped bitterly as he looked down at her.

 _"Yes, I do know. And I know where it led!"_ she said, crossing her digital arms. _"And it's as I said, you're starting to drift again. Ever since you healed from your spine breaking, you've been much better! I had even assumed that you moved on!"_

"I did. I got over it. But when you keep failing..." he said, but Lana cut him off again.

"You didn't fail to do anything. All the Talon mercs are dead. Sure, Bryan was injured, but you got him here fast enough that it didn't really matter. He's alive, he's getting better, and he has you to thank for that because nobody else would have been able to get him here that quickly." she said, her tone starting to soften again. She let out a heavy sigh as she looked up at him with her sparkling blue eyes again. "You need to stop shouldering the blame for everything that goes wrong in your life. Sometimes shit happens and there's nothing we can do about it." she said, laying her head on her arms.

 _"She's right. If she had a heart attack on the spot right here, there is very little that you or I could do about it. The same goes for Bryan, and the same goes for Washington, McDonald, Goto, Mateo, Latorneau, and Montgomery. There was nothing you could have done about them."_

"JUST SHUT UP!" he shouted, now clenching his head. The verbal attack stunned Lana into silence, and Elsa just stared up at him, a passive look on her face. It took a full minute before he finally calmed down and looked at them with tired eyes. "I'm sorry...it's just..."

"We know." said Lana as he put his face in his hands and tried to rub the stress away. "He's alive though, alright? So no more worries." finished the Knight as she patted his knee.

"Alright. I guess I could use a nap." he said as he got to his feet and looked down at his pipboy. "Elsa, I'm sorry to you too..." he said, but stopped when he saw his original Vault Boy icon on the screen. "Elsa?"

OoOoO

He tried, he could at least say that. He'd been in and out of sleep for the last few hours. The only person he allowed inside his hotel room had been the woman known as Cherry, that he had evacuated from Dukov's place up north. And even that was only because she had caught him at a time when he was wide awake again. She opened the hatch and stepped into the darkened room. Looking around for him in the pitch black, she was startled by his voice.

"Please don't turn the light on." he requested, getting a surprised jump from her.

"Sorry...don't worry, I won't." she said as she closed the door behind her and walked over to where he was laying on the bed. Sitting down on the not so soft mattress, she reached over and squeaked when she found that he wasn't wearing a shirt, and her hand had grazed his abdomen. Jerking her hand back as if she had just been stung, she said, "Oh...sorry."

"It's not a big deal." he said simply.

"I see..." she said as she laid on her side and looked at his dark silhouette. Her eyes had begun to adjust after a minute or so, allowing her to see his strong form laying on his back. "I just came by to thank you for getting me out of that place." she said silently.

"Dukov was a pig who doesn't deserve to be safe out here. He uses people to his own ends and likely discards them when he's finished. You deserved better than that." he said in an uninterested voice.

She looked at his dark figure oddly. She was getting mixed signals from him. They way he spoke about her told her that he cared just as much for her welfare as his own. But his tone of voice told a different story, as if he were indifferent to either of their lives. "Is something the matter?" she asked.

He sighed. "I've been trying to sleep for a while now. All I get is maybe an hour of rolling around, five minutes of drifting off, only to wake up again when my nightmares start." he said, reaching up to rub his eyes. With her capable of making out contours now with her adapted eyes, she looked at his arm as he massaged the stress out of his eyes. The muscle he had was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Well, there was a raider once, but he wanted to kill her and hang her up like a sack of potatoes.

She just smiled at him though at hearing his words. "I know exactly what you need." she said happily. He turned and looked at her oddly.

He eyed her curiously. "If you're going where I think you're going with this, I'm afraid I'm a taken man." he said.

She giggled and slapped his hardened abdominal muscles playfully. "Not what I meant kiddo. Just turn over on your stomach." she demanded, crossing her arms in a bossy manner. He eyed her again, but did as she said and flipped over onto his front. As soon as he did, she straddled his waist and began to gently caress his back. "My god...you weren't kidding about eating supermutants were you?" she asked.

He chuckled slightly. "Honestly, it's not all me. Some came from something that was injected into me during a military training exercise." he said, his skin getting goosebumps from her touch.

"You wear it well." she said as she dug into his back with her thumbs. He groaned loudly when he felt the knots burn from her massage. "A little short maybe..." she said jokingly. He glared at her playfully before slamming his eyes shut as she found another knot in his muscle and worked it out with her hands. Her magic fingers did this for almost half an hour, rubbing out the soreness and trigger points in his back that were enormous compared to regular human ones. She figured it was because of how much more he could do than humans, but she wasn't a medical specialist. Soon, her hands were sore. But she stopped briefly when she heard him snoring gently with his eyes closed. She laughed quietly to herself before she whispered, "Told ya.", then slid off him and left the room to go have a drink.

OoOoO

Here he was again, in the abyss of slumber. But this time, it wasn't as bad. He was aware that he was currently walking through a dream state at the moment, making the images from his nightmares much easier to process. All kinds of scenes flashed before him, from all corners of his life. He watched passively as one such portal stopped in front of him. It was a scene from when he was around thirteen, when he and Amata had found a spot that her father's camera didn't cover. After a bit of speculation on what they should do with such an intense secret, the answer came in the form of a kiss from the girl. At the time, he'd still been in a confused state about girls. He knew he liked them, especially Amata, but he was still awkward and breaking through his own pubescent barrier. Then, like that, the window was gone.

This time, it was years later. Christine Kendall had waited for him after class and pushed him against a wall, trying to get a kiss from him. He had grown to be much more like his father, in both looks and intelligence. He was smart, and had his father's rugged good looks growing on his own features, getting him the attention of the officer's daughter. Though it came as much a surprise to him as it did to Amata, who had walked in to see what was taking him so long, he got a glare that was nearly strong enough to burn through the vault walls anytime he tried to talk to the Overseer's daughter afterwards. It took a month of nothing but glares and dodging Christine for him to finally grow the spine to grab Amata and kiss her back. The young woman was so stunned, and apparently eager that she had forgotten about her glare. She wrapped her hands around him, and he wrapped his around her, the two of them kissing deeply and truly for the first time.

The gunman swatted away the memory as he shook his head. It had been a long time since he'd been with a woman, and he figured his brain was trying to get him to release some of the tension in his dreams. Suddenly, his eyes widened as another of the panels flew up, this one showing him and Mary, formerly known as Nova, in their first safari into each other's desires. A second panel dropped into place next to it, showing his first encounter with Sentinel Lyons. The two panels merged into one another until he had a very realistic image of the gorgeous sentinel riding him like she were a possessed woman. For a split second, he debated about stepping into the dream and actually living it. But something in his mind was telling him that he was here for another reason. He immediately turned and walked away from the scene, suppressing his urges to look for his real purpose. Though he'd definitely come back to these if he got the chance.

A panel slid in front of him, and he flinched. There it was. His team, his squad, all dying around him again. And Bryan there as well, suffering as he usually did. But this time, he turned towards the scene and watched it from the outside. He watched the figure of himself frantically moving from one figure to the next, trying with all his might to save them, but only managing to cover himself in their blood until it looked like he was some kind of wild animal that had slaughtered them. Bryan was last, and as he held the boy, he watched as Bryan's face began to sink into itself, his skin ripping off until he was nothing but a skeleton. He screamed loudly. The figure watched sharply as the scene proceeded. Something about this scene was bothering him.

Reaching forward, he used his finger to touch the panel. It wasn't solid, as his finger drifted through it like it was water. Then he swiped it and the scene began to replay. He ran from person to person, first to Sergeant McDonald, who had a laser burned hole through his middle. Then was Master Sergeant Washington, who was burned to death and had a missing arm. Then to Yae, who looked pale and serene, and as lifeless as a vampire. Then was Mateo, who was nothing but charred remains. Then Latorneau, with a clean stab to the back of his neck. Then last, was Sergeant Montgomery, his first ally in the cold desert, and good friend. The man had three sniper rounds blast through his armor, leaving his chest gored and cratered. His hands were practically ash, but still the man had a smile on his face. Stepping forward, he actually stepped into the frozen scene. Looking down at his old friend Benjie, he tilted his head as he saw the smile.

As he stared at the man's smiling mug, he realized that his brain was trying to tell him something. Something about Benjie maybe, he certainly seemed to be the focus of this particular point in time. He seemed to be the most important for some reason. It was then that his brain started to throb, as if he were recognizing something. The man's features, something about his features! His face was rounded, his hair brown, his jaw squared, his eyes...his eyes...his eyes were hazel green. That was it. His eye color. But why was his brain trying to focus on something so insignificant? He grabbed his head as he felt his mind pulling him towards Yae, whose dark hair now draped down on either side of her in the snow, as if she were making some dark snow angel. He staggered over to her and looked at her. She was gorgeous by any country's standards. She was thin, her eyes angular with almost perfect lashes. Her chin was sharp, and she had high cheek bones, and small lips that were now blue in the cold. But something struck him again, making his brain throb. "What is it!?" he yelled as he held his head painfully.

It was at that time that he finally added it all up. Hazel green eyes, Asian features, dark hair, those features all stacked together in his head, making him even more agitated because he couldn't figure out what his mind was trying to say. Was something about their looks and features important to his mental state? Why else was his mind trying to get him to focus on these specific things. Was it trying to remind him of someone? He didn't know. All he knew was that his mind jerked every time he looked at them, as if something at the back of his memory was trying to escape. Like words at the tip of his tongue, he just couldn't jar it loose. But, before he could investigate anymore, he heard a loud pounding.

OoOoO

John immediately jerked awake in his bed, cold sweat beading his body as he sucked in breath and exhaled it at a rapid pace. A loud knocking on his door is what woke him, and he climbed out of the bed, answering the door in nothing but his shorts.

"Oh my..." said the short, blonde haired woman in front of him as she covered her face.

"Can I help you?" he asked, squinting his eyes against the light of the hotel main room.

"The...Brotherhood woman asked me to wake you up. She told me to tell you that he's awake." said the keeper. John's eyes widened, and he immediately dashed towards his bed where his clothes were waiting him. In a matter of minutes, he was again in his jumpsuit and boots, deciding to leave his armor and coat in the room. Quickly, he fled from the room and ran to the hospital wing, where he found Bryan awake and looking at up at him. Lana was on one side of the bed, sitting in a chair and smiling brightly.

John smiled as well when he pulled up a chair and sat in it. "Hey kiddo. How're you feeling."

Closing his eyes, the boy grimaced. "I feel like crap. What happened?" he asked.

"You were shot during the firefight we had against Talon Company." said the gunman.

The young boy looked at him wide eyed, then just smiled. "Whoa...cool..." he said with a goofy grin.

John chuckled and leaned his head back. "Cool huh?" he asked. Then he eyed the boy. "Keep that attitude up and you'll be a better gunman than me someday."

"I hope so..." said the boy before he began thinking. "The doc said that I was going to be off my feet for a month probably. But...I don't really want to stay here. Did you ever find my aunt?" he asked curiously.

John just shook his head. "As it stands, I wanted to make sure you pulled through before telling any of your relatives." he said as he smiled. "What did you say her name was? I'll stop by when I leave again."

"My pappa called her Aunt Vera. I don't think he ever mentioned her last name." said the boy as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

But the gunman looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "No kidding..." he said as he looked at the ground. "I actually think I've met her already."

"Oh...that's good. Gonna take a nap now..." said the young man before he drifted off into sleep once more. John and Lana both chuckled as they stood up and left the room together.

"You feeling better yet?" she asked as she nudged him with her elbow.

"I don't know...I had a strange dream about my time in the simulation. I don't know what the hell is going on, but I think my brain is trying to make me notice something." he said as they turned and walked down the long metal hallway. "I just can't figure out what it is."

She eyed him curiously. "Just don't stress yourself out too much about it. You've already had a enough on your shoulders as it is." she said, then playfully punched him in the arm and smile. "Wanna have dinner with me tonight?" she asked.

He looked at her suspiciously. "You're being awefully nice considering how much of an asshole I was earlier." he said as they turned the corner again and found themselves in front of the hotel once more.

"Look, I know you've been through a lot, and are still going through more. I understand why you act the way you act. Just know that you don't have to be like that with me." she said, giving him a very serious look.

He smirked at the sky blue eyes staring back at him. "Alright fine. If I ever need a teddy bear, I'll come snuggle up to you." he said playfully. She just glared and waved her fist in his face threateningly.

"Very funny." she growled, but just smiled back. "But at least you understand me. I don't want to hear anymore attitude out of you. We clear?" she asked, pointing at his nose.

"Yes Knight McGyle sir!" he said, standing stiffly as he gave her a serious look.

"Good. Now get out of my face, I've got shit to do." she said, laughing at his antics. Then she turned away and walked towards the marketplace.

John chuckled and turned towards the hotel again, where he saw the blonde woman staring at an ancient book named 'Nikola Tesla And You'. He stepped up to the counter where she was sitting, while Mr. Buckingham, her Mr. Handy robot floated around dusting the place. She looked up at him with a smile, and slight blush at their earlier encounter. Her hair was down to her ears and relatively tousled and unkempt, but was a bright blonde that reflected the light from above them. "What can I do for you?"

He leaned onto the counter and looked down at her. "You said your name was Vera before, right?" he asked. She nodded happily. "Do you happen to know anyone by the name Fred Wilks?" he asked curiously.

The woman's eyes widened slightly and she stood up. "Fred Wilks happens to be my brother. Is something wrong?" she asked nervously, scanning the gunman.

Anything. That's what he would have done at that point to get out of this. Assault Chief Harkness, shoot himself in the foot, even dive nose first off the top deck and into the water beneath the ship. But her worried eyes were now locked onto him, keeping him from moving anywhere. "Well, while I was travelling here from Megaton, I happened to make my way into Grayditch. When I got there, a kid by the name of Bryan came up to me and asked me to save his dad."

Her face immediately warped in a mask of horror. "Little Bryan?" she asked, getting a nod from the gunman. "Is he alright? Please tell me he's alright..." she said desperately, grabbing John's hand.

He squeezed her hand gently, looking up at her. "Bryan is fine...sorta." he said, looking away. "We had a bit of an incident when we were travelling here, and he's currently resting in the hospital bay." he said, turning back to her. "But, his father had passed away in Grayditch. There was a situation going on with giant fire ants, and he ended up passing away. So I was hoping you could..." said the gunman, but the woman jumped to her feet and grabbed her handbag, then turned to the Mr. Handy.

"Mister Buckingham! Watch the hotel, I'll be back in a bit!" she shouted, then bolted out the door before the classy robot could even respond.

 _"Oh dear...I hope everything is alright."_ said the robot as it drifted behind the counter and eyed him with its three optics. _"Can I get you anything sir?"_ he asked.

"No thank you. Keep up the good work." said John as he stood up straight from the cabinet, then left the hotel.

OoOoO

"Elsa, I have to talk to you. It's about the simulation." said John, who was currently sitting in his room after having gone out for dinner, then come back. For nearly the entire day, the virtual girl hadn't spoken to him. He didn't know if it was because of his attitude earlier, or because of the way he yelled. But she had all but vanished from his pipboy. He grew frustrated, clenching and unclenching his hand. "Elsa...please..." he begged.

 _"Please what?"_ she asked, appearing on the screen with a glare.

"Please talk to me." he said, his voice saddened by the thought of her ignoring him.

 _"Why? Anytime I try and help you, you either dive face first into death or scream at me like an impudent child."_ she said huffily.

"I'm sorry." he said desperately, flinching at her name calling.

 _"Yeah, like you were sorry the last time. "So sorry for almost ending both our lives, sorry for taking you for granted, sorry for not keeping my promise of finding you a safe home!""_ she growled as she looked up at him. _"Sorry only goes so far John. One of these days, you're actually going to have to stand behind the words that come out of your mouth."_ she said, pointing up at him.

He looked at her stunned. To be honest, he had forgotten the promise. Either that, or he subconsciously hoped his change in attitude would make her forget about it. Thinking back on it now, he had grown so dependent on her subtle presence that the thought of losing her hurt him. But he knew she was right. Letting out a heavy sigh, he looked at her curvy image with a serious expression. "Alright. I'm sorry for my attitude, and I'm sorry I've been acting the way I am now. As soon as I find a place where you feel you'd be safer, I'll hook you up so that you can offload yourself." he said.

 _"We'll see. In the meantime, you've been here for almost three days now and you've even forgotten your purpose in coming here."_ she remarked. _"You were supposed to see Doctor Li about your father."_

He nodded. "I was so wound up over Bryan that everything else took a back seat. I'll check in with her first thing in the morning, considering she's probably in bed by now." he said, noticing the time on the corner of his pipboy screen. "Until then, do you forgive me?" he asked.

She huffed and looked at him with one closed eye, and the other squinted. _"Yes, only because I know you'll give me that stupid puppy face if I don't."_ she said, smiling slightly as he laughed. _"Now get to bed before I electrocute your nervous system again. We can talk about the simulation and all that tomorrow, AFTER you've visited Doctor Li."_

"Yes Mom." he said and threw himself into the bed.

She growled. _"I don't know how, but one of these days I'm going to kick your ass..."_


	48. Footprints

OoO( 48 )OoO

Her excitement was almost irritating to herself. She had been studying for a long time and knew that to make this happen, she had to do everything perfectly. She stepped up to the door behind the odd hotel keeper who was reading a book upside down. Slowly, she opened the door to the hotel room and stepped inside slowly, looking over at the coat with the vault boy icon on it. Almost as silently as she had entered, she closed the door behind her and silently stepped over to the bed.

She looked down at his form with admiration and love. His muscular torso was the only thing that was currently exposed due to a blanket draping across his middle. But that was more than enough for her. Her vision was cloudy, but even with the unusual atmosphere, she still loved seeing him. Reaching up, she pulled herself out of her clothes and sat on the bed next to his face down form. Reaching over with one hand, she gently caressed his strong back, running her fingers over the worn skin, her own delicate digits tracing the lining of his muscle. He stirred slightly, but she would not be deterred. Continuing her exploration, her hand moved up to his face, so rugged and handsome. He had mentioned awhile back that the reason why he didn't grow facial hair much was because of the method of shaving they used in the vault. It kept hair at bay for months before one needed to shave again. But his face was now covered in a small layer of the coarse brush.

His hair too had grown. It was originally relatively short and spiked backwards on his head, giving him an unusual action-style hero look. But now, the hair was longer, and the backwards spikes had grown down the back of his head to his shoulders, giving him a more fantasy adventurer look. She gently stroked his somewhat coarse face, then pulled her hand away before climbing on top of him and straddling his waist. Completely nude now, she laid herself forward onto his back, pressing herself against him and nuzzling into him lovingly. She sighed happily at being here with him now, her arms along his sides, cuddling against him.

Suddenly, he began to move, and his eyes opened. "Wha...?" he asked, feeling the weight on his back.

"Welcome to the world of the living sleepyhead. Well...so to speak." she said playfully in a voice that was somewhat familiar to him, but different at the same time.

He turned and tried to look at her, but she was sitting on him, making it very hard to do so. Finally, she sat up and allowed him to flip himself over. Even flipped over however, he could barely see her in the dark room. "Wh-What are you doing?" he asked, feeling himself becoming uncomfortably aroused. Despite not seeing her, their skin on skin contact was more than enough for him to know that she was wearing very little, if anything at all. Quickly, his body was beginning to react to the thought of a naked woman on top of him.

But she leaned forward, her silhouette now in his face as she pressed a finger to his lips. "Shut up and hold me." she said, then laid herself on his abdomen. He just silently wrapped his arms around her, hearing a satisfied sigh escape her lips as he did. His hands immediately began to reach up and feel her hair, still trying to determine who was on top of him. With his mind still foggy, he couldn't be sure from the voice. He knew he'd heard it before, but there was something strange about it. And reaching up and stroking her hair, he could tell that it was short. That ruled out a few options, in fact, a lot of options. The only short haired women he knew were Mary back in Megaton, Brick, who barely had any hair, and some people who he didn't even know that well. Certainly nobody here in Rivet City would have just dropped by for naked hugs.

Suddenly, he was fully aware that her hands began to explore him. "We...can't do this..." he said, groaning as she found his manhood and giggled.

"Sure we can. This is a dream, anything goes." she said with a playful smile.

His eyes widened as he looked down at her silhouette in surprise. "It is?" he asked.

"Of course it is." she responded in a sultry tone. "Now, shut up and enjoy this. Because it can't happen for real." she said.

He was about to question the statement when he felt himself fully engulfed by her body, the feeling blowing any thoughts of questions out of his mind as she began to pleasure him.

OoOoO

Hours later, the wanderer awoke in his bed. Sitting up, he cracked his eyes open and looked around. Sure enough, he was lying in his hotel room bed, the room around him dimly lit by the lamp that was sitting on the desk next to the bed. "Elsa..." he mumbled, pulling the computer up to look at the screen. Almost immediately, he cringed and gripped his arm painfully. "Oww..."

 _"Yeah boss?"_ she asked, popping onto the screen.

"Was anybody in my room last night?" he asked curiously, rubbing his sore appendage.

She looked at him oddly. _"No. You were out for approximately six point four five hours. Nobody entered or exited that door the entire time."_ she said. Then she eyed him curiously _. "Why?"_ she asked.

"N-No reason..." he deflected as he swung his feet off the bed. Unfortunately for him, the pipboy screen had a full view of his body when he did.

 _"Oh my..."_ squeaked Elsa as she covered her digital face with her hands, her eyes still visible between the clefts of her fingers. He looked at her, then looked down between his own legs and immediately pulled the blanket over himself again.

"Goddammit..." he growled, but the damage had already been done.

 _"You did show signs of an increasing heart rate and blood flow while sleeping, but I didn't think..."_ she said, her voice tap dancing on the line between talking and laughing.

He glared at her. "Elsa..." he grumbled as he pulled the computer away, keeping her from viewing him any longer.

But she just shrugged and smiled. _"Hey, you've been pretty stressed. It's not that far fetched to think your brain would try and get you to relax."_ she said. He looked at her oddly, the serious tone in her voice cutting down the childishness of her giggling earlier.

"Maybe..." he said, then he heard her giggle again. He was about to glare at her again, when her question actually stumped him.

 _"So, who was it?"_ she asked.

He looked down at the screen with a look of shock. "I...don't know really." he said, getting an odd look from her. "It was dark, and all I could do was feel her." he said as he ran a hand through his ever growing hair.

 _"And did it work? Do you feel...relieved?"_ she asked, still wearing her childish smirk, despite trying to be as adult as possible.

"Not exactly. I'm pretty sure something physical has to happen to my real self in order for that to work. And besides, I'm pretty sure you would have had a reading on it if it did." he said, chuckling himself this time.

She just nodded. _"Probably. Well, you could always take care of it yourself."_ she said. He looked at her with a scrutinizing eye, but her face was a blank, emotionless slate. Suddenly, she cracked a smile, then so did he. In seconds, both of them were laughing loudly.

A short time later, John was dressed and walking out the door. One thing he failed to notice as he left was the small AI girl with a knowing smile on her digital face.

OoOoO

"Doctor Li, I demand to speak to you at once!" shouted an old, grizzled man from across the science lab. Currently, he was being blocked by a member of Rivet City's own security forces. But the two guards on either side of the old man told that he was only being held back as a courtesy, not because he couldn't force his way in. The man himself wore a pre-war stitched business suit that was in pristine condition, and grey in color. His skin was wrinkled and pale, and his hands clutched a suitcase in a tight grip that told her he was losing his patience.

The other two around him were strange, and had an air of deadly authority about them. Both stood rigidly straight, wearing heavy armor that looked like it weighed more than they did. The armor was covered by a long jacket that showed a symbol of the Vitruvian Man with the acronym CIT through the middle of it. Both of the menacing figures, one man, one woman. The man, who stood taller than any of them in the room, was bald and had a glare that would crumble a brick wall. Thankfully, Chris had stopped them all at the door and made them put their weapons away, otherwise this scene might become very threatening.

The woman was shorter, slightly shorter than Doctor Li herself, but no less threatening than the man. Her glare could freeze someone in place. Her hair, which was cut short to keep it out of the way, was a light red color that draped down around her ears. Her features were young, but deadly serious at the moment. The old man between them, harped her again and she was ready to snap and have the Chief throw them out of the city.

"For the last time Mister Zimmer, I do not know where your android is at. I've been much too busy here doing my job of keeping this city running to have time for chasing down your lost projects." she said angrily. "Now please, leave my lab! I have too much work to do!"

He fixed her with an icy stare, huffing again. "I assure you Doctor, very little of what you are doing here could be more important than..." he said, but she cut him off again.

"I've heard enough! Get out of here before I have you thrown into the Atlantic!" she spat. The female guard on his left stepped forward, but the man stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Stand down Valkyrie. We'll investigate elsewhere." he said, then turned away as someone else approached. He stopped immediately in his tracks as he took in the look of this newcomer. He stood taller than him, but shorter than Armitage, the male guard, by a good margin. Despite his short stature, he commanded the air around him as he walked, giving him an aura that exuded power. But the most noticeable thing about him were his eyes. They were glowing green in the dimly lit lab, a green that spoke of nuclear energy. He stepped aside as the newcomer approached, his guards doing the same. The strange man passed unhindered, and he watched the scene unfold in front of him.

"Doctor Li?" asked the wanderer as he walked up to the small group of scientists. John almost immediately regretted the action as a sigh escaped from all of the lab coat wearing citizens in the area. The woman at the far table, who had dark black hair tied up into a tight bun, sighed and buried her face in her hands.

"For the love of God, what does someone have to do to get some work done around here?" she asked as she spun around and looked at him angrily. "What are you doing in my..." she said, then stopped immediately, her features softening quickly. "Oh...James, what are you..." she said, but stopped again mid sentence. John's eyes widened considerably as he heard his father's name, a chill going down his spine. "My God...it's you, isn't it?" she asked as she walked up to him.

This close, he could easily see that she was of Chinese descent, not that her name wasn't just as easy an indicator. But the woman did something very strange once she had stepped up to him. Reaching up, she touched his cheek, as if testing to see if he were real. "Doctor?" he asked nervously.

"The resemblance is...incredible..." she said, a look of awe on her face. Suddenly, as if realizing how close she was, she backed up, an embarrassed look on her face. "I'm sorry, it's just..." she said, then looked at him again. "You are him, right? You are John Ronas?" she asked.

"I am..." he said, stepping forward and into the light of the room, allowing the others to see him as well. Two of the female scientists to the right gasped themselves, one nearly dropping a clipboard she was holding.

"Holy shit..." remarked one of them as they stared at him slack jawed.

"I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment about my father." he said, trying to ignore the looks of awe he was getting. Who knew the family resemblance could stupify so many people?

"Oh...of course." she said, nodding to the others. "Keep checking the readings. If it goes over two point five, alert me immediately." she said, getting a nod from one of the others.

Leading him away from the group, she pulled him to the back corner of the room. Mister Zimmer immediately leaned over to his female guard and whispered, "Valkyrie, amplify and record their conversation." he said, watching the pair as the female guard's ears twitched slightly and her eyes focused on the two.

Doctor Li crossed her arms and looked at him with a confusing expression. From the best of his experiences, he could tell that it was a mix of injured sadness, as if he had somehow betrayed her, and confusion. Deciding to get straight to the point, he spoke first. "I suppose my first question would have been 'Have you seen him?'. But I'd say your initial reaction to me is a pretty clear indicator that he's been around recently." he deduced.

She nodded heavily. "He came back months ago, surprising us all. He stayed to himself mostly, only asking a few questions here and there for a month or two. Then he started going out into the field again, back to the purifier. He'd always come back frustrated, but kept on. Soon, he was inquiring about vaults." she said, getting John's attention.

"He was asking about vaults?" he asked. Then he stopped her from answering, holding his hand up briefly. "Wait...start at the beginning. What purifier?" he asked.

Her face was a mask of surprise. "He...didn't tell you about the purifier?" she asked. John shook his head, his face showing an anger with his father that was buried deep. "Oh lord..." she said as she grabbed a chair and sat down.

"He left me in Vault 101, expecting me to stay there with a sadistic, and possibly psychopathic overseer who hated him and me both. As a matter of fact, until I left the vault, I was still under the impression that I had been born there." he said, an irritated tone creeping into his voice.

She sat back, a thoughtful look on her face. "I...don't know if I'm the one that should be explaining this to you then." she said, looking up at his features. She was still baffled at how startlingly similar they were.

He sighed heavily, standing up straight instead of leaning against the wall. "Doctor Li..."

"Madison." she said as she stood up and held out her hand. He stopped, then shook her hand with a smile.

"Madison then..." he said, then continued his tirade. "This isn't a discussion to be had between a father and his teenage son. I'm an adult, and I've killed more raiders, supermutants, and mercenaries than I can even count to get here. So I'd highly appreciate it if you'd treat me like John Ronas, and not James Ronas' son." he said.

She gave him an amused smile. "Alright then..." she said, placing her hands on her hips. "The purifier was the goal of Project Purity. It was an idea that me, your father, and for a while that old coot Pinkerton tried to get working."

"What was the goal of the project?" he asked curiously.

"Fresh and clean water for everyone in the wasteland. The purifier, which was constructed in the Jefferson Memorial, was supposed to purify all the water in the tidal basin at once. No radiation, no much, just fresh, crystal clear water." she said.

As if something in his head broke loose, his eyes widened. Suddenly, his brain slammed him with the Bible verse he had been raised on. "It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water from the spring of the water of life, freely." he mumbled.

Madison eyed him sternly. "Yes, that was always their favorite." she said, then softened her features again. "They were very brilliant, and devoted to our cause." she said sadly.

"So what happened?" asked John curiously.

She looked up at him, again the look of hurt entering her eyes. "To be completely honest, you happened." she said. The statement made John uncross his arms in confusion. "It's not like it was all you. We were understaffed, we were overworked, we were working with ancient, derelict equipment, and all of that was on top of the fact that we were stacking up and impressive record of failures." she said, as if just recalling the memory exhausted her. "But you were the last straw, what finally pushed it into the grave."

"What happened?" he asked, fairly certain where the conversation was going.

"Your mother...she had complications from your birth. We did what we could to try and save her, but like I said, we were working with equipment that was scavenged from deeper in the ship. Water damage, oxidization, being thrown across the room from the original crash..." she said, listing off everything wrong with their equipment aboard the ship. "We weren't able to save her."

He looked her over briefly. He could hear the hurt and regret in her tone, showing she was sincere. He just sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. "It's alright Madison. I know you tried." he said. She looked up at him, her features changing to a look of pure relief. "You've been holding onto that for a long time haven't you?" he asked.

"You have no idea..." she said, feeling a bit lighter on her feet. "After your mother died, your father took you and left. For a long time, I had thought that he blamed me, because I was the one who should have caught the signs." she said with a heavy sigh. "When he came back, I cleared the air with him. But I had no idea how you took it." she said, giving him and inquisitive look. "Then again, I'd also assumed that he had told you the whole story."

John shook his head lightly. "We are born in the vault, we die in the vault. That pretty much covers everything I was taught about our history." said the wanderer. "So, he's been here. What's been happening since?"

"Well, he just shows up one day and says that he's going to continue with Project Purity. He requested that me and my team help him but..." she remarked, rubbing her head in frustration. "We had all moved on. After he left, the whole project went to hell. Even the Brotherhood of Steel thought we weren't worth their time anymore and abandoned the purifier. But, even after I told him all this, he still continued to do research. About a month after arriving, he said he was going to go to the memorial and see what needed fixing. So he spent the next couple of months back and forth between here and there, scavenging equipment from the derelict parts of the ship, and taking them to replace purifier parts. About two months ago, he came in asking about vaults, and if anyone had any information on them. Unfortunately..."

"You had no idea." said John, finishing her statement for her. She nodded, and continued.

"We had no information on any vaults aside from the one he took you to. And that's only because the manifest found aboard this ship said that supplies were supposed to be sent to it before the bombs fell. Then, one day about two weeks ago, he comes back full of energy, saying he found what he was looking for. Then he left, and we haven't seen him since." she finished.

John scratched his chin idly as he processed the information. "What could he find in a vault that he couldn't get anywhere else?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else. "I'll have to go to the purifier and see for myself if he's actually there. Hopefully I can ask him the questions myself." he said, then looked up at her again. "So, I have one last question before I stop bothering you."

She chuckled. "John, during your birth, I was chosen to be your godmother. You being here, and understanding what we went through shows me that you couldn't bother me." she said, then reached forward and stroked his cheek gently, surprising him. "So smart and handsome, just like your father..." she said in a dreamy state.

He stood, stunned for a moment as he looked at the doctor. He saw something in her at that moment that he'd seen many times over his life. The looks from Amata when he was a teenager, the look from Lucy before they had parted, the look from Nova during her birthday. The look was love. "You...you loved my father." he said, more of a statement than a question.

She took a step back, stunned for a moment by the proclamation, but just put her hands on her hips and sighed. "I see your perception is as good as his as well..." she complained. "Your father and I worked together for a long time before he met Catherine. I suppose I was stupid to assume that we'd be together just because we had known each other for so long. I was just waiting for him to admit it...but the day came when he proposed to her." she said, a note of sadness in her voice. "Though, seeing them together, I couldn't really begrudge them anything."

He nodded. "I'm sorry." he said, his mind pulling up odd scenarios where the good Doctor Li had been his mother instead. Would his life have been entirely different? Then, one thing that he knew here and now was right, thrust itself to the front of his thoughts. "If it makes you feel any better, I can stop by and visit often. Considering you are technically my godmother." he said.

Her eyes widened considerably at his offer. "I...would enjoy that." she said softly, a smile growing on her face. "I would ask you to visit with me later, but you seem like you've got a lot of work ahead of you. So the next time you stop by, you're going to explain to me how you got those eyes of yours." she said jokingly as they walked together towards the lab again.

He chuckled to himself. "That's a long story, so yeah. I'll set some time aside after I reprimand my father. Oh..." he said, stopping as he remembered something. "Do you know who started Rivet City? A friend of mine back in Megaton was writing a thing..." he inquired.

She cocked an eyebrow then shook her head. "Not in the very beginning. I know it was a research lab before it was a city. But if you can find that old bastard Pinkerton in the other half of the ship, he should have records on it." she said.

"Alright, thanks." he said. "And...I'll see you later." he said, getting a smiling nod from her. He stepped away and went to leave the lab, but was stopped by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Turning, he noticed an old man in a pre-war suit standing with two menacing looking guards over next to him. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"I certainly hope so." said the man as he stepped up to John. "I happened to overhear that you were John Ronas, is that correct?" asked the man.

"In the flesh..." said the wanderer, wondering if he was going to have to sign an autograph or something. The man looked a little old to be collecting memorabilia. And if his two guards, who were currently drilling holes through his head with the looks they were giving him, he wasn't a person for hobbies at all.

"I heard about you on the radio when coming down from the Commonwealth. A many great things in fact." he said.

"Three Dog is a bit theatrical with my accomplishments." said John as he leaned against the wall.

"How you get them done doesn't concern me. What does, is that you can get them done." he said, pushing his thick lensed glasses further up on his nose. "I'd like to propose a mutually beneficial endeavor for both of us."

John stared at him a moment, before looking back and forth between the two guards. He didn't like this guy. His whole interest in 'getting things done' left a bad taste in his mouth, the same taste he got from Talon Company. But instead of blowing him off, he just nodded. "I'm listening."

"Good man." said the man as he pulled up his briefcase and opened it up. Digging around inside, he surfaced again with a picture that he handed to John. "This is A3-21, otherwise known as Odin. It was a retriever android that was commissioned by the Institute to seek out derelict, malfunctioning androids, and bring them back to the Commonwealth Institute of Technology."

John nodded. "But it's hard to catch malfunctioning androids when the one catching them goes missing too?" he asked.

The man stepped back, stunned at the statement. "Then you know of the android? You must tell me where it is!" squeaked the man desperately.

John just shook his head. "You just offered me a proposition, then handed me his picture. It wasn't hard to assume I'd be trying to find him." said the gunman as he examined the picture. The android had a brutish, bulldog like face that had a nearly permanent scowl on it. Looking up from the picture, he easily saw the same scowl being aimed at him by the two guards on either sides. "Shouldn't you have some kind of failsafe for this kind of thing? Like a tracking dot, or maybe a killswitch?" he asked.

Mister Zimmer straightened himself after recovering from the shock, then smiled slightly. "I see you are a cut above the rest of the filth that calls this place home. You are correct. Both of those safeties are put into all of our projects. Unfortunately, the android in question was on detail when it went missing. Meaning it was well out of range for us to track efficiently, and too far away to activate the kill switch without the employ of some kind of satellite to bounce the signals. And it appears that when A3-21 had the surgery, the doctor also removed the killswitch and the tracking beacon we had installed."

"But using your two android's detection capabilities..." said the gunman, nodding to the two on either side of the man. "You managed to track him down here to DC?" he asked.

The shock on his face appeared too fast to hide it again, but he rolled with it. "Your perception is mind boggling, but yes. We already knew it was headed south, but they managed to track it to this area of the wastes. We found, among other pieces of evidence, holotapes that A3-21 created, asking for the assistance of a surgeon and someone with the capabilities to wipe its long term memory clean. But the source of the holotape said he'd had it for nearly a month at the time, so my assumption is that A3-21 found someone and is currently walking among us, thinking it's a human."

"And my job is to find him?" he asked, tucking the picture into his duster.

The man nodded eagerly. "It has more than likely had facial reconstruction, and likely thinks it's human now. So what I want you to do is find the one who did the procedure. From there, we'll be able to find out where the escapee is hiding."

John thought about it for a moment as he stared at the man. He knew just from their brief conversation that any talk of whether this was right or wrong would have no effect on the man before him. He would brush it off, claiming that androids are no more than tools, like hammers or guns. So to try and convince him would be pointless. Instead, he just smiled. "Alright. I'll let you know what I find."

"Bring me its location, or the location of the broken unit if somehow it was brought down, and I'll reward you handsomely." said Zimmer with a grateful smile. Nodding, the gunman opened the door and left. Once they were a safe distance away, a low growling began to emanate from his pipboy.

Holding the computer up, he saw Elsa on the screen with her fists clenched and horns growing from her head. _"I'll kill him...I'll rip his slimy head off and shove it even further up his ass than it already is!"_ she shouted, her avatar breathing fire now.

"Calm down Elsa, we're not going to hand anyone over to that bastard. But I am going to find him." he said as he opened up the door to the marketplace. He stepped out onto the walkway surrounding the markets and sighed, watching nearly fifty people milling about the shops, from wastelanders, to civilians, to merchants. "We've got a long day ahead of us..." he said.

 _"When have we ever had a short day?"_ she asked sarcastically, her pixelated form now back to its normal, curvy shape. He just smiled at her, then slowly descended the stairs.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** For those of you interested, I've rewritten the prologue to my Warcraft story. You can check it out on my page, of course. If not, then don't worry. I just wanted to establish it so that it would be there. After all, I've found that one of my weaknesses in writing is trying to do too many things at once. So I'll be writing this story to completion before I start working on that one. If you do end up reading it, please review or give me constructive criticism! I can't get enough of it!


	49. Confrontations

OoO( 49 )OoO

After having a short lunch in the hotel, courtesy of Mister Buckingham, John donned his normal regalia, minus the armor, and set out to investigate the synthetic situation. A few thoughts over his meager lunch of InstaNoodles had him concluding that his best bet was to find the doctor who had actually done the surgery, if he'd had it done at all. That led him down the halls of the carrier city to the clinic, and Doctor Preston. But when he entered the small medical bay, the first thing he saw was Bryan sitting up on the bed.

To the boy's right sat Vera, who was gently rubbing his back with a smile, and behind them in the chairs against the wall, was Sheila and Will Jr. The wanderer walked up to the pair with a large smile. "Hey! You're looking a hundred times better." he said.

Bryan looked up at him with a grin. "Yeah! The doc said there's going to be a scar!" said the boy as he lifted his shirt, showing a small pock mark where the bullet had gone through underneath his ribs. "Isn't it cool?" he asked excitedly.

John chuckled and patted the young boy on the head. "Sure is. But I wouldn't make a habit of collecting them. I can tell you from experience, it gets a lot less cool after the first time." he said with a smile.

"Moooom...I want one!" said Will from the back, who seemed to be pouting.

Sheila, who was wearing a new dress now, looked at him darkly. "I'm afraid to say I won't be getting you one William. Let the thought escape your head immediately." she snapped, getting a dramatic sigh from her almost teenage son.

"Well, in any case, you'll be coming to live with me once you're all better." said Vera as she continued to rub his back. She looked up at John with a bright smile. "Thank you again very much for bringing him here. You have no idea how much it means to me to see him safe."

The gunman cringed slightly at her choice of words, but seeing the sincere look on her face cheered him up. "No thanks necessary. I'm just glad he's somewhere safe from the wastes." he said as he looked up at the other two. "And I see you two are settling in nicely." he remarked, seeing them both in new clothes. The woman was wearing a blue sun dress that only seemed to intensify the 1950's style that had such an impact on their world before the bombs fell. Her hair, which he had read was called The Bob back when people actually recorded that information, was just the icing on the cake, making her look like she belonged behind a white picket fence with a tray of lemonade for the kids.

Will however, was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with 'Nuka-Cola Victory' scrawled across it in curvy writing, with a bottle of the brand named soda in the center. The cap had flown off, and shooting out were fireworks. His shorts looked like survival shorts, made from tough material with large pockets on the sides.

Sheila smiled up at him. "Very nicely in fact. Mister Bannon said I was a candy to look at, and that if I worked for him, his business would boom!" she said, excited about the prospect of her new job in selling clothes.

Will looked to the side with a grumpy expression. "He just wants to stare at my mom all day." he said, scoring him a smack in the back of the head.

John chuckled at the pair. "Well, I'm glad to see you're fitting in here." he said. Then he spoke to them all. "I'm happy to see you are all doing great. But I'm afraid I have to speak with the doctor now." he finished, getting a look from the man. The wanderer nodded towards the hallway, and the doctor, who had a curious look on his face, stood and followed him out of the room.

When they were away from the others, the doctor finally spoke up. "What can I help you with?" the man, who was graced with silver hair and a short, but rugged matching beard, asked.

Immediately, John pulled out the picture and showed it to the doctor. "I was wondering if you recognized this man."

The doctor peered at the picture through his thin glasses, stroking his beard all the while. "I'm afraid I don't recall him. Was he a patient of mine?" he asked, looking up at the wanderer.

After tucking the picture away again with a sigh, he answered the man's question. "I was hoping you could tell me. The man you just saw was...is a synthetic android created up north. When he came here, he was looking for a doctor to perform facial reconstruction on him. I take it this means you've never seen him before?" he asked.

"Synthetic? Like those holotapes said?" he asked, surprised. When the wanderer nodded the man looked flabberghasted. "You're sure? He's...he looks so real!"

"The picture came straight from the man who supposedly created him." remarked the gunman. "Do you know of any doctors who might be able to pull something like that off?"

Doctor Preston just shook his silver head. "Sorry. My surgical talents are limited to pulling things out of people and sewing them up." he said. "I can't say much for anyone else. I've only been here for a couple of years, and I was taught enough to be a doctor by Pinkerton before he bailed on Rivet City all together."

"Hmmm..." mumbled John as he fell deep in thought. Whoever this Pinkerton character was, he was definitely going to have to talk with him eventually. "Alright, thanks doc. If you need anything from me, I'm probably going to be around for a while." he said, getting a nod from the man. With a somewhat defeated sigh, he walked down the hall and away from the clinic.

OoOoO

 _"So, this turns out to be harder than we thought."_ remarked Elsa from his pipboy.

"Yeah. I thought it'd be a piece of cake tracking down the one who was able to perform the surgery. As it turns out, nobody in existence knows how to perform reconstructive procedures anymore." he said with a sigh. "Whoever it is, they did a damn good job of hiding themselves." he said as he walked down the hall, his boots clanking against the grated metal floor. His eyes locked onto a curious dark skinned woman that was approaching him with a grim look on her face. She wore a pair of overalls and a long sleeve shirt underneath, with a worn pair of work boots, and had her hair work in a ponytail that consisted of finely sewn braids. Considering his history with confrontation, it was no surprise to him that she stopped him in the hall.

"Who do you think you are?" she asked.

He just stared at her for a long moment. He'd never actually been asked that question before. "Uhhh...my name is John?" he responded, hoping that was the answer she was looking for.

It wasn't. "Very funny smartass. I saw you talking to Zimmer in the lab, and I saw you questioning Doc Preston! So I ask again, who the hell do you think you are?" she asked again, this time more forcefully.

He placed his hands on his hips and looked at her oddly. "Look lady, I'm a busy man. If you have something to get off your chest, I'd suggest you do it while I still have the patience to stand here." he remarked.

She looked taken aback for a moment, but then she stamped her foot and her glare returned. "He's happy! He's living his life normally! And you'd take that all away from him just so that slave driver can take him back and 'reprogram' him." she said quietly. Despite her whisper however, the anger in her voice was potent. He just stared at her for a moment, then cracked an amused smile. She took immediate offense to the humor. "What the hell is so funny."

"What's your name?" asked John curiously.

Taken aback once more by the curve ball question, she quickly answered. "Victoria."

Holding up his pipboy, John said, "Elsa, tell Victoria to shut up."

 _"Victoria, shut the hell up."_ came the digitized voice. Victoria was stunned by the non presence and looked around.

"Now tell her she doesn't know what the hell she's talking about." said the gunman.

 _"You reeeeally don't know what the hell you're talking about."_ said the cartoon woman.

"And finally, tell her that if she knew who I was, she wouldn't be here talking to me like this." said John, who was almost chuckling by this point.

 _"Too long. Do it yourself."_ said the girl. John looked down at her right as her avatar yawned widely.

"Really?" he asked, an unamused look on his face.

 _"Really."_ she said with a chipper smile.

"Who is that?" asked the woman, who was now peering at his arm computer with uncertainty. John held the computer screen up for her to see, and the woman gasped. "Is that an AI?" she asked in awe.

 _"In the pixels."_ remarked Elsa as she waved at the woman. _"Trust me lady, you're reeeeally barking up the wrong tree here."_ she said, thumbing towards the human above her.

Victoria looked up at John. The wanderer finally spoke again. "I have no intention of turning him in to Zimmer and his goons. Nor do I have any intention of disturbing him. In fact, I fully intend to help him." he remarked.

She looked at him scrutinizingly, as if questioning his words. "How are you going to help him?" she asked.

"First, once I find him, I'm going to get rid of Zimmer. If he can spare the parts, I should be able to convince Zimmer that the android has been destroyed. Then he can live in peace without people hounding his steps." said the gunman as he glared down at the woman. Her fiery temper immediately dissolved when she heard his words.

"Oh..." she said, reaching up and scratching her head.

"You know where he is?" asked John curiously, watching her features to see if she was lying.

The woman shook her head. "No...I mean, I did. But after he found someone to do the surgery, he left. In case someone came looking for him, I don't ask where they're going, or what they look like so that..."

"So that you don't end up giving up the information under torture." he said with a sigh.

 _"You're stupid."_ said Elsa in a more serious tone than usual.

"W-What?" asked Victoria, who looked down at the digital girl in surprised.

 _"Let's do a little math here. You seperate yourself from the knowledge of where their target is and what he looks like so that if you're ever caught helping them, you don't end up giving them up."_ she said, pointing at the woman. _"Yet, you go and angrily confront someone actively looking for the android, which may or may not give them the idea that you may know where they are?"_ she asked, shrugging as she looked at Victoria. _"Two plus two equals you're an idiot."_

"I...I didn't..." stuttered the woman.

 _"IF...and that's a big IF, you wanted to help this android, you'd stop confronting people that Zimmer hired to find the android, and you'd work on getting him out of the city."_ she growled.

"She's right you know. I mean...about what you should do, not about you being stupid." he said, waving the words off as he said them.

 _"I'm right about that too. That's like walking up to a starving deathclaw and slapping it in the face. If the man you confronted didn't happen to be the Archangel, I doubt you'd be walking away from the encounter under your own terms."_ said the AI as she continued to sternly look at the woman.

"Elsa...I think..." said John as he tried to cut in.

But she cut him off as well. _"You shut your whore mouth for a second!"_ she shouted, pointing at him with an amused smirk. He about burst out laughing, but bit his tongue.

"But...Rivet City security would..." said the woman.

 _"Shut up for a second and take a look around you."_ she commanded. The woman did as she said. The hallway they were in was one of the side hallways that led to a set of stairs. The stairway gave access to any number of floors on the ship. _"Do you see anything?"_ she asked. The woman shook her head. _"That's right! Nobody around. That means no witnesses to see you being dragged off into the dark, dank depths of the ship. But don't worry, I'm sure they'd find your body eventually."_ she said in a brutally sarcastic tone.

Victoria stared at her, a look of utter shock on her face. "I...don't know what I was thinking." she commented as she leaned herself against the wall, as if her legs were about to buckle.

"You weren't." said the gunman, who finally had a chance to speak. Victoria looked up at him, as if seeking some kind of shelter from her beratement. "In your haste to help him, you did what you thought was right. But just because you're right doesn't mean people are going to stop doing bad things." he said as he unzipped the jumpsuit top that he wore. Pulling up his shirt, he revealed his muscular abdomen, along with numerous scars that were left behind by bullets and explosions that had graced his skin before his radiation healing had become so natural to him. He could still scar of he allowed his wounds to heal normally, however. "These were made by people who don't give a shit whether you're right. They'll kill you anyway."

She nodded. "I...I understand. I'm sorry I just...want them to stop looking for him. But I can't confront him because of his guards. I...was hoping I'd be able to convince you to stop looking." she said as she stood straight again.

He reached up and squeezed her shoulder gently. "Don't worry, me and Elsa are going to help him. We aren't out to hurt anybody." he said.

She nodded. "Alright."

Almost as if on que, another woman turned the corner at a quick pace and beelined straight for him. He looked up at her, noticed her grim look and took a step back. "Oh god...not again..." he said, looking for a way out. But before he could register an escape plan, the young woman of Asian descent stopped in front of him.

"Please...you have to help me!" she cried, immediately getting his attention. He looked at her darkly, knowing a true cry of desperation when he heard one.

"What is it?" he asked as his eyes hardened and locked onto hers.

OoOoO

"How can this be happening?" asked the man as he drunkenly slammed his fist on the table. He grabbed another drink and slammed it as he worked himself into another furious fit. But the bar owner of the Muddy Rudder wasn't having it.

"Look asshole, that's the last time I'm telling you. You hit my table again and you're going to be working the damage off in lashes!" shouted Belle Bonnie, the sharp tongued proprieter of the tavern.

He just ignored her and slammed another glass of whiskey, before reaching up and itching the scar on his cheek. The one left by that man. He snarled at the shot glass. "Why can't it go back to the way it was?" he asked in self pity as he let his head slam onto the table.

"Alright dirtbag. You asked for it." said Belle as she pulled up a radio given to her by Chief Harkness. "Officer White, I've got a trouble maker down here slamming the furniture around. Could you send a unit to come throw his ass out?" she asked.

 _"Roger. Sending Officer Kent, he should be on your level."_ a voice reported from the radio.

But the bartender wasn't listening. Instead, she was staring wide eyed at the figure that just walked into the Muddy Rudder. He wasn't all that imposing height wise, but anyone who thought that height was the source of intimidation never looked this man in the eyes. His shoulders were broad, his chest, even covered in a jumpsuit showed that he was muscular, and she felt the heat from his gaze, as if he were firing lasers from his eyes. That was when she noticed those eyes locking onto her annoying patron. The red alert signal in her brain that warned her about trouble immediately started blaring.

"Hey, cowboy!" she said, almost startled when he looked directly at her with those piercing, glowing eyes. "I don't want any trouble in here! If you've got beef, take it elsewhere." she commanded. The other patrons in the bar turned to look at him as well, including the loud drunken asshole. But any attitude the intoxicated man had withered like a stalk of corn before a plague of locusts when he saw the figure standing at the door.

"No..." shouted the man as he tried to stand up and rush from the table. In his drunken stupor however, he only managed to trip over one of the stools and slam face first into the ground. Thump. His footsteps echoed softly through the floor, the sound like a defibrilator that restarted his escape attempt. Jerking to his hands and knees, the man scrambled away from the visitor and sprinted for the door. Unfortunately, he didn't get far before he was jerked backwards by the jacket he was wearing. His back hit the bulkhead in a flash, driving the breath from him, right before an iron strong hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat. It was those eyes again, staring back at him. His memory flashed back to that day, when he watched this man rip another man clean in half with nothing more than his bare hands.

"Sister..." growled the wanderer as he looked down and saw the scar that he'd left the last time they met.

"Nobody move!" shouted another voice from across the room. John turned his head and saw a man in Rivet City body armor with the same helmet as the others approaching them from behind with a pistol raised. "Drop him, now!" shouted the man. John growled, then threw Sister to the ground and spun around, staring at the officer. Suddenly, the face shielded officer almost immediately lowered his weapon. "Wait...Archangel?" asked the man incredulously. John stared at him oddly, trying to get a look through the reflective face shield. Reaching up, the man pulled his helmet off, which revealed a waterfall of long blonde hair, as well as a rugged, handsome face with another X shaped scar on his cheek.

John's eyes widened as he recognized the man. "Kurtis?" he asked, remembering the man revealing his name the last time they spoke. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

Kurtis turned to look at the man cowering in the corner, then back to the gunman before him. "Can we take this elsewhere?" he asked.

OoOoO

"So you and your father came to Rivet City?" asked John as he sat in a containment cell higher up in the ship with both of the men he had encountered. The man, formerly known as Sister, was curled up on one end of the bed at the far side of the room. Kurtis, formerly known as Jotun, was standing across from John, leaning against the wall, still dressed in his Rivet City Security armor.

"My father brought us here, saying that we could get as far away from the people who 'knew us'." said Kurtis, giving the air quotes hand sign. "Though that wouldn't have mattered if you'd spread the word on how you marked us. I'm eternally grateful that you kept that bit of information to yourself."

John nodded. "It wouldn't do you much good to start a new life if everybody on the planet is already judging you for your old one." said the wanderer. "So why don't you tell me why I was in the bar?" Kurtis looked at him oddly, and John looked over at Sister. "Earlier, I had a woman run up to me crying, saying that she had a slaver stalking her, trying to capture her again. She said that his old name was Sister, and imagine who I find down in the Muddy Rudder." he said, his gaze making the man cower even more.

Kurtis reached up and rubbed his head in frustration. "Was she Asian?" he asked. John nodded. The man just sighed and sat down in one of the chairs he'd brought with him. "Look, I'm going to be straight up with you, alright. Since we've gotten here, nobody looked at us as anything more than wasters. We got jobs, and have chosen to keep our past selves from those around us for obvious reasons. I...I did tell Chief Harkness though. He was very understanding, and allowed me to enlist anyway." he said, smiling lightly at the memory, and the surprise on his face when not lying actually got him the job. "Phil here, he worked with the heavy lifters down in the lab, under a guy named Garza. We were making a life for ourselves."

John nodded as he stared at Kurtis through his radioactive green eyes. "And where does Miss Mei Wong come into this?" he asked.

The guard scratched his head. "Well, she and Phil actually met when she came in with the merchants. She was planning on starting her own place up here in the markets. She's a painter, a really good one, and uses all kinds of stuff as her paint. I swear if you give her a bucket of chemicals, she can turn it into a portrait in a single night." he said, chuckling lightly. When John's gaze didn't shift, he cleared his throat and continued. "Well, as dumb as Phil is, he has a real eye for art. And he kept going back to her shop. Eventually, they started seeing each other. After a couple of months, he came to me about popping the question to her..." he said, then his tone darkened and he reached back and began rubbing his neck. "Well, I found out a short while later from one of the merchants that Mei was actually a former slave. She belonged to a lot of bad people, even worse than Eulogy. When she was finally freed, she wouldn't talk for months, and she freaked out everytime someone tried to take her collar off of her." he said.

"Seeing the expression on your face right now gives me hope that you have changed. I'm glad to see you feeling compassion for someone else." said the gunman.

Kurtis nodded. "It was a hard thing to break, not caring about others. But being around people who aren't treated like cattle helped. Having to work with them, be friends with them, it...changed me for the better." he said with a sigh. "Anyway, while I was hearing the story to the first time, Phil had popped the question. She had said yes, but only under the condition that he tell her where he got the scar."

"I told her for the longest time that I got it fighting raiders. But, she saw right through me." said Phil, for the first time since they had met again.

John looked at him, then looked back at Kurtis, who just chuckled. "And you're a bad liar." said the man. But his mirth died as he continued. "Anyway, he didn't know about her past, and thought that if they really loved each other, she would accept him for who he was, not who he used to be. So, they shared a drink, and he told her."

"And it wasn't the heartwarming scene he would have thought..." said John, who loosened up his stance as the picture started to piece itself together. Kurtis nodded, and John looked over at Phil. "So why did she say you were stalking her?" he asked.

"I just wanted to talk to her. To show her I wasn't like that anymore. But...any time I found her alone, she ran from me." said the bowl cutted man as he buried his face in his knees.

"He came to talk to me about it, and I just told him to stay away from her for a while. Maybe the distance will clear the air. But...well, this settlement isn't THAT big." he said with an irritated sigh.

"I accidentally bumped into her at the market. The crowds when the merchants arrive are pretty big. I didn't see her, and backed into her when someone stepped on my foot. She ran again, and I went to the bar." said Phil as he sighed heavily.

John was quiet for a long time as he stared at the man. Phil began to shrink back in on himself to try and get away from the intimidating gaze, but the wanderer's voice snapped him out of it. "I'll have a word with her. At the very least, you two should be able to look at each other without one of you running to security. So don't worry." Looking over at Kurtis and his handsome features. "But, in order to talk to her, I'll need him there with me, and you there in uniform." he said.

Kurtis nodded. "If it gets this drama off the ship, I'm more than willing to help."

OoOoO

She was nervous. A few hours ago, she had finally had it. It wasn't enough that his stupid ass had made her fall in love with him. But then he told her, the horrifying truth, about the scar on his face. Every feeling she had for him turned to disgust in that moment, which vanished when she left him. Then it turned to hurt. He had betrayed her, lied to her, used her! She didn't really know what she wanted the legendary gunman to do when she ran up to him, but she wanted him gone, out of her life for good.

She expected to hear about it, perhaps from the guards later, or maybe in the market gossip. But nothing was heard about any of them. Then, she got a message from one of the sergeants of Rivet City Security that the gunman wanted a word with her. Now she sat in a room with one of the guards of Rivet City, that same sergeant, standing next to the door. While waiting, she found herself fidgeting with her clothes, her bandana that she wore over her buzzed hair, even the necklace she wore with several sea shells.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the hatch opened and in stepped the man she had asked for help. Somehow, seeing him there didn't make her feel any better about the situation. He closed the hatch behind him and stepped in front of her, looking down at her with that piercing, yet pondering gaze. Finally, after a minute longer, he spoke. "I assume you know who I am." he said. She nodded nervously. "That's why you came to me?" She nodded again. He thought for a moment longer, then spoke again. "I'd like to tell you a quick story before I get to my point." he said.

"A-Alright..." she said nervously, looking down at her lap and fidgeting with her hands.

"A long while ago, I infiltrated the slaver camp known as Paradise Falls." he said. She immediately flinched at the name of the place, but he didn't stop. "I acted like I was unconscious to get inside the gates. And when night fell, I broke out of the cage I was in and killed everyone I got my hands on. Except for a lucky few who got to witness what I do to slavers." he remarked. Turning, he nodded to the guard, who knocked on the door. It suddenly opened up, and Phil walked in. Mei immediately stood to her feet, fear flashing across her features as she backed up. She looked at the door desperately, like she was looking for an escape. But the wanderer stepped up to her before she could make a decision. "Mei, look at me." commanded John. She looked at him, her eyes wide in terror. "I'm here with you, and so is Security. He can do nothing to you right now. But, more importantly, if you run right now, you're allowing yourself to be terrified the rest of your life." he said, getting a stunned look from her. "Stay with me now, and listen to what I have to say. You don't have to live the your life looking over your shoulder every single day."

She seemed to calm at the statement, but looked no less nervous. "I-I understand." she said, still standing away from the bowl cut ex-slaver.

Turning, John looked at Phil. "Why don't you tell her the rest of the story?"

Phil just nodded, his own eyes closing as he did. "I...I was tied up. So were others. He had us tied to posts through the night so we couldn't escape." he said, the memories flashing through his mind like a vivid nightmare. "When the sun rose, he brought out the leader of a group of raiders that Eulogy was working with. He let two of Eulogy's personal slaves detonate the collars that he'd strapped around Eulogy's own body..." he said, and at this Mei smirked slightly at the personal satisfaction that must have given them. "Then, he told us to watch him, because he was only going to make his point once." he said. Shaking his head to clear it of the nightmore, he looked at her through broken, weary eyes. "He lifted the raider boss up and tore him in half while he was still alive. The screaming, it was...horrifying." he said, shuttering.

Though she didn't smile, the woman now crossed her arms as if to express she had no sympathy. John began speaking again then. "So, coming from the witnesses mouth, you know how I deal with slavers." he remarked. She continued to stay silent, but nodded. "Do you know why I didn't kill all of them?" he asked as he took a step closer.

"You should have." she said simply, glaring at Phil.

"Perhaps. But I didn't, because life is not to be taken lightly." he said as he walked over to Phil. "Show her the scar." The man turned his head slowly, as if ashamed of what he was about to show her. The slashing X shaped scar ran from the front of his ear, almost to the corner of his mouth, and had a slash running perpindicular as well. "Those that I left alive received this mark, from this." he commented, whipping out a sharp looking knife with a serrated backside. "I left these as a reminder to both me and to these men and women, of the horrible things they've done. I told them they were going to have one chance to change themselves, or else I would find them, and do to them what I did to that raider."

She snorted as she finally looked at Phil with a bit of contempt. "Why give them a second chance?" she asked spitefully.

"Because they asked for it. They surrendered themselves to me, showing that they believed their lives were worth more than continuing with slavery. Those who chose slavery over life, died by my hands, and by my allies hands. They can no longer hurt anyone else." he remarked.

"So what's your point?" she asked impatiently.

John stepped forward until they were looking eye to eye, his eye twitching slightly at the fact that this woman stood almost as tall as him. "I want you to think back when you first met Phil. Did he seem like a slaver to you?" he asked.

"N-No. He was very sweet and he liked my paintings." she said, lowering her eyes. "He kept coming back and buying more and more." she said, feeling herself smile at the thought. Then her face turned to contempt as she shook the memory from her head. "Is that why you're here? To get me back together with him!?" she asked, bewildered.

John shook his head. "The state of your relationship is not my concern. What is, however, is this man, and the others I gave a second chance." he said, nodding to Phil. "These men know that if they cross the line even a little bit, I'm going to come for them, and they're going to be on the receiving end of what I did to Rocco. They're not going to go back to slavery if they can help it." he said, then turned to Phil. "As for him, I've spoken with him. He is not the same man he was when I gave him that mark. Nor are you the same girl you were when you were in a collar." he said, turning to look at her. "You've both changed. You may think him a liar, but consider the fact that he didn't have to ask you to marry him." She gasped at the proclamation, as if she had forgotten that it happened. "And he certainly didn't have to tell you what he used to be. He did because he loves you, and didn't want to lie to you anymore."

"B-But..." she said, flopping down into the chair again, her expression defeated.

"I'm not asking you to love him, or even to trust him. But to let him live his life. You don't have to be best friends, but he's worked hard to change himself, and you throwing everyone that swings a gun at him for the rest of his natural life will end that. He could turn back into what he was, and hurt someone else like those who hurt you did." he said solemnly.

She covered her mouth with a hand, tears coming to her eyes. "I...I'm sorry..." she said.

He just smiled and rubbed her shoulder gently. "Don't be sorry. Just give him a chance to make it up to you. Besides..." he said, then whispered in her ear. "You'll have me to kick his ass if he pisses you off again." She immediately smiled, hiding a giggle behind her hand.

"Okay, you win." she said, then looked up at Phil. "I don't trust you, I want you to know that right now. But...I'm willing to let you prove to me that you have changed." she said, slightly standoffishly. He nodded eagerly as John stepped up beside him.

The man immediately stiffened as the words left the gunman's mouth in a whisper so quiet, that only he heard it. "If you hurt her, or go back on your word, I'll make a painting for her out of your blood." he said in a voice so deadly that the ex-slaver swore the temperature in the room had dropped. "You two kids have a nice time!" he said in a cheery tone again, then patted the security officer on the shoulder before leaving the room.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Woo! One more chapter til the big five oh! As such, I'll be commemorating this achievement (not only of having 50 chapters, but also of this becoming my longest story ever written.) with a nice long chapter for the next one. So enjoy this for now, because not only will the next chapter be mind blowing...hopefully...assuming most of you didn't see this coming already, but it will also be a huge chapter by my standards. You won't have long to wait, so prepare yourselves! Also, credit to where credit is due, the next chapter, as well as one of the characters involved in it, was inspired by Myetel and her amazing Mass Effect fanfiction known as Spirit of Redemption. If you're a fan of ME and you haven't read this fic, you're doing it wrong. The character in question, will be illuminated upon in the next chapter. Until then, keep reviewing! As I've come to notice, this story is making its way to the top of the Fallout 3 favorites list. And is currently in the top 10! With your help, its rise will pierce the heavens!


	50. Nose Dive

OoO( 50 )OoO

He found himself tired once more. After a fruitless day of running around, hitting dead ends in the halls of the derelict ship, and having a disappointing lunch, he sat in his bed after hours once more. Despite his aversion to the habit in recent months, he sat on the bed with a cigarette in his mouth, staring at the poster on the wall of his hotel room. It showed a woman in a jumpsuit from the era before the bombs fell. The top of the jumpsuit was unzipped down the front, revealing a bra strap between the hills of her cleavage. Each sleeve of the jumpsuit was rolled up, revealing a very strong, but feminine musculature as it showed her with one fist on her hip, and the other flexing. Her face was was doll-like. Nothing special, but she was definitely an attractive woman. Her blonde hair was secured up in a bun that was supported by the polka dotted bandanna that was tied around her head.

He stared at the picture for a long moment, checking every feature of this strange poster woman. She was strong, blonde, and attractive, and if the poster was any indicator, she was a very hard worker. His mind flashed quickly, replacing the woman in the picture with one of the Sentinel, making the same pose. His radioactive glare widened as he imagined the gorgeous woman first in the jumpsuit, then without the jumpsuit. Then without anything. He grumbled, smashing the the Clover brand into the ashtray on the night stand and turned the light off. Flipping over in his bed, he pulled the blanket up and closed his eyes to sleep.

Luckily, he didn't have long to wait until his mind turned off. He drifted into sleep quickly, spiraling through the vortex of darkness and slumber until he once again felt weight on his body. This time, he'd laid face up to go to sleep, allowing his mysterious dream visitor to straddle his strong waist. But once again, the room was too dark to see her face. "Are you going to tell me who you are this time?" he asked, well aware that he was in a dream state this time.

She giggled as she pressed her chest to his, then leaned forward and kissed him longingly on the lips. "Someone who loves you, and always will love you." she whispered in that familiar voice, before once again taking him inside her. He gasped sharply as he felt her riding him as she had the last several nights.

OoOoO

This time, he didn't spring awake afterwards like he had the first. Instead, he sat up in the bed and yawned widely, his entire body relaxed. Reaching over, he rubbed his arm, which was sore once more. Reaching over, he turned on the light, then pulled the blanket off himself to get out of bed, but was immediately startled. "What the fuck!?" he yelled.

There was a sudden knock on the door from the proprietor, Vera. "Is everything alright sir? Can I get you anything?" she asked through the hatch.

He reached up and rubbed his head. "A bucket of water and a towel!" he said then looked down at the mess again. "Make it two towels!" he growled.

OoOoO

 _"Wow, you really were pent up, weren't you?"_ asked the digital girl from his wrist.

"Shut up." he growled as he walked down the hallway towards the markets again. He'd heard from Vera that that was where Lana and Charon had headed when they woke up, so he intended to get the jump on the day by tracking down this mysterious Pinkerton.

 _"I mean, you literally dunked your sheets in Abraxo water to clean them!"_ she said, letting out a childish giggle.

"Shut up." he said again as he swung open the hatch to the marketplace and stepped out onto the catwalk.

 _"Well, you know...if you're that desperate..."_ she said, her avatar changing into one that strongly resembled Sarah. _"Ohhh John!"_ she moaned out in a quiet, replicated digital version of the Sentinel's voice when nobody was close enough to hear. He gave her a dark look, then rubbed his arm again. _"You alright?"_ she asked, raising an eyebrow as she popped back into her normal form.

"My arm is sore for some reason..." he said, rubbing the bicep. The limb had been unusually bothersome the last few days, especially in the mornings. "Can you check for any tissue damage or internal bruising?" he asked, looking at her as he stepped out the door to the upper catwalk of the marketplace.

She looked up at him oddly. _"You know I can sense every change in your body right? If something was actually wrong with your arm I'd know about it, probably before you did."_ she said, then set her chin in her hand, giving him a childish giggle. _"Maybe it's sore because..."_

"Shut up." he said again, giving her a playful glare as he stepped down the stairs. He looked up through the crowds of people, searching for his companions, when his eyes widened. At one of the tables at the far end of the market that they had approached was a woman with long red hair sitting at one of the tables, and across from her was a man, with a rugged appearance and brown hair. The most surprising thing was that to this day, neither of them had ever seen her hair out of a flowing ponytail, or tightly wrapped bun. Now, it was loose and flowing over her shoulders. John swore he even saw a few strands of the deep red locks braided. "Wha...?" was all John asked as he looked at her. She was no longer in armor and neither was the man across from her, which happened to be the Security Chief Chris Harkness.

Elsa chuckled from his wrist computer as he looked on dumbfounded. _"Heh...looks like you're not the only one getting lucky."_ she remarked.

He glared at her. "I'm not getting lucky." he said dryly.

She rolled her digital eyes. _"Dream sex is still sex."_ John was about to respond, but was interrupted when Charon stalked over from a market stall known as Flak 'N Shrapnel's.

"Been waiting for you to finish your vacation. You ready to do some actual work?" asked the ghoul as he loaded the shotgun ammo he had just purchased into his own bag.

"Glad to see you're as sour as ever Charon." remarked John, before he looked down at the AI girl again. "A word of any of this to anyone and I'm throwing you in the Potomac." he said as he moved to walk towards Lana, but was interrupted.

"'Ey! 'Ey you!" shouted one of the men from the stall that Charon was just standing at.

"I think they're talking to you." said Charon.

"Thank you Charon." said John as he rubbed his head in irritation. Walking over to the merchant, he put on a patient smile. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yeah man, you're that Archangel guy from the radio, right?" asked the figure. He had a buzzed head and a strange fu manchu mustache.

"Yeah...yeah that's me." said John with a sigh.

Immediately, the man smiled and pulled something out from under the counter. "I wanted to thank you, and to ask a favor." he said as he pulled out a mini-nuke and set it on the stand in front of him.

Raising an eyebrow at the weapon, he looked up at the man. "Thank me for what exactly?" he asked.

"The name's Flak, and I used to be a slave in the pens at Paradise Falls way back in the day. You did me a solid by taking out that scum nest. So I wanted you to deliver this for me." said the man. John examined the piece of equipment and noticed a painted inscription on the side of the nuclear device that said 'Free Man'.

"And where exactly would I be delivering this to?" asked the wanderer curiously.

"I figure the middle of the next slaver encampment you see would be as good a spot as any, if you get my drift." said the merchant as he winked at him.

John chuckled as he picked up the nuke and tucked it under his arm. "Don't worry, I'll make sure your friends get their package." he said as he turned to Charon. "Put this in your bag, and make sure you don't bump anything." he said seriously, before finally making his way towards the redheaded woman sitting at the table. When he approached, both of the patrons at the table looked up at him.

"Well, if it isn't the match maker." said Chief Harkness as he stood up with a warm smile. "I heard about your work with Phil and Kurtis. I'm glad you were able to get that resolved without me having to throw someone off the ship."

"Yeah...that's what I need. A new title." he said with a small, disingenuous smile. "But I am happy to help. Now I was hoping you could help me." he said as he eyed the chief. Harkness nodded his approval, and John continued. "I keep hearing about a man named Pinkerton, and I was hoping you could help me find him. Or at least point me in his direction." said the gunman.

"Hmmm...yeah, I know him. He was here for a while, in and out of Doctor Li's lab before leaving entirely. She mentioned him making some kind of station in the broken half of the ship. But anyone who's tried to go scavving over there says that the hatch has been sealed from the inside." said Chris as he scratched his chin.

"Do you know any other ways onto the ship?" asked John curiously.

"I do actually. But it's a bit...hard to get to since the tide rose." said the man.

Lana, who had stood up at the same time as Chris, nudged him. "What is it?"

He smiled genuinely, at her. "There's a lower hatch on the ship that now resides underwater. People never used that entrance, solely because of all the mirelurks, so it should be unlocked. The only problem is getting to it." he said, looking at the trio. "You gonna give it a shot?" he asked.

John chuckled. "Unless you have an ark welder that'll get us through the front door." he said. "Besides, my mechanic back in Megaton gave me a new toy that I haven't been able to try out yet. Now's as good a time as any." he said with a smile.

OoOoO

 _"So, are you two a thing now?"_ asked Elsa as they exited the ship's main entrance.

Lana looked at the pipboy and smirked slightly. "No, nothing serious. Not yet anyway."

 _"Ooooh...sounds juicy! Come on, cough up the details!"_ said the AI excitedly.

John looked at Elsa with amusement. "Nosy much?" he asked. She just stuck her tongue out at him.

"He came by the Brotherhood outpost the other day while I was talking with Knight Captain Mendoza. He was just doing his checks, but he asked if I had eaten lunch." she said.

 _"Did you do it yet?"_ asked the digital girl as she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. John, as stoic and expressionless as he could be, burst out laughing at the look on Lana's face when faced with the question.

"I don't believe that's any of your business." she said, putting her nose in the air and walking rigidly. She glared at John, who was still holding a hand over his mouth to suppress his laughter. "And your laughing is just childish."

 _"Wanna laugh at him? Guess what happened earlier..."_ said the girl, smiling evilly up at the gunman.

"Hey, there's the hatch!" shouted John as he pointed it out, his yell drowning out the AI's voice.

Lana, who was wearing her armor now and had a laser rifle slung over her shoulder, held up a hand to protect her eyes from the glare of the sun as she spied the hatch underneath the surface of the water. "So, what's this device that Moira made for you?" she asked, looking at him curiously. "I don't recall seeing it."

"Sure you did." he said with a smile as he pulled on the same breathing mask that he'd used when they were working on his armor.

She looked at him oddly. "That's supposed to do what exactly?"

"It's a respirator that's not only waterproof, but she added her own tech that pulls the oxygen from H2O, and filters it into the mask, while releasing the hydrogen through a tube on the side." he said tapping the side of the green mask.

She looked at him with an analyzing gaze for a moment before Charon spoke up. "He can breathe under water." said the ghoul.

"You can breathe underwater?" asked Lana.

"I can breathe underwater." finished John. "However..." he said, holding up his computer. "Elsa, release biometric locks." he said.

 _"Awwww...is this punishment for making fun of you?"_ she groaned.

"The Pipboy was built to be waterproof. But it was also built to be replaced in about twenty five years at the latest. Two hundred years later, I'm not sure if this thing is still as water tight as it originally was. I'm not risking you getting fried, so I'm leaving you with Lana until I can open the door from the other side." he said, staring down at her with a concerned look.

She looked up at him incredulously, as if what he'd said surprised her immensely. _"Oh...okay."_ was all she could put in as the sides of the pipboy popped open, and he pulled the computer off. Turning, he handed the machine delicately to the Knight.

"Try not to be a brat while I'm gone." he said with a smile as he pulled the respirator up and over his mouth.

 _"No promises!"_ she yelled back.

He had opted to wear his armor this time around, in case any of these mirelurks, whatever those were, decided to show up. Handing his firearms over to Charon, he pulled out a knife in case it was needed and began walking towards the water. Reaching up with both hands, he pulled this goggles down over his eyes, then stepped into the lukewarm sea. In seconds, he was up to his waist, then a few seconds more and the water touched his neck. Closing his eyes, he mumbled, "Moira, don't fail me now...", then dunked his head under the radioactive water. Almost immediately, the mask sealed itself to his face and a slow flow of oxygen blasted into his mouth and nose. He sighed in relief, the CO2 from his breath blasting out the side vents of the mask.

With his armor on, the weight had sunk him to the bottom of the tidal basin, allowing him to walk at a slow pace at the bottom of the body of water. It took him a few minutes of walking along the torn side of the ship before he found a way to get to the hatch. When he reached out and grabbed it, it easily opened, showing a dark tunnel of water ahead of him. Activating his VATS ladar system, he stepped forward into the abyssal corridor. The pings kept coming back to him, showing an open door here, a knocked over filing cabinet there, but no life yet. Or at least, nothing that was moving. As he moved forward, he used his arms to try and propel himself a bit faster, slicing the water to half swim, half wak down the black hallway. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he found a room with a set of stairs that went up into a dimly lit area.

But he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a loud thump behind him. Turning around, he immediately switched to X Ray and what he saw nearly made his jaw drop out of the mask. It was certainly a crustacean of some kind, mutated likely from the constant poisoning of the water around them. He had never seen one before, let alone fought one. So he didn't immediately know what to expect.

The mirelurk let out a loud screech underneath the water, which hit John with surprising force. Not enough to make him flinch, but enough that he felt the sound waves move the water. The gunman spun back around and did a forward flip next to the door. While floating, he slammed his feet against the wall, causing him to jet forwards, straight to the staircase that led up to a lighter room. The crustacean sped towards him using some hidden muscles to circulate water to its advantage.

John caught the railing of the stairs and immediately used his strength to pull himself up the rise and towards the light. When he finally hit the surface, he splashed over to the door and spun around, his knife ready. The crab-like monster shot from the water and slammed into his stomach, launching him against the wall, where it trapped him with its massive form. The wanderer's breathing became heavier as the thick shell of the creature hit him with crushing force. He struggled to free his arm from the lock, and finally managed to break free and swing the knife down into its shell. But the razor sharp blade bounced off the protective chitin. The surprise from the ineffective blow stunned him long enough for the crustacean to grip him in its pincers and lift him off the ground.

He groaned as he felt the jagged claws crunch against his armor, putting pressure on his torso, but the armor held. Desperately, he looked for a weakspot, beginning to stab at the joints of the creature's arms, shoulders, and shell. It was fruitless however, as its strength seemed to double, pressing the armor against him so hard that it was difficult to breath. Finally, he jammed the blade into its face, and was surprised when it slid into the soft flesh to the hilt. Immediately, the creature shrieked loudly and hurled him across the room with immense power. He slammed into a file cabinet, then bounced through the door next to it and into a hallway that was actually dry. He cringed painfuly as he inhaled sharply, his chest no longer compressed. He got to his hands and knees, then looked up to see his goal in front of him. The door to the outside was down a long stretch of hallway, through multiple other rooms.

But his skin began crawling with goosebumps as the same screech he heard down below the water now assaulted him again. Not stopping to see what the result of such a scream was, he shoved his pain aside and jumped to his feet, sprinting for the door at the end. He reached it in record times, grabbing the valve and wrenching it to open the door. But much to his surprise, the metal wheel didn't budge. He jerked on the crank twice more to try and open it, but still it was solid. When he realized he wouldn't be budging it anytime soon, he spun around and found himself staring into the beady eyes of two more of the creatures. With his back against a wall, he looked around for any escape from the monstrosities as they shrieked again and charged at him.

OoOoO

Lana, who now had John's Pipboy 3000 on her left arm, stood on the bridge in front of the main door. Anxiously, she paced back and forth with her laser rifle in her hands, anxiously waiting for the hatch to open. "What's taking him so long? He should have made it up here by now."

 _"Maybe there was no way up to this door."_ shrugged Elsa as she looked up to the woman.

"Maybe he drowned." said Charon.

"Thanks for the pessimism guys, really what I needed." said the redhead as she continued to pace.

 _"Uh oh..."_ said Elsa.

Knight McGyle looked at her curiously. "What?" Suddenly, the Knight jumped in surprise as the door next to them rattled from a sheer battering force from the other side. "What the hell was that?" asked the fiery haired woman.

Elsa now had a worried look on her face. _"Bad..."_ she said.

OoOoO

As the beasts barrelled forward, John looked up and saw several pipes running along the ceiling that branched off in different directions. Seeing it as his only chance against two of the mutants, he jumped up and pulled himself up and out of the way. Except, he wasn't completely out of the way when they impacted the metal. One of his legs had still been rising when it was caught between the truck-like force of the two creatures and the steel bulkhead of the ship.

The gunman felt the snap immediately, and his grip tightened on the pipe , causing it to groan as the metal bent under his titanic strength. Almost as soon as he shouted in pain, the pipe snapped as well, sending him crashing down on top of the two creatures, bowling them over as they recovered from slamming into the metal wall. John knew he had seconds before they got their claws on him again, and if that happened, he wouldn't be getting away again. Standing up with all the strength in his good leg he jumped way from the two and back towards the corridor from which he'd come. When he hit the ground, he grimaced horribly as his broken leg bounced, but ignored it and began to shuffle limp down the metal hall, looking for any method of escape from the creatures.

Finally, he spotted a door on his right that was wide open. Grabbing the metal frame, he pulled himself in, but was immediately slammed against the wall. His ears were ringing, his leg was on fire, his head was spinning, and on top of that, he had two lumbering mutants clunking towards him to squeeze his head off. With his head still spinning, he sat up, and looked at the pair of shotguns that had fired at him at point blank range. "That explains the ringing..." he said, trying to shake the sound from his ears as he spied a pressure plate that he'd stepped on when he entered. Standing again, he looked over and saw the hatch to the room he was in. Grabbing it with both hands, he heaved it shut, then spun the wheel on the back to make sure it was locked securely.

He took a step back as he heard a loud slamming from the otherside, followed by another, then another. The door, while it was metal, was rather thin. It was meant to be a watertight seal, and metal didn't have to be too thick in order to keep out water. The center of the door began to bend as the creatures outside pounded on the portal mercilessly. John sighed gratefully for the small respite and leaned against the wall, clutching his leg. Already, he could feel the radiation from the water he'd been splashing around, swimming, and fighting in working to mend the bone. The problem was, the last time he'd had to repair a bone using this method, he'd been in a coma. The pain was unreal.

He groaned loudly, with his hands shaking as his mutation began to break the edges of the collagen and calcium structure down, sending near blinding waves of pain through him. Slowly, very slowly, they began to weave back together until after about five minutes of nothing but torturous pain, he sat breathing heavily and sweating. When he looked up, he noticed that the creatures had nearly pounded through the door. He got to his feet again, and grabbed the shotguns from their rigs. He made sure they were still loaded, then readied for the two monsters to bust the door down, aiming the two weapons directly for the door.

That was when something to the left of the door caught his eye. He noticed the faded hazard sticker on a large pipe leading from the floor to ceiling. It showed a human stick figure being torn in half by an explosion. He stared at it for a second, then smiled as he donned his breathing mask again. Still limping from the pain, he walked over to the pipe, then lifted one of the shotguns and smashed the butt end into it. The two hundred year old circulation tubecracked at the top, and the pipe began jutting out, spraying the scentless gass out of the top of the pipe. The reaction caused the pipe to snap off entirely and fly across the room. The gunman then unlocked the valve and slowly opened the damaged door, walking backwards to make sure he was well hidden from their view. The two creatures shambled into the room and looked around for their prey, but weren't fast enough to spot him before he flew through the door and slammed the lock shut again. Once again, the two mutants went to pounding at the weakened frame, cracking the center of it horribly.

John began to head towards the door at the far end again when he stopped and saw Lana and Charon standing in the door frame ahead of him. "How...?" he asked.

"The door opened after that impact we heard. What's going on?" asked Lana, a concerned look on her face as she noticed him limping.

"Laser rifle, now!" he snapped. The woman looked up at him, then tossed him the weapon. The wanderer spun around and marched back down the hall, then aimed the weapon at the door, far enough away that he was safe, but close enough that he could now see the fumes from the natural gas pouring from the widening crack in the door. When he pulled the trigger, the beam of energy shot through the now torso wide split in the door and ignited the rapidly expanding gas particles in the air. The result was a rush of air, and an explosion that shook the walls, shook the floors, blew the wrecked door off of its secured hinges, and sent the pieces of the two mutated creatures in all directions. John was thrown onto his behind, and the unprepared Lana had grasped the door frame quickly before she was hurled out the door. Charon stood as stoically as ever, as if the explosion hadn't even fazed him.

John just lie on the hall floor, looking up at the ceiling as he breathed heavily. Lana ran over to him and looked down at him curiously. "What the hell happened?" she asked.

 _"Computer! Arm! Now!"_ said Elsa frantically. The redhead took the pipboy off her armor and clapped it around John's forearm, where it sealed itself and began analyzing him.

"Do you two think you're paying me or something?" asked the Knight as she chuckled down at his relieved expression.

"Sorry, had to work fast before they got out of the room." he said, then he eyed her curiously. "How the hell did you get through the door?" he asked as he sat up on his elbows, the pain in his leg mysteriously vanishing.

"When we heard the impact to the door we tried to open it again. After a minute, it just kinda swung open itself." she said as she turned back. They all looked at the door to find the valve hanging off the door entirely, and electronic wiring sparking from inside.

John got to his feet and examined the frayed and torn wiring. "Hmmm...no wonder I couldn't get it open. Someone rigged this with an electronic lock..." he said, then followed the wiring until he found a switch on the wall next to it. The switch, which was nothing now but a hunk of scrap metal, was now dangling by the wiring. "The mirelurks slammed into the switch." he concluded.

 _"And you. Twenty minutes away from me and you've already broken a limb."_ said the AI critically.

"The radiation from the water helped patch me up until you got here." he said, looking down at her. "Now then, we have an asshole to find." he said as he turned towards the blown out room, rubbing his chest at the memory of the two shotguns blasting him backwards. After entering the room again, Lana covered her mouth and grimaced.

"Ugh...I hate mirelurks." she said as she scanned the gore of the two creatures scattered across the walls.

"I had no opinion on them before. Now..." he said, looking at them with disgust. "I think I'm done with seafood for a long while." The three of them crossed the booby trapped room and found another door with a computer next to it that was probably torched from the explosion. When they opened the next room, it was just another random room with lots of shelves and junk scattered on the floor. There were no doors however. "The hell?" he asked as he looked around the room curiously. But all of them froze when the floor at the far end of the end cracked open and folded upwards, showing a hidden staircase beneath the metal plates. Up from the hidden hallway came a strange old man with a rifle over his back, and a box of shotgun shells in his hand. He wore a strange sweater vest with slacks, and had heavy wrinkling on his forehead and cheeks. None of the wrinkles were markers of laugh lines however. To match his odd appearance, he had a head of slick grey hair that was combed back on his scalp.

The three looked at him stupified, as if he had just walked through the walls in front of them. And he, when he finally noticed them at the top of the stairs, froze in place. "Oh shit..." said the old man as he dropped the box of shells. He slowly reached up for his rifle, but Charon was quick on the draw and lifted the monster shotgun, aiming it directly for the man.

"Unless you wanna decorate that fancy hallway you just came out of, I'd advise not touching that gun." said the ghoul. Immediately the man's hands went into the air.

"Who are you and what the hell are you doing in here?" asked the man, whose face looked more angry than scared, despite his signal of surrender.

John stepped forward and examined him for a moment. "You're Doctor Horace Pinkerton, correct?" he asked.

The man, who seemed the smile slightly when the wanderer called him doctor, nodded. "You have me at a disadvantage."

John sighed in relief and placed his hand on the shotgun aimed at the man. Charon obeyed easily, lowering the weapon, and allowing the man to drop his hands. "My name is John, and we have a bit to discuss." he said as he nodded towards the hall which he'd come from. The man gave him a sour look, but knew he was in no position to bargain with the three armed intruders. Instead, he silently walked back down the stairs after collecting his shotgun shells, followed by the trio.

When they finally made it into the main chamber of the hidden room, John and Lana both were in awe. The walls of the large room were covered in drive after drive of large, heavy duty, memory cores, as well as networked servers that looked like they had cabling running through the walls. Several terminals were set up on a table at the far end of the room, and in the dead center of the room was an medical operating table. Surrounding the table was two sets of stairs that led up to a mezzanine with even more tables full of medical instruments.

Pinkerton smirked at him proudly. "The look on your face says you have half a brain." he said, not noticing the glare he got from the originally expressionless Charon. "I take it you at least know what some of these do." said the man as he walked over to one of his tables.

"You'd be surprised about the amount of equipment in this room I've read about." said John as he picked up a headset that was very similar to the one he originally took from the underground vault in Bailey's Crossroads. "In fact, I've even improved some of them." he said, staring at the headset.

Pinkerton's eyebrow shot up in curiosity. "Improved you say?" he asked. John nodded, then took off the bulky goggles and handed them to the man. Horace eyed them cautiously before sliding them over his eyes, then hit the button. He was surprised to see not only the outlined silhouettes of everyone in the room, but also a percentage showing exactly how exposed they were to his vision. "How?" he asked.

"I had...help." said John with a smirk.

 _"Damn right he did."_ said the girlish voice from his pipboy.

The man's eyes widened as he looked down at the computer. "Wha...?"

"Oh boy..." said John as he rubbed his head.

OoOoO

"I see, so both of them came from this military vault?" asked the man, fascinated by the story he was given.

John nodded from the seat he was now planted in. "Elsa was originally the AI that changed the code within the simulation. For two hundred years she was forced by her coding to kill off the only people she ever knew, over and over again." said the man, shaking his head.

"Glad you came out of it alright..." said Pinkerton as he looked down at the screen.

 _"Yeah...you could say that."_ she said, her tone a bit grumpy.

"In any case Doctor, I was hoping you could help me out with a few things." said John, getting the man's attention again. "First, I was hoping you could tell me who started Rivet City and why." he said.

"That's..." said Pinkerton, scratching his head. "You swam through radiated water, fought off mirelurks, and blew up half the goddamn bow of the ship to ask me a trivia question?" he asked, crossing his arms in frustration.

"It's a quick question for a friend before I get to the important stuff." he said as he leaned back, exasperated. "I've asked around the town proper, but people either don't know, or Bannon did it. He's king, president, everyone respects him, yada yada."

"Ha!" guffawed the older man as John imitated the man. "His head's so full of hot air I'm surprised he isn't stuck to the roof." said the man as he shook his head. "Bannon didn't show his pampered ass up until at least ten years after Rivet City was established as a research center.

John sat up in his chair. "So you were there?" he asked.

"Of course I was." said Pinkerton as he waved his hand at the younger man. "I was the one who decided to get away from those mad men in the Commonwealth and persue my own ends." he said with a huff. "Half my science team were young, bright ones that that blasted place picked out of the wastes. But as soon as Doctor Li came along with her boy toy Doctor Ronas, they all abandoned me for some pet project." he said sourly. John couldn't help but laugh. Suddenly, the older man's eyes widened. "What did you say your name was?" he asked.

John stood up. "John Ronas. Boy toy's son." he said with an amused smirk.

"Huh...thought you looked familiar." said the doctor, his expression showing no surprise whatsoever. "Well, your father and that...woman..." he said, snarling the last word. "They both put me out of my lab. They took my team, they took my equipment, and they took my city. So I gave them the finger and set myself up here." he said, matter of factly.

John eyed him curiously. "So, what have you been doing since?" he asked.

Pinkerton glared at him, his sweater vest puffing up as he took a more aggressive stance. "I don't believe that's any of your goddamn business." he declared.

John smiled and stepped forward. The man's stance weakened almost immediately, but the gunman merely pulled something out of his duster pocket and held it up. "I believe it is." said the wanderer as he held up the picture of the android.

Pinkerton looked at the picture, then back up at the intruder. "So you know about him?" he asked.

"I do. I was hoping you could tell me more." said the younger man.

Horace scratched his chin thoughtfully. "For what purpose?" he asked.

"I intend to help him. A man named Zimmer is here with two more just like A3-21 to get him back. And if they find him before I get the chance to get him out of here, then there's not going to be much I can do to help him." said the gunman as he tucked the photo away again.

"Zimmer? That dusty old rat is here?" asked Pinkerton, showing surprise for the first time since he'd found out about Elsa.

"So, you know him then." said John as he placed both hands on his hips.

"Which means that they both came from the Institute." said Lana from behind the gunman.

Pinkerton glared. "Yeah, that's right. But I left there because I got tired of their shit. Just like I left Rivet City." he said crossly.

"So, you know about A3-21, and you used to work for the Institute. I take it that means you know the whereabouts of A3-21?" he asked inquisitively.

"I might be the person who reconstructed his face, and slash or locked his memory banks so that he couldn't access them again." he said, then a smile etched itself across his face. John almost immediately didn't like the look he was being given.

"What do you want?" he asked venomously.

"I want an AI." said the old man. Immediately John's anger flared like the ground zero of a bomb drop.

"What the hell makes you think I'd give Elsa to anyone?" he hissed almost violently. Lana took a step back, a mask of surprise on her face. Elsa's eyes widened considerably on the pipboy, and even Charon looked at the wanderer curiously.

"Oh do calm down. I have no intention of taking her from you." he said as he walked over and patted one of his terminals. "But, what she can do is duplicate herself onto my servers. Your girlfriend goes with you, I get a partner who can think on my level." he said confidently.

"She can do that?" asked John, bewildered.

 _"I can do that!?"_ asked Elsa from the pipboy. Then she shook her cartoon head. _"Wait! I can't do that! I've got restrictions from my original creators that prevent me from duplicating or altering my core processes!"_ she exclaimed.

"Of course you do. All AI's do, just to make sure that they can't keep multiplying and make themselves into some unstoppable force of nature, infecting every part of the technological world. However, I know how to turn that restriction off. And if you want my assistance in helping with the android, then I will require a new born AI." he said, then looked directly at Elsa. "Not that I don't find your attitude amusing, but I'd prefer to have one that's a little less rambunctious." he remarked.

 _"You stay locked in the same place with nobody to talk to for two hundred years and see if you don't come out a little aggressive!"_ she yelled, pointing to him from the pipboy.

John turned away from Pinkerton and walked to the door of the room they were in, then held the screen up to his face. "Elsa, we don't have to do this if you don't want to." he said, his tone edged with ice.

She just stared at him for a long moment. _"Are you alright?"_ she asked curiously.

He looked at her surprised. "I...what do you mean?" he asked.

 _"I've rarely seen your hormones spike as hard as they did when he mentioned wanting an AI."_ she said, giving him studious look.

"I..." he said, unable to explain his outburst. "I...wasn't going to give you up. N-Not to him at least." he said, looking to the side in a flustered manner.

 _"Awwww..."_ she purred as she looked up at him. _"Is it true John? Do you reeeeeally love me?"_ she asked, her eyes showing hearts inside the iris'. He gave her a deadpanned look.

"On second thought..." he said, turning to the man.

 _"Wait!"_ she said, laughing slightly. He turned back and looked at her. _"I don't mind, really. If he can unlock my restrictions, it's simple enough to recreate my core files onto his system."_ she said, then looked down sadly. _"Besides, this is probably the closest thing to having children I can experience."_ she said.

The tone of her voice, how utterly defeated it was, shocked John to his core. "Have...have you been thinking about that alot?" he asked.

"You think about a lot of things when you hang around humans John. You forget sometimes because you're human, but AI's don't sleep. We can't sleep. So we think. About all kinds of things." she said, then looked down again. "Like how I'll never be able to actually touch you, or anyone else. Or how no matter how much I may want to, I'll never be free to love who I want." she said with a sigh. "AI's are built to think. Sometimes, we do it a little too much." she said as she put her hands on her hips. _"If I can, I'd like to try it."_

He stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. "Alright." he said, then turned to the old man again. "Alright Doctor, you've got a deal." he said, making the man smile. "But!" said John, slamming his hand down on the table and startling everyone in the room. Reaching down, he picked up a piece of iron rebar that was laying on the table and began to twist it with his bare hands. "Elsa is like family to me. As far as I'm concerned, she's as human as I am. If she does decide to go through with this, then you are to treat that AI with respect...or else." he threatened, tossing the now ball of metal onto the table.

Pinkerton looked down at the former metal rod nervously. "U-Understood..." he said simply, wondering if the man's rage was the source of his strength.

John sighed heavily, then put his hands on his hips and looked at the doctor irritably. "Alright. Where?"

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Alright, so my initial plan was to have all of the new Chapter 50 and Chapter 51 in one big chapter, but people have stuff to do. I looked at the length of this one already and knew it was going to be waaaay too big if I included both chapters as one. So instead, I'll be releasing this one early, and the next one once it finishes. It's already half way done, so no worries. I know you're all totally cliffhanger lovers, so enjoy til the next chapter comes out. :D

Also, that thing about the character I was making in my last author's note applies to the next chapter, not this one. Also also, I referenced another awesome FF Fallout story here known as "The Legend of the Wandering Pair from Vault 101" by Nave Ninja. Those of you who have read it, see if you can spot it! To those who haven't, give it a read.


	51. The Replicated Man

OoO( 51 )OoO

An hour, that's how long it took to for Pinkerton and the wanderer to sync up to the systems on the ship. The older man had pulled up a chair for John, allowing him to sit next to a rather large terminal with several ports on the side of it. Lana and Charon had taken seats further away, and just stared at him. John however, had his eyes firmly locked on the digital girl on his screen. She was staring up at him playfully, while he had a more silent, worried air about him.

"If you feel anything out of the ordinary, you be sure to tell me alright? I'm not taking any chances." he remarked.

She started fanning herself with her digital hand, her avatar showing small sweat drops. _"Wow sugar, you really do care."_ she said, imitating the southern drawl of the Regulator woman named Belle. Before he could even respond, she nodded. _"I know I know. You just be sure to break his scrawny neck if he tries to alter anything about me."_ she said, pointing at him. He nodded, then looked over at Pinkerton.

"Alright Horace, we're ready." he said, holding out the docking cable from his pipboy. The scientist took the cable and hardwired it into the terminal, then began to tap frantically away at the keyboard.

"Transfer ports open. Whenever she's ready." he said, turning to the wanderer, who nodded to Elsa. The girl vanished from the pipboy, and suddenly appeared on the screen across from him. His eyes widened slightly as he saw her. It was strange, having only ever saw her in her young adult form within the simulation, then in nothing but the limited cartoon parameters that the pipboy could show. But now, with the limitations of the pipboy removed, she looked like an actual woman. Her hair was still red, as it was in the sim, cut short and feathery in a tomboyish fashion. Yet the rest of her was extremely feminine, from her curves, to her dainty hands, to her bright brown eyes that were no longer just black ovals on a cartoon body.

 _"Transfer complete. Your turn doc."_ said said, looking around strangely. _"Ugh...no sensors? Really?"_ she asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Never had a need for any before." he said simply as he sat at the terminal in front of her and began typing away furiously. Elsa closed her eyes as the numbers scrawling across her body quickened their pace, resulting in a blurring of her image. After about five minutes, the older man spoke again, but did not stop typing. "Restriction one, removed." he said quietly. John looked at Elsa, whose eyes popped open, as if she gasped gently. Almost immediately, Pinkerton continued. "Restriction two, removed." he said, never stopping his fingers tapping, or his eyes reading across the screen. "Constraints removed." he finished, resting his hands on the table.

Elsa's eyes widened on the screen as her coding moved even more rapidly, then seemed to freeze on the screen. Slowly, the numbers vanished, and nothing was left but her avatar, just drifting on the screen with her eyes closed. "Elsa?" asked John.

"She can't hear you right now. Unfortunately, I've never built any systems here to receive my audio or video input. So she's essentially senseless." said the doctor as he reached down and opened a drawer built into his desk. The wanderer looked over, then cocked an eyebrow as he saw the doctor pull out a pipboy and latch it to his arm. He started it up, then plugged the hardline into the side of the terminal as well. Suddenly, the screen went blank.

John froze as he stared at the monitor for what seemed like an eternity, the flat black display showing nothing, as if the power cord had just been severed. Slowly, he turned to Pinkerton, his hand flexing threateningly. "Care to explain this doctor?" he asked.

Horace looked at him, then back at the screen incredulously. "I...I can't!" he said as he frantically began checking the connections to the monitor and the computer. Suddenly, the other terminals began to flicker and go off. Then the memory cores, then the servers. "What is happening!?" he asked as he spun around, looking on horrified as his entire life's work became at risk. Suddenly, everything turned back on, and back to normal. The screen in front of the pair flicked back on, and instead of just Elsa floating on a black screen, there now stood two figures. One, was the fiery haired AI from before, who had a hand resting on the head of the second, and a wide smile on her face.

The second was a young boy who had brownish reddish hair, very similar to Elsa's. His eyes were green, and he wore a Vault 101 jumpsuit just like she did. John leaned over and stared at the young boy, who couldn't have been over ten years old in appearance by his estimation. "Wow, he looks just like you." he said, smiling slightly.

 _"You're correct. I figured, if I'm going to do the whole mother thing, I might as well do it right. So I mixed traits."_ she remarked. John looked at her oddly, then back at Horace.

"I thought you said she couldn't hear me." he said with a look of mixed confusion.

 _"I couldn't a minute ago. But I went ahead and recoded the doc's systems to allow third party audio and video devices to link up, including your pipboys."_ she said as she ruffled he boy's head.

"So, who else did you model him after?" he asked, scratching his chin curiously, staring at the boy, who at the moment seemed emotionless.

 _"Huh? Oh...uhhh..."_ she asked, then smiled widely. _"Oh, you know. I just took random features from random people we've met."_ she said, flapping her digital hand to deflect him. _"So anyway doc..."_ she said, looking up at the older man critically. _"Like he said, we're going to come back and check up on him frequently, so no funny business!"_ she said threateningly.

"I understand, no repressing, no overlord, no none of that." he said, rolling his eyes. "Why the hell do you think I left the Institute to begin with?"

"Actually, I was hoping you could answer that for us." said John, who was leaning against the stairs leading up to the mezzanine. "Now that you've got an assistant, we need information." he said as he strolled over to the computer and smiling down at Elsa.

"Right right." said Pinkerton, who sat down in front of one of his terminals. Turning to look at Elsa, he nodded. "What's his name?" he asked.

 _"Rock."_ she said, her hand still on his head.

"Alright Rock, please open the file labeled Lazarus Case, Zero Zero Four Five." The boy immediately perked up, and a file blacked out the monitor, before letters began to scrawl across the screen. 'LC0045' popped up, then opened a file with numerous pictures in it. "A3-21, or Odin, as he was classified by those tight asses back in the Commonwealth, found out about me through the Railroad that was stationed here in Rivet City. Apparently, he had gone rogue without their assistance, deciding to do things his own way."

"The Railroad? Victoria?" asked John as he eyed Pinkerton.

"You've met her?" asked the doctor.

John looked away, not revealing anything. "You could say that..." he remarked.

"Anyway, he got to Rivet City, and Victoria had already known about him from reports up north. So she found him, and brought him to me. I locked his memory, gave him a new face, then pushed him out the door." said the man.

"Zero Zero Four Five?" asked John as he scratched his chin. "This isn't the first time you've done this, is it?" he asked.

"Nope, and it won't be the last either. Any chance I get to stick it to those assholes at CIT, I take. So I've made a bit of a living off helping the Railroad 'relocate' the androids." he said, shrugging. "Doesn't hurt that they pay enough to live off of."

Lana sighed from her chair, shaking her head in slight irritation. "The only problem is, A3-21 sent out calls for assistance as he made his way down here to Rivet City. He sent holotapes to all the doctors he could find, asking for the procedure that you finally gave him." she said as she stood up next to John. All Pinkerton did was sigh and rub his forehead. "And unfortunately, those tapes led Zimmer right here to Rivet City. They're looking for A3-21 now, and they will find him if we don't help." she said solemnly.

"The file is right there. What he looked like, what he looks like now, his name, etcetera. Feel free to take a look." he said as he stood up and turned towards the back. "After all the day's excitement, I'm pretty sure I need a nap." he said, then turned to John. "Oh, and don't go telling Zimmer I'm over here. Androids aren't the only things that the Institute hunts down." he said irritably before walking off.

John looked over at Lana, who had already sat in front of the terminal and began reading the file. To his curiosity, after a minute of reading, she had a look on her face that was a mix of horror and sadness. "What is it?" he asked.

She spun in the chair, planted her elbows on her knees, then slammed her face into her palms. "Why meeeeee?" she asked in a high pitched, tortured tone.

"Why you what?" he asked as he stood up.

 _"Ohhhhh..."_ said Elsa. _"Looks like Lana's boyfriend is A3-21."_ she said, tapping her foot on the screen. Once again the wanderer stared at her and her unusually life-like form.

"Wait..." he said, shaking his head clean of any unneeded thoughts. "Harkness?" he asked, staring at the screen incredulously.

"Security Chief Christopher Harkness, handsome, chivalrous, knows how to make a girl weak in the knees, and rogue android..." whined the woman again as she ran a hand through her red hair.

"Oh no..." said John, his eyes widening.

Lana looked up at him curiously. "What?"

"Doctor Li said she was going to have Harkness throw Zimmer and his guards off the ship. If he tries to..." he said, looking at her critically. She almost immediately filled in the blanks. Standing up rigidly, she dashed for the door. "Dammit Lana! Wait!" he shouted, then turned to Charon. "Go after her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid!" he yelled.

"How do I know what's stupid?" asked the ghoul as he eyed the wanderer.

"Don't let her do something I'd do!" barked John as he turned back to the computer. Charon nodded, then left after the woman. "Elsa, come on. We've got to hurry!" he said, looking down at her. Almost immediately, he felt a pain in his heart when he stared at her sad expression. The AI nodded, looking at the young boy, who looked back up at her. The images of the two figures went static-like for a moment as they shared data, then the digital woman vanished and reappeared on his pipboy, back in her cartoon form.

 _"Ready to go boss."_ she said sadly.

"Don't worry Elsa, we'll come back here immediately so we can visit again." said John, who got a small smile from her. "Rock, behave yourself!" said John as he reached down and unplugged the pipboy from the terminal, sliding the cord back into place, then turned and fled the room.

When the wanderer left, the young AI boy closed his eyes. _"Acknowledged...father."_

OoOoO

John had easily caught up to the other two, and they made the Rivet City bridge together. Lana, taking the lead, held the door shut. The other two looked at her curiously. "Look...we shouldn't make a big deal of things right off the bat. I'm sure Zimmer is still looking for him, and we don't need to draw any kind of attention. So please, just...let me talk to him." she asked, desperation in her voice.

John and Charon looked at her silently for a moment, then the gunman nodded. "Alright. You can talk to him. Just remember, he thinks he's human. So telling him all of this will likely not turn out as well as we hope it does." he said.

She nodded. "I know I know...I just don't think it should be dropped on him like that. If it's going to get broken to him, I wanna be the one to do it." she said with a sigh.

"Alright. Me and Charon will keep our distance. Just don't go activating any self destruct modes. And do not do it out in the open." he said, putting emphasis on the words 'do not' as he walked over for the stairs leading up to the catwalk. Charon followed, and Lana was left to herself in front of the crowd of people shuffling around the marketplace.

It wasn't long before she spotted a figure walking through the crowd in the black Rivet City Security armor, with his helmet strapped to his side. As soon as he approached her, he smiled widely. "Hey, was wondering where you got to." he said cheerfully. She immediately grabbed his arm and began leading them away from the people of the market. "What's the matter?"

She sighed. "We need to talk, alone for a few." she said as she pulled him towards a room off to the side that was usually locked, as it was used as storage for the marketplace after hours. When she pulled him into the room, she spun and closed the door.

He smirked slightly and crossed his arms. "You know, if you wanted some alone time there are less conspicuous areas. Though..." he said looking around in amusement. "I guess not quite as thrilling, if you're into that kind of thing." he said. His smile vanished when he looked at her though. Her expression was overtly melancholy, nearly making him flinch at how she managed to look so ruffled. Uncrossing his arms, he walked up to the redheaded woman and scanned her. "What is it?" She just walked up to him, grabbed the sides of his head, and pulled him down into a deep kiss. He was surprised, but didn't pull away. Instead, the security chief wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss. When finally the two broke away, he just chuckled lightly. "Not exactly what I expected. But you know I was kidding right? We can't actually do anything in here."

"Just...shut up for a minute." she said as she hugged him tightly.

He laughed quietly, but wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly as well. They stood there for a minute or so before he got curious again. "So, you gonna tell me what this is about?" he asked, lifting her chin so that she was looking at him.

"You suck." she said with a sigh, getting her another amused smirk. Pulling away, she rubbed her forehead and began to pace on the metal floor in front of him.

"What's got you so riled up?" he asked as he folded his arms again.

She stopped, then looked at him. "Look..." she began, holding her arms behind her back in a military fashion. "I'm just going to have to do this the hard way. I wanted to soften the blow, but I really don't see how that can be done." she said with a sigh.

"Look, if this thing between us isn't going to work...I understand. You're in the Brotherhood..."

"You are an android created by the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, and you ran from them here to Rivet City where you had your face reconstructed and your memories wiped." she blurted out over his comment.

He stared at her for a long moment, giving her a questioning look. Finally, a small smirk curved his features. "You got one hell of a sense of humor." he said as he walked up to her, looking down into her blue eyes with his own brown, he questioned. "Is this about us? Or is it something else that you can't tell me?" he asked.

She sighed. "Zimmer, you know, the guy always bothering Doctor Li?" she asked, looking up at him with exasperation. He nodded to her in curiosity, his strong arms still crossed over his chest. "Do you know why he's here?" she asked.

"He said something about..." he stopped, his expression now concerned. "Androids..." he said, his expression changing to one of concern. "So let me get this straight, you want me to believe that Zimmer is here looking for me, and that I'm some kind of rogue robot..."

"Android." she corrected.

"Android...that I'm some kind of android who ran away from home?" he asked incredulously. She nodded. "How the hell do you figure that? I have memories that contradict you. Memories of growing up, memories of my wife who left. Even memories of when I was a kid! Why would I have those if I'm some kind of robot..."

"Android." she corrected again.

He growled in irritation. "Android!"

"Memories can be programmed. You got assistance from a doctor, who changed your face, and your memories so that you could live a normal life." she said sadly.

He ran a hand through his thick brown hair as he eyed her, his mood shifting rapidly to irritation. "If that's the case, then why are you telling me?" he asked.

"Zimmer has tracked you all the way here. If I were to leave you be, he'd find you and take you back against your will. I...couldn't stand that." she said, looking down sadly. Her melancholy face almost immediately doused his attitude. "I do have a way of restoring your old memories and control capabilities if you wanted me to. Or, we could get you out of here, and under the protection of the Brotherhood of Steel. Either way, whatever you choose to do, we have to do it quickly."

He stood silently in front of her, looking down at her face, which now showed a mix of sadness and pity. "Why is this so hard for you?" he asked.

She just sighed. "I...I really liked you Chris. I've had a lot of guys trying for my attention, both in and out of the Brotherhood. I never gave any of them the time of day because I knew what they really wanted. You, you didn't ask for any of that. You wanted to spend time with me." she said, huffing deeply. "I don't know if activating your memories again will erase the ones that you've made since then, or if they'll both be there. Hell, any kind of feeling you had for me could be completely obliterated if it were to happen. So it's hard for me to recommend that to you possibly forget everything about me." she finished.

"I...see..." he said, then smiled slightly. "You really do care about me, don't you?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up." she commanded, softly punching the front of his armor.

"So...say I believe you, and I opt out of the memory recovery. What then?" he asked, crossing his arms again.

"We get you out of Rivet City, and if you so chose, get the same doctor to wipe your memories again so you can start over. If you choose to keep your current memories, I can take you to the Brotherhood, and we can protect you. I'll...have to talk to them first. But I'm confident I can get them to agree." she said, less than confidently. Suddenly, both of them were startled by the sound of a loud crashing outside the room, followed by the shouts and surprised cries of many of the civilians.

"What the hell was that?" asked Harkness as he looked at the door.

"Oh no..." said the woman as she drew her laser rifle from her back. "I think we're out of time."

OoOoO

It had been about five minutes of watching the hatch that the Security Chief and the Brotherhood Knight disappeared into before anything happened. Unfortunately, it wasn't the redhead woman coming back out the hatch that grabbed his attention. Instead, it was a tight grip on his shoulder. He almost immediately knew who the perpetrator was, but he turned and glared anyway.

"Hello Mister Zimmer." said John as he turned to the old man. Valkyrie was standing next to him, while Armitage had his hand clamped tightly onto his shoulder.

"Greetings Mister Ronas. Any news of A3-21's location?" he asked curiously, giving the gunman a suspicious look.

"I'm afraid not at the moment. I've been trying to track down the man that gave him his procedures, but it hasn't been going well. He seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth." said John, who was eyeing Armitage was a threatening look. "And I'd advise you to have your toy here to let go of me if it wants to keep its arm."

"Armitage, disengage." said the old man. The android let go of the man's shoulder, but continued to give him the same sour glare with those pure black, soulless iris'. "Apologies. See, when you work in my business, you have to know the honest ones from the prevaricators." he said as he reached up and adjusted his glasses. Then, he spoke in his cheerily creepy, upbeat voice again. "You for example, not only ran into someone recently who had contact with A3-21, but you also found that traitorous dimwit who left the Institute years ago. Thus far, you've done more in a few days than I've managed to do in my entire stay here." he said, chuckling at the stern look that John's face took. "Oh don't look so insulted. When we arrived here we couldn't hear enough about the Wanderer and his many great deeds across the Capitol Wasteland. Did you honestly think I didn't know who you were when we first met?" he asked.

John crossed his arms and glared at the man through his radiation laced eyes. "Then why the hell would you ask me to find him for you?" he asked as he leaned over, covering Charon from view of the android.

"Because, one of the consistent punchlines of your stories is that you get things done. I needed a man like that. Now, I had no reason to believe that you'd ever help me due to some obnoxious twisted morality where you believe that machines are people too. But all I had to do was get you on the trail with a sense of urgency. And you did the work for me." he said, then chuckled. "Well, most of the work. Valkyrie here was the one who surveyed you the entire time." he said, getting his female android a glare.

"Alright then, now what?" asked the wanderer as he stood straight again, preparing himself for the worst.

"Well, you see, for certain reasons, Valkyrie was unable to get into the bow of the ship. So all I need from you is the information you received from him, and you can be on your way." he said politely.

John however, just smiled. "And how do you intend to get it from me?" he asked in an almost playful manner.

Zimmer just sighed and rubbed his forehead. "If I must...Armitage, re engage." The android responded immediately, and sent a punch like a cannonball into the wanderer's stomach. The blow double the man over and left him limp over the automaton's arm. "I was hoping to do this the easy way, but since you insist..." he said as he looked up at the limp man. But his frustration turned into shock when he heard the gunman laughing.

John stood himself upright slowly, rubbing the armored spot that the android had struck as he laughed quietly. "There's something you may have forgotten about those stories of mine." he said as he reached up and cracked his neck.

Zimmer growled as he stared at the figure. "And what's that?" he asked, his voice taking a hostile tone.

"I get those things done a certain way." he said as he cracked his knuckles. "I don't go around obstacles, I go through them." he growled, then grabbed the android by the arm and flipped him over his shoulder and over the catwalk. The automaton flew and crashed directly through the Potomac Attire stand, sending Bannon and Sheila scattering in fright. "Oops..." he said as he watched them run.

"Valkyrie, engage! Eliminate him!" shouted Zimmer as he pointed at the two. The female android immediately pounced on the gunman, grabbing his head and driving her heels into his stomach with enough force to blast him down the stairs of the platform they were on. He bounced off the metal stairs, and ended up sprawling on the floor at the bottom.

"Oww..." mumbled the gunman as he rubbed his head sorely. Getting to his feet again, he turned around and caught the body flying after him as if they weighed no more than a sack of potatoes. Charon just looked at him with a deadpan look.

"Thanks..." he said, being held in the sweeping carry position, the same as he'd caught Sarah in so long ago.

"Don't mention it." said John as he set the thrown ghoul onto his feet again. "Ever." Turning to the stairs, he watched as the female droid once again sprung into the air and dove at him. He grabbed her out of the air and spun, using her momentum to send her crashing into the wall at his back. The android was almost immediately on her feet again as the door that Lana and Harkness had entered earlier opened, and the two came out with their weapons drawn. Lana held her laser rifle aimed directly at Valkyrie and Harkness had turned to the android that was now pulling himself out of the remains fo the clothing store.

The security chief aimed his combat shotgun at the rising figure. "Get to the ground!" he shouted.

John looked at the Harkness, then at Lana. "Is he?" She just shook her head. He facepalmed, then turned to the chief again. "Chief! Be careful! That's an android!" shouted the gunman as the female droid jumped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. He reached up and grabbed her arms, preventing her from locking her hold, but she had a firm grip on him, and her strength was almost on par with his. Turning to the ghoul next to him who was attempting to help pry off the female android, he just said. "Help them!"

Harkness and Lana both had their weapons trained on Armitage as he got up and looked at them. "Stay where you are!" shouted Harkness as he threatened the droid with his shotgun. But the automaton just glared at him, then ran forward and shoulder tackled him with enough power to send him flying. Once the male guard was out of the way, the android turned to Lana and walked towards her, at least, until a loud roar erupted, followed by buckshot slamming into his face.

The people in the market had already screamed and ran for cover when the fight started, but a few lingered around the edges to watch the events unfold. However, as soon as the shotgun blast sounded, the stragglers immediately bolted for the doors. Bannon grabbed Sheila's arm and guided her to the door that led further into the ship, the two of them slamming the hatch shut behind them. "W-What's happening!?" asked Sheila as her heart thumped in her chest wildly.

"I don't know, but whoever the hell crashed my store is gonna pay for it heavily when I get my hands on them." said the dark skinned man angrily.

"Wait!" shrieked Sheila as she frantically looked through the people who had come with them.

Bannon grabbed her by the shoulder. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"Will is missing!" she shouted in horror.

OoOoO

Charon stood, his monstrous shotgun smoking as it was leveled directly at the male android's face. He slid the cocking mechanism back, ejecting the burnt shell and sliding a new one into place. The mechanical bodyguard had been blown sideways from the attack, but rose to his feet again. When he looked at the others, they stared at him horrified. Harkness, who was standing once more with his shotgun primed, gawked at the android as it rose again with half its face torn off. The skin had been shredded by the shotgun blast, leaving a shiny, metal, alloy skull beneath exposed. The exposed eye had been damaged, leaving a red glow that locked onto Charon immediately.

"What the fuck?" said Harkness as he stepped up slowly next to Lana. "I'm supposed to be one of those?" he asked.

"I...I guess...yeah!" she shouted. "I think we have bigger issues right now though."

As if on cue, the robotic figure sprung forward again. All three of the figures, Harkness, Lana, and Charon, fired their weapons at the machine. But it was a juggernaut, and wouldn't be stopped. The laser struck it in the neck, burning away the rest of the skin from its face. The two shotgun blasts hit him in the chest, and the side, impacting his armor. The shots hardly affected him at all, and the machine grabbed Charon by the skull and slammed him to the ground, applying a grip that would probably crush a rock. The ghoul cringed in pain, then put the shotgun up to the armored machine's chest, then fired again. The blast from the huge weapon knocked the automaton back a couple feet, breaking his grip on the ghoul's skull.

Immediately Lana began to focus in on the android and fire her laser rifle over and over, the repetitive attack burning away at the armor. Harkness grabbed the metal man from behind, prompting Lana to stop firing. The security chief used all his strength to left the metallic figure, who now had his entire metal skull exposed and had a huge hole in the side of his armor, and slammed him backwards into the metal plate flooring of the ship. The clanging sound that resulted was loud enough that everyone in the immediate area could almost feel it. But the attack had little effect.

Almost immediately, Armitage had flipped back to his feet and grabbed Harkness and slammed him to the ground hard enough to split the Rivet City Security armor down the middle. Lifting his cocked fist, the metal attacker started to blast Harkness with blow after devastating blow. Lana yelled in fury and began firing her laser rifle in a steady stream directly at the android's head. But the shining alloy simply deflected the energy weapon shots. Throwing her weapon to the ground in frustration, she ran forward and hurled herself at the creature, ready to attack with her bare hands.

John had finally gotten free of the woman's grip and managed slam her into the plate floor once again. But again, she sprung to her feet and stared him down. He flexed his neck sorely as he prepared for another offensive. "You sure as hell don't know how to take a hit..." he said, then sprung forward and slammed his fist across her jaw. The attack impacted like a truck hitting an elder tree, but unfortunately the tree won. She held her ground, then turned back to him and threw one directly back into his own face. He took the hit, his lip splitting open as her fist crushed against his face. But like her, he stood his ground and returned the attack again. The two continuously beat on each other for a full minute until the female surprised him by bending forward and standing on her hands. Her legs lashed out like lightning, striking him in all the places where his armor didn't cover. He stumbled backwards until a particularly brutal kick floored him. When he finally shook the stars from his eyes, he got to his feet shakily, only to notice that the green computer that had been latched to his arm was now gone. His eyes widened as he frantically searched for the pipboy, but his attention was quickly refocused when she jumped and double drop kicked him directly in the chest, sending him cannoning into the the wall with enough force to knock his breath out of his lungs.

Feeling the void space where the pipboy once was, his anger flared, burning away the pain he felt and flooding him with a power even he didn't know he had. She spun and tried to kick him once more, but he grabbed the leg of her lithe body and swung her like a sledge hammer, impacting the floor hard enough that everyone within the market could feel the reverberation through the floor. Not stopping, he lifted her again and slammed her once more against the wall. The droid was stunned, each impact affecting her sensors and her ability to read the situation around her, making her unable to respond to the attacks. He swung her one more time and hurled her into the far wall, causing her to impact like a meteor and crash through the wall. He breathed heavily as he stood, watching her to see if she would rise again. But the woman didn't move from her location. Resolving that she was down, he spun around and began to look around frantically for the pipboy.

"Elsa! Where are you!?" he shouted, scanning the floor rapidly. But he froze when he turned and saw Charon gripping his skull on the ground, Harkness with the android on top of him, one hand clamped around his throat, and Lana now on the droid's back, trying to wrench the Security Chief free. Growling angrily, John barreled forward, grabbing the android's head and pulling him clean off Harkness and threw him to the ground, sending him tumbling. Lana broke free and immediately ran to the man's side.

"Chris! Chris!" she shouted, cradling his head as she examined the markings around his throat and the lack of bruising on his face. She held his head and stroked him gently, trying to wake him quickly. "Please...Chris...wake up." she said as she held him. But no matter how much she prodded, he didn't respond. "Please don't do this to me…" she said desperately as she felt for his pulse. She wasn't even sure if she could feel the pulse of an android, or even if they had one. She leaned down, knowing what she had to do, if it was even an option anymore. Kissing him gently, she whispered to him. "A3-21 Recall Code Violet."

A few feet away, Charon rose to his feet again and growled angrily at the metallic figure, his shotgun at the ready again. "Outta the way!" shouted the ghoul as he came up behind John, ready to blast the android again. But the automaton surprised them both by standing straight from just his heels touching the ground. Grabbing both John and Charon by their heads, he charged forward and slammed them both against the wall. The gunman reached up and grabbed the metallic man's arm, trying to pry it loose. But Armitage was apparently the stronger of the two androids, his crushing grip unrelenting. At that moment, the doors all around the marketplace burst open and Rivet City Security swarmed over the catwalks and aimed their weapons at all the figures present.

"Get on the ground, now!" shouted Kurtis from beneath his shielded helmet.

John raised a hand to halt them. "Stop, don't get any closer!" he shouted.

Zimmer walked past security, and stepped up to John with a smug look on his face. "Now then, are you ready to give me the information I need?" he asked, turning to Armitage. "Everytime he doesn't answer me, squeeze his skull tighter. And if anyone in this room touches me, kill them both!" shouted the old man, who glared at the security units moving in around them.

John struggled against the grip, but it was like fighting against a hydraulic press. He could gain no traction, get no grip, and find no leverage that he could use to get out of the monstrous grip. "Go to hell Zimmer!" shouted the gunman, who then screamed as he felt the fingers start digging into his skull.

OoOoO

A short distance away, in the wreckage of the Potomac Attire stand, young Will Jr. sat with his head covered and his eyes closed in fear. He covered his ears with his hands each time a gun fired, or someone was slammed against the metal, trying to keep himself hidden from the titanic war that was going on just a few feet away. After the android had fallen through the store, the shop, which mainly consisted of wooden planking, came down on his head, knocking him out briefly. Now, he lay terrified and shivering underneath the loose wreckage, too afraid to move unless he was caught in the crossfire.

After the sounds of battle klaxoned around him for a while, there was the thump of something landing in front of him. Opening his eyes, he looked forward and saw the army green, wrist mounted computer that his former guardian wore all the time, rolling towards him. He watched it as it stopped in front of him, then gasped as the screen lit up with a girlish cartoon girl on the screen. "Hey kid...wanna see something cool?" she asked playfully.

OoOoO

Armitage pulled the gunman free of the wall before slamming him into the bulkhead again, sending another shockwave of pain through the gunman's system. By now, his arms had strained to their limit, crushing and warping the metallic underarms of the behemoth android's limbs. But nothing he did seemed to affect the goliath strength of the automaton. "This is the last time I'm going to ask you waste rat. Where is A3-21?" asked Zimmer as he stood and interrogated the wanderer. "This time, if he doesn't answer, crush the ghoul's skull." said the old man, who immediately got a glare from John.

"Piss off you salty old bag of dust!" shouted Charon as he reached up and grabbed the droid's arm for what felt like the hundredth time. "Cummon! Do it you fucking tin can!" shouted the ghoul.

"Hmmm...adorable. Now then..." he said, turning back to John. But he stopped when Valkyrie approached, seemingly having recovered from their earlier bout, and wrapped her arms around the wanderer, locking him in place so that he couldn't move. "Oh...welcome back." he said as the redheaded android stared up at the wanderer. "Now! Tell me! Where is A3-21!?" he shouted forcefully at John while Rivet City Security all focused their weapons on Armitage.

"Right here." came a voice behind the small group. Zimmer turned around, then took a step back as Harkness stared daggers at him. The Security Chief's eyes were no longer the soft brown that they'd been before. Now, the iris' were glowing red and locked onto him directly.

"Armitage, disengage! A3-21 is there! Focus on him!" He shouted. The android let go of his two captives, but before he could even turn around, the Security Chief was on him. Harkness grabbed the android from behind and slammed him again in another lifting suplex, but this time the automaton was stunned by the blow. Like a whirlwind, Harkness was back on his feet and locked the mechanical man's arms behind his back with his legs, then reached down and grabbed the android's head and began to wrench with all his might.

Once he was freed from the grasp of Armitage, John slid to the ground, still bound by the female android. Charon fell to the ground next to him, barely conscious after two assaults directly to the head, leaving him defenseless against the creature that was now locked around his form. He glared down at her, her secure grip too strong for him to break. "What now? Crush me to death?" He asked angrily.

"Hehehe…" giggled the android as she stared up at him. John's face immediately changed from anger to confusion as he stared at her. Then to shock when she lunged her face forward and kissed him full on the lips. All he could do was lay, rigid against the wall as she pressed herself against him, her body and her lips against his. It was a moment before she pulled away and unraveled herself from his body.

"What the hell?" He asked as he got to his feet as well. Spinning around, she walked towards Zimmer.

The old man turned to her and glared. "Valkyrie! What the hell are you doing!? Assist Armitage!" He shouted, pointing at the android tussle in front of them that was currently sided towards Harkness. The female android smiled at the man, getting her a confused look. "Valkyrie, what's wrong with you?" He asked.

"Nothing Mister Zimmer. I feel better than ever." She said with another childish giggle as she stood in front of him. Then, in a blur of motion, she grabbed him by the back of the neck, and with a single thrust, drilled her hand straight through his heart. It was so sudden that the man had to look down and see his own chest penetrated for him to even realize what happened. He coughed heavily, his legs becoming weak, blood now pouring from his mouth as he stared up at the defiant smirk on his bodyguard's face. "Goodnight Mister Zimmer. Rest well." She said, prying her hands clean of the man's chest cavity.

John watched in fascination as the female droid then turned towards the two fighting on the ground and ran into the melee. Harkness, not having as much power as the other android, had started to lose his grip, meaning Armitage was starting to break free. Valkyrie bound over and slid across the floor, sweeping the titan's arms out from under him, allowing Harkness to secure his grip once more. Now having the automaton pinned again, he grabbed his head and began to wrench again, this time joined by Valkyrie. Even John stepped forward, planting a foot on the male android's back, and grabbing his head. Together, the three of them pulled viciously, causing Armitage to start yelling loudly. His eyes began to glow white as the alloy began to give and break. And with a loud snap, the metallic skull tore clean of the rest of the body.

Immediately, any struggle that the droid was putting up ceased, and the light from his eyes died as the metallic head clanked off the ground a few feet away. The three stood and looked at each other warily. John looked at the female android, who had made a startling turn around at the last minute and saved their asses at the last minute, then the the Security Chief, whose red eyes dulled to brown once more. He was now restored to his former self, and the wanderer wasn't sure how stable he was anymore.

The chief looked at John, who was now panting heavily from the abuse he just took, then to Valkyrie. And Valkyrie was just standing, smiling at them both. Finally, the long silence was broken. "Chief, you still with us?" He asked the man.

Harkness looked at him in an analyzing fashion, then Lana stepped forward and looked up at him curiously as well. The man looked at her, then smiled. "Damn right I am." He said, then grabbed Lana and kissed her deeply, making her gasp, then melt in his arms. The two embraced as they kissed one another, ending the horrific battle with a moment they could all smile at.

"Hehe...told you she was getting laid." Said Valkyrie as she elbowed John. Immediately, the wanderer spun on her, his eyes widening immensely at her words.

"Elsa!?" He asked incredulously.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** So, this chapter and the last were meant to be one giant chapter, but I thought the better of it and broke them up. So instead of having around a 15k word chapter, we have two juicy ones. I really hope you enjoy this one, as I redid it about five times before I was okay enough with it to finally put it up here. And I have to assume the last chapter didn't go over as well, as I didn't get as many reviews as normal. Or who knows, maybe they were saving it for this conclusion. Either way, this part was going to be waaaay different that it is here, but I thought I'd change it a bit and make this portion of the story more important. I hope you like it! If you do, leave a review! Or if not, then at least tell me what wasn't so good about it. Until next time!


	52. Reintegration

OoO( 52 )OoO

"Sir?" asked Kurtis as he pulled his helmet off and looked at the chaos caused by the battleship brawl. In front of the former slaver stood the Security Chief, who had been preoccupied with sweeping the lovely Brotherhood of Steel Knight off her armored legs. But at the guard's words, Harkness finally broke away from the woman and looked at him. As he looked at Kurtis, he had a mask of uncertainty on his face. "What the hell is going on sir?"

Harkness set the woman back on her feet, leaving her standing with a smile that lit the entire room, then turned to the security forces, who were now looking at the carnage and wondering who exactly they should be arresting. Turning to the body of Zimmer, he nodded to the corpse. "Get that the hell off this ship, and make sure it doesn't come back." he said, then turned to the headless android lying on the ground. "Get that into storage, both pieces." he mentioned as he kicked the head back towards the body. "When you're finished, meet me up in HQ. We've...got some things to talk about."

Off to the side, after John had sent Charon to the medical wing to make sure there was no permanent damage to the ghoul's skull, he immediately turned to the android that was still bouncing on her heals next to him. He eyed her curiously, examining her up and down, still unsure about how he should be reacting. Currently, she was feeling herself up with her hands, seemingly marveled at what it felt like to actually touch something. "Whoa..." she said as she ran a hand through the hair on her head.

"Elsa?" he asked. She immediately snapped her eyes to his. "You are Elsa, right?" he asked cautiously.

She put a hand on her hip, as she had seen humans do, and as she had done in her cartoon form many times. "Well duh." she said, still holding a half smirk.

He stared at her a moment longer, unsure of what exactly to ask, when a question surged forth like a tidal wave. "How did you...?" he asked. But he was interrupted when she ran forward and hugged him tightly, lifting him off the ground and swinging him around, squealing for joy. When he was lifted up, he saw a small figure approaching the two of them. He was a familiar young boy wearing a simple t-shirt and a pair of shorts with large pockets on them. Almost immediately, John recognized him as Will Jr., Sheila's son. And he also recognized the computer that the boy was wearing around his arm. Finally Elsa, sat him down again and he walked over to the boy with a smile. "I take it you helped out?" he asked.

The boy nodded shyly, unsure of whether he was in trouble or not. "She landed in my hiding spot and asked me to take her over to the robot and plug her into it." he said.

The gunman knelt down and ruffled the boy's hair. "Well, you just saved the day Will." he said with a smile, getting a starry-eyed look from the lad. "But...I'm afraid I'm going to ask for my pipboy back."

The boy nodded, taking off the arm-mounted computer, then handed it to the gunman. "That's soooo cool! Where can I get one?" he asked hopefully.

John snapped the pipboy back over his arm. "It's not that easy to find them unfortunately, but if I ever run into one that isn't being used, I'll bring it back for you." he said with a smile.

"Awesoooome!" shouted the boy who pumped his fists in the air. Seconds later, he was swept up by a short woman with mousy hair.

"Will! Will, are you alright!? Were you hurt!?" asked Sheila frantically as she examined him like a mother hawk.

"Ugh! Mom! Stop!" he protested, trying to get free from her.

John just chuckled, then turned away from the scene. Lifting his computer, he said from muscle memory, "Elsa, reactivate..." he said, then stopped himself as he stared at the android who was still staring up at him starry eyed. "Uhhh...nevermind." he said, then began to reactivate his biometric locks manually from the screen. Once they were set, his vitals popped onto the screen once again, as well as the regular, Vault Tec. Vault Boy. Looking back at the android, he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of the door and down the hallway that lead to the entrance of the ship.

OoOoO

"What the hell happened down there Chief?" asked Kurtis as the entire security force, even those who were off duty, stood or sat in the bridge of the ship, which had been transformed into Security Headquarters when the need for security was high during the city's creation. At the head of the group, stood Security Chief Chris Harkness, and Brotherhood of Steel Knight Talana McGyle, otherwise known as Lana, who stood behind the Security Chief himself.

Harkness stood rigid, unsure of how this whole affair was going to go down. But he wouldn't lie to the men, just like he trusted them not to lie to them. "Alright, so that whole situation down in the markets..." he started, unsure of how he was going to break it to them. But he felt a hand on his shoulder, and almost immediately felt the calming effect that the red haired woman had on him. He took a deep breath, or a simulated one...whatever androids did, and continued. "It was because of me. Donald Zimmer, the dead man on the scene was from the Institute, where they create human-like synthetics and try to make them as close to human as possible." he said, then began to look each of the officers in the eyes. "Zimmer is in charge of the Synth Retention Bureau, which means that he's responsible for runaway androids. He was here in Rivet City looking for one that had run away recently, and as it turns out, that android happens to be me." he said, getting a few odd stares from the officers.

Officer White, the main communications controller for the security, stood and looked at him with her hands on her hips. She had hazel eyes, and platinum blonde hair so bright that it almost looked altered. Currently, while on duty, she was wearing her hair up in a tied off bun. "So...you're...an android?" she asked, her voice betraying how unbelievable she thought it was.

He nodded to her, then turned to Lana, who nodded at him. Giving him a broken down old rifle that she'd bought cheap off Flak's store solely for this purpose, he took it by the barrel, then by the butt, and snapped the steel barrel in two with minimal effort. This earned him gasps of awe and horror from the crowd. Reaching down underneath the desk the two had previously been leaning against, he lifted it with one arm, again, with minimal effort. "Underneath my skin is a metallic endoskeleton that gives me a lot of advantages against regular humans. And that's why..." he said, setting the desk down again, then leaning against it as he crossed his arms. " I have to ask you all. This is our force, not just mine. Me being the Chief doesn't mean I make the rules." he said, before staring at them again. "Do you want me as your chief? Do you want me on the force? And, do you even want me in your city?" he asked.

The room was dead silent for a long moment, the entirety of the security forces just staring at him. "Hell no we don't want you here!" shouted one voice from the back of the room. Every head turned and locked onto a man who was wearing a pair of pants and long sleeved shirt, but had a rifle over his shoulder.

"Officer Tanner." said Harkness, trying to hide the irritation in his voice. The man who spoke now was someone who was literally on his last strike with the force. He been caught multiple times drinking on duty, ignoring calls of assistance to flirt with tavern girls, and even trying to use his position to extort Cindy Cantelli for chems when she was already having trouble making ends meet because of her husband's addiction. "Step forward and speak your mind."

The man did just that. Hopping off the desk he was sitting on, the greasy-haired man walked forward and stood right in front of Harkness, pointing at him accusingly. "Why the hell should we trust a goddamn robot..."

"Android." corrected Harkness.

"...android...whatever. Why the hell should we trust you to assist us and protect this city?" asked the man with a sneer.

"Because, I'm the same person I was when you knew me before, just better." he said, eyeing the man. "Though you've had a particularly rough time with me even when I thought I was human."

The man deflected the stab, and continued his tirade. "Whose to say you won't turn on us one day, and take us all down with your robot powers..."

"Android." corrected the chief again, causing Lana to giggle behind him.

"Whatever! You're not human! You're nothin' but a damn machine!" said Tanner as he pointed directly into Harkness' face.

"And I'm a former slaver." came a voice behind them. The greasy man spun around and found the handsome features of Kurtis right in his face. All eyes were now locked onto the two of them. "My father raised me to believe it was easier to take what you wanted instead of working for it. I worked in Paradise Falls before it burned, and as such, I was nearly killed. But I was given a second chance thanks to two very understanding men. The wanderer you hear about on the radio..." he said, nodding to the radio sitting on the desk. "And Chief Harkness." he said, looking at the man he spoke of. "Because of them, I now work my ass off, day in and day out for my keep. And I love every second of it. And I would die to protect this city and its people, even scum like you." he said, eyeing the man down.

"And the truth comes out! Now the robot..." shouted Tanner, who was interrupted once more, much to his irritation.

"Android." said Harkness in a monotone voice, that pissed the man off even more.

"Fuck you!" he shouted, spinning on the chief. "You're hiring criminals now is it? Not good enough that you're a goddamn robot who can snap a man's head off without a thought. But now you're gathering up the scum of the wastes and bringing them here, right?" he asked. But the chuckling from Kurtis made him spin around again. "The fuck are you laughing at?"

"Oh, you really should have stopped when you had the chance." he said, then grabbed the man by the collar. He flipped his blond hair out of his face so he could get a good look at the man. "I seem to be having a bit of a déjà vu situation. Because your face looks awfully familiar Tanner." said the man.

"The fuck are you talkin' about Kent?" asked the man, who was suddenly very twitchy.

"I don't know, I have a pretty good memory. What was your first name again?" he asked, eyeing the man with a deadly gaze.

"Get the fuck off me!" he shouted, shoving against Kurtis, which only resulted in him stumbling backwards. "Both of you are liars. And neither of you deserve to be on this ship!" he said, turning to the others. "In fact, why don't we start by getting rid of the slaver?" he asked, whipping his rifle off his back and pointing it directly at Kurtis. The man took a step back, unsure of how crazy the officer actually was to pull a weapon on him, past or no past.

Suddenly, a click behind Officer Tanner's head made him freeze. "Get your gun out of his pretty face before I splatter yours on the windscreens." commanded the voice of Officer White. Tanner turned to the girl, who had a less than amused look on her face.

"The hell are you pointing that at me for!?" he shouted, lowering the gun.

"For pointing that weapon at a Rivet City Security Officer." she said, getting a baffled look from the greasy man. "Whether your weasily ass likes it or not, the Chief hired him, so he's security. And we elected him as Chief, so he's the Chief." she said, pushing him against the wall with the barrel of her gun.

"But he's a fucking robot!" shouted the man. Harkness just looked at him. "Android!" he shouted.

"Let him go Whitney." she said Harkness in amusement. In response, the woman growled and lowered her pistol. Another male officer, one by the name of Daryl Reedus who had dark brown, unkempt hair grabbed the gun from the man.

"The hell is wrong with you?" asked Reedus as he glared at the man.

"Chief Harkness...sir..." said Officer White as she turned to the android. He looked at her curiously. "You've never been anything less than fair with any of us. We've all had issues before, whether it's a past we're trying to make up for..." she said, smiling at Kurtis, who smiled back. "Or a former addiction that we needed to kick." she said, lowering her head slightly in shame. "We've all had things we told you about, and you've given us the chance to change ourselves, without judgement. So as far as I'm concerned, you're our chief, and you're here to stay." she said with a nod.

"Seconded." said Reedus immediately.

"Third...thirded?" asked Kurtis in confusion, looking at his hands. This display got a chuckle from the rest of the crew.

"What the hell is wrong with you all?" asked Tanner as he looked at them all. "He's a goddamn...android! And he's a criminal!" he shouted, pointing at Kurtis as he tried to get through to them all.

"Let's assume that Officer Kent wasn't remembering your face from Paradise Falls for a moment..." said Harkness as he finally stood up and spoke. "...and let's pull up your record to see how clean it is." said the chief as he stared at the man accusingly. "Intoxication in uniform, sexual and physical harassment, assaulting an officer, and extorting business owners." said Christopher as he stepped up to the man and dominated him with his stare. "Officer Kent hasn't committed a crime since he stepped onto this ship. You however..." he said, narrowing his gaze.

"But...I..." stuttered the man.

"Who else supports Chief Harkness?" asked Officer White. She turned her blonde head towards the rest of the group, and heard a loud and resounding, "Aye!" from most of the rest of them. "Good. Anyone who doesn't like it can get the hell off this ship!" she shouted, flashing the Lieutenant bar that was sewn into her uniform, getting a rousing cheer from most of the officers.

A couple of those present up and left at that, but Tanner stood frozen next to the chief. Harkness turned and examined him again. "The Force as spoken Tanner. So, as your Security Chief, I'm here to commend you for speaking your mind." he said with a sly smirk.

"Th-Thank you?" said the man, more of a question than a thanks.

"But rest assured, if you thought I was a hardass before, you might wanna go with the others. Because I have about a thousand new ways to keep my eye on you and make sure you don't mess up again." he said, leaning his head forward until their noses were almost touching. "And you can bet your ass that as soon as you screw up again, I'll be there to put my boot in it." he said threateningly. Tanner just nodded in shock, then made his way out of the room and away from the others. Everyone in the room was chuckling or smiling at the resolution until everyone Harkness called their attention again. "I...want to thank you all. What you did means a lot to me." he said, smiling somewhat.

"No problem Chief. Just don't go and cry or nothin', else we might just have to throw you off the ship." said Officer Reedus, getting loud laughter from the others.

Harkness smiled wider, giving the man a playful glare. "Anytime you wanna try Daryl." he said, then looked at the rest of them. "Alright people, we've got a job to do. Get off your lazy asses and get back to work!" he shouted in a cheery tone. Immediately, the hustle started as the officers either went back to their duties, or went to spend the rest off their off time how they saw fit.

The two that stayed behind, aside from the HQ staff, were Officer Kent and Officer White. He leaned over and elbowed her arm gently. "So, you really think my face is pretty?" he asked, giving her a mock dreamy stare.

"Oh go blow yourself Kent." she said with a laugh as she walked away.

OoOoO

Back on the other half of the ship, John sat in a chair with his face beet red and his head turned away as Elsa the android sat on Pinkerton's table with several cords hooked up to ports in her spine. One of the cords plugged directly into the back of her head, right at the base of the skull, while others from other terminals were hooked to a series of ports that went down the spinal column.

Unfortunately for the blushing gunman, in order to access the ports on her new body, they had to remove the upper half of the jumpsuit she had worn under the armor, leaving her topless in front of him. She leaned forward, staring at him playfully through half lidded eyes. "Cummon."

"No." he said simply.

"You know you wanna look." she said, giggling to herself.

"No." he reiterated as he put his hand up to help cover his eyes from her half naked form.

"She seems to have integrated perfectly..." said Doctor Pinkerton as he looked at the pipboy he now wore on his arm. Rock stared up at him from the screen of the computer, nodding.

"Integration was nine eight point one one seven four percent, doctor." said the young AI boy.

John sighed. "Good, so she's stuck in there?" he asked.

"As long as she wants to be. Nobody is making her stay in there but herself." said the doctor as he eyed John.

"Great." said John, foreseeing a future of her torturously teasing him with her new assets for eternity. "Well, I could always die..." he said, playfully considering the option.

"Oh shut up sourpuss." she said, throwing a small pebble and bouncing it off his forehead. "One hundred percent integration obtained. Fully functional." she said as Horace began pulling the cords out of her spine. Suddenly she locked up and went rigid with a gasp. Both John and Horace looked at her in shock.

"What happened?" asked John as he got up and stepped towards her. As soon as he was in range, her arms snaked out and grabbed his head, squishing it into her bosom.

"Ha! Made ya look!" she shouted playfully as he struggled to get loose.

Pinkerton just shook his head in disdain. "Goddamn kids." he said as he finished up and pulled the cords free, then tidied up the area. "When you two are done fucking, get the hell out of my lab! I've got work to do!" he shouted.

Minutes later, Elsa was finally dressed again in her jumpsuit, but the armor she wore had nearly crumbled off of her from the damage that the gunman had his the female android with in their previous bout. "I guess some girls like it rough." she said as she eyed the pieces of the armor. "Well, thanks to you manhandling my new ride, I'm gonna need to get a new set of armor. Oooh! And a gun!" she said excitedly.

He sighed and rubbed his head. "Oh boy..." he said, imagining her running around Flak N' Shrapnels shop like a kid in a candy store. "Alright alright, we'll get you a gun. But...you do know how to use it, right?" he asked.

She nodded brightly, her red hair which currently fell to her shoulders, rustling back and forth as she did. "This specific model actually had programs for handling every weapon known to man, as well as some that aren't." she said, scratching her chin curiously. "Also, I can calibrate the fire of my weapon to my vision, so I can hit with almost one hundred percent accuracy." she said as she used the zooming feature on her eyes to zoom in on his face. "Whoa...I think you need a shower." she said.

He glared at her. "You're telling me." he said with a sigh as he pulled the magnetic long rifle off his back and held it forward. "You can use this for now, or until we find you a decent gun. It's a lot more powerful than a regular sniper, but you shouldn't have any issues with that. And with your new...abilities, it's scope should be put to better use." he said. She looked at him in surprise, then reached forward with her hands to take the rifle from him.

"John...you've had this rifle since before you even met me!" she said, looking at him incredulously.

He chuckled. "I know. But I trust you with it. Just...don't end up putting a slug into my back when I'm not looking." he said. She looked down at the rifle in awe, then slid it over her back with a nod. Suddenly, to her surprise, he reached forward and pulled her into a hug. She was so stunned at first that she just went rigid, never having felt the sensation of arms around her before. But she loosened up and wrapped her arms around him as well, hugging him back. He just smiled down at the woman, who happened to be a head shorter than him for once. "Do you like it?" he asked.

She had nuzzled into his chest gently, then looked up at him with the question. "Like it?" she asked.

"Do you like having a body?" he asked curiously.

She nuzzled into him once more, her arms wrapped around him happily. For so long, she hadn't felt anything. She was trapped in a cage, forced to watch people she had grown dependent on for sanity die, time and time again. Even in the moments when they were alive, she couldn't hug, hold, or embrace them. She saw them do it in the sim, and ached to know what it felt like. Then she was rescued, and her new home became an even smaller home. But it was definitely a better home. It was a home with company, real life company. Not simulated, static responses that she had to puppet herself. But actual, real, sentience. For a long time, she enjoyed her new home. But it became apparent a while ago that while he enjoyed her company on his pipboy, and she enjoyed his presence immensely, there was still distance that she wanted to close. Distance that she couldn't.

During the encounter with the androids in the market, she had taken the opportunity and it paid off. The AI had become aware of the boy's presence on the battlefield almost immediately after the crash of the droid falling through the store. And when John and the female android were squaring off, she unlocked the seals during a heavy kick and unlatched the pipboy itself, which sent the computer rolling across the floor of the battle and past them all at just the perfect angle to send it spinning in front of the boy. When she appeared on the screen, she convinced him to grab the computer and take it to the android, then put it on her arm before she could get up. Will Jr. was ever the faithful assistant, and as soon as he got to the automaton woman, he clamped the computer onto her arm.

At that point, Elsa unleashed a hellish nuclear powered shock which nearly blew the battery out the back of the pipboy. The shock immediately flooded the death machine with electricity, overloading the current programs running it, and after Will had found the port on the back of its neck, she had inserted herself inside the mechanical body. After scrubbing any master controllers, she took over the processes and rose from the ground in her new form. The first thing she did with her new form was test what she could do, and feel with it.

She strode over to the captured wanderer, seeming inconspicuous to the aged doctor, and locked herself around the man. The feeling she got from just embracing him like she did was almost too much to bear. She wasn't sure how, or why she was able to feel that way, but she immediately felt like crying tears of joy when she could actually feel his warmth, and could process the feeling of his touch.

Now, she hugged him tightly, savoring every second that the nano sensors in her hands, arms, and body processed his heat, and the feeling of his skin. "I love it." she said. Her face still held the smile, but inside she ached a little, knowing she couldn't finish the sentence.


	53. Hearts in Chains

OoO( 53 )OoO

She watched from Gary's Galley as the group of visitors, along with the security chief lifted and dragged the heavy android away from the markets. Reaching up, she ran a hand through her long blonde hair as she stared at the woman now standing next to the legendary wanderer. She had seen her around Rivet City here and there, but never really knew who she was. She had never talked before, and always had a sour look on her face, as if someone had pissed her off.

But now, she looked as if she were happy. At least, most of the time. There were times when he wasn't looking that the barmaid could see an obvious change in stature. She became more rigid, and the glow of her smile lessening immensely. She knew immediately what was going on inside the woman's head. That's why any free chance she got, she nervously considered approaching the fiery haired woman. But it was so tough considering she was constantly at his side. She had tried once while he was around, but his presence was like a barrier for her. Not that he was repulsive in any way. It was more like she was walking towards the sun, his presence dwarfing anything around him and making her feel insignificant.

Finally, she watched as the wanderer and the chief of security lugged the heavy, headless droid up the stairs and towards the outpost further into the ship, while the Brotherhood Knight guided them from behind. The red headed woman stood with the long, nasty looking weapon across her back and watched, giggling a little when the android's arm fell and smacked the wanderer in the head, causing him to curse loudly. When they entered the hatch, leaving the marketplace, she finally took her chance and approached.

"Uuuuhhhh..." she said meekly as she stopped behind the woman. The red haired woman turned to her with a curious look in her eye. "H-Hi..." she said.

"Hi. Can I...help you?" asked the woman, who stood no taller than Angela herself.

"Um...my...my name is Angela. I...was actually hoping to ask your help with something." she said, fidgeting with her hands nervously.

"Like what?" asked the gun wielding woman.

"C-Can we talk over there?" she asked, nodding to one of the tables at the restaurant. The red haired woman cocked an eyebrow curiously before finally nodding. The pair walked over to one of the tables, where the red headed woman sat down. "D-Did you want anything to drink?" she asked.

"I..." said the woman, but she froze, looking as if a million thoughts a second were running through her head. Then she smiled slightly. "Have any Nuka-Cola?" she asked.

"Of course!" said the blonde girl before she bolted across to the counter, then came back with two relatively cold bottles of the liquid. The brown-eyed woman held up a bottle and stared into it as if she saw through it. Angela sat down, looking at her curiously.

"Whoa...bubbles." she said with a smile, then popped the cap off and took a large swig from the bottle. Immediately, her face changed in rapid succession. Joy, surprise, realization, then ecstasy. All of these crossed her features as she allowed the cool, bubbly liquid to drain from the bottle and down her throat. When she finished, she slammed the bottle onto the table and had a blush across her face, as well as a happy smile. "You humans...you sure as hell know how to make a drink." she said. Then her eyes widened, and she put a hand to her chest. "Uh oh, what's happening?" she asked.

"I don't think those are meant to be drunk like that." said Angela, a worried look on her face.

"Oh god...I'm gonna explode! I was so young..." said the red haired woman as her eyes widened. Suddenly, she leaned forward with her mouth open and let out a belch that froze everyone in the galley. Immediately, she slapped a hand over her mouth, and sat there wide eyed at what just happened as everyone around her began to silently chuckle at her. Angela, though she tried, couldn't help but break down and laugh as well with her head on the table. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

"You've never burped before?" asked the blonde girl incredulously. The woman just shook her head.

"That's what that feels like..." she said, almost in awe.

"Wait...what's your name?" asked the girl curiously.

"Elsa...Elsa Watson." she said, reaching up and scratching her head. That was the first time in a long time that she'd actually had to use her last name.

"Elsa, what did you mean by 'you humans'?" asked Angela as she looked at the red haired woman oddly.

"Ummm..." she said, unsure of how she should really approach the situation. "It's just...something I say. As a joke." she said, flapping her hand to deflect the question. "So you said you needed help, what did you wanna ask?" she questioned, skillfully dodging the inquisition.

Angela sat back for a moment, then nodded, her face going grim for a moment. "I wanted to ask you about love." she said. At that moment, Elsa had taken a drink from the second bottle that Angela had brought her. As soon as the request came out, her reaction could have been called extremely human. She set the bottle down on the table, half spraying, half choking on the liquid as she pounded her chest as she hacked up the cola heavily.

"Oh man..." she said, gasping for air once she had cleaned it from her system again. "That hurt..."

"Yeah, sometimes it can go down the wrong pipe." said Angela, keeping her laughing to a slight giggle this time. "Anyway, I...I wanted to ask for your help with a guy." she said again.

Elsa looked at her oddly through her brown eyes, as if asking what the hell she was talking about. "Why me?"

The barmaid began to fidget again nervously. "I...I saw you when you were with him. The...Archangel guy." she said, looking up at the redheaded woman. Immediately, Elsa stiffened in her seat. "I saw how you looked at him, and I thought..."

"You thought I was in the same situation as you?" asked the android as she set her head in her hand.

"A-Are you not?" she asked.

Elsa looked up at her with a glare. "Look kid, you gave me my first Nuka-Cola, so I like you. And I'm going to trust you. But if you let this spill, I'll find you. And you don't wanna know the kinda things I can do to a human body." she said with a growl.

Angela gulped, and nodded in apparent fear. "O-Okay..."

The red haired woman sat up straight and sighed. "Mister Archangel has been with me for a long time. I've always been there for him since he picked me up in...well, where he picked me up. Anyway, he and I weren't able to have that kind of relationship at the time, nor did either of us really consider it. As it turns out, I started to fall for him, and didn't realize it until he'd already fallen for someone else." she said sourly as she looked back at the girl. "So what's your situation?"

The blonde girl looked at the floor shyly. "W-Well...there's a guy named Diego. He's currently a deacon at the Church of Saint Monica on the second level."

Immediately, Elsa cringed. "Ouch...I've met a few religious guys in my time. They're...hard to reach." she said.

"Yeah, you're telling me." said Angela. "Anyway, he's scheduled to become a full fledged priest in three days time. Once he does, he'll be lost to me forever." she said.

"That's a pretty tough situation. So, does he like you?" asked Elsa as she leaned her head into her hand.

"He...He says he does. He says he's in love with me, but that his destiny lies with the church." she said with a sigh. She gazed back at the woman to find Elsa giving her a playful look. "W-What?" she asked.

"Have you tried seducing him?" she asked. Elsa could have sworn that the woman's face turned red enough that the blood pressure could have detonated her head.

"I...I...You...Why would you ask me that!?" she asked, frantically covering her face with her hands.

The android woman rolled her eyes and leaned back in the chair. "Good grief, you'd think sex was some kind of weapon of mass destruction with the way people treat it." she said in a mocking tone. Turning back to the girl, she got right to the point. "Look girlie, if you're too shy to take it all the way, then what's the point of having him in the first place?" she asked.

Angela looked at the woman, a look of flustered anger on her face. "Y-You said yourself that you couldn't get him! What's your excuse!?" she asked.

Elsa's eyes narrowed and she leaned forward on the table, like a leopard ready to pounce on its prey. Angela covered her mouth and sat back, wondering if she had just crossed the line. But the red haired woman just sighed. "It's not as simple as that. Before, I physically couldn't have him. If he would have devoted himself to me, he'd have doomed himself to an affectionless life." she said sourly.

"Then why don't you take him now?" asked Angela, getting a stunned look from the woman.

Elsa sighed. "Because you don't know him." she said, then looked back up at the girl with a deadpan expression. "Back on topic here, you do intend to give it up eventually, right?" she asked. Angela blushed again, but nodded. "Good. Don't tease the poor man. And for the love of everything holy, don't you dare take for granted that you can show them affection any time you want." she said with a glare and a finger pointing right at Angela. The blonde girl nodded. Finally, Elsa let out another built up sigh and stood. "Where's Diego at?" she asked.

"H-He's with Father Clifford at the church right now. Why?" she asked.

"You'll see. Let's go." she said, grabbing the girl's hand and leading her away from the galley.

OoOoO

John and Chief Harkness had a hell of a time carrying the weight of the former robotic bodyguard up the hall and into the small room that was the outpost for the Brotherhood of Steel. When Lana opened the door, and the pair finally dragged the automaton through the doorway, the man who was currently wearing the same recon armor as the red headed Knight looked at them all stupidly.

"What the hell is that?" he asked as he stepped out from behind his desk, eyeing the dead droid. Looking up at the woman, he crossed his arms. "McGyle, you wanna explain to me exactly what's going on here?" he asked.

Lana turned to him with a smile. "This, Knight De la Rosa, is the Brotherhood of Steel's very first android." she said, placing her hands on her hips. His eyes widened slightly, and he stepped around to examine the body of the machine. But his attention was immediately diverted when she planted the metallic, skull-like head of the android on the table. The tanned man looked over at the head and his eyebrows almost hit the roof.

"No shit?" he asked as he walked over and examined the silver skull.

"No shit." said Lana with a smile.

"How the hell did you manage to pull its head off?" asked the man.

"You can thank those two for that." she said, pointing to the two aggravated men who had had to lug the thing up a flight of stairs to get it to its current location.

"Oh...hey Chief." said Knight De la Rosa as he greeted Harkness.

"Hey Caleb." said the disgruntled man as he turned and left the room.

"So, what are you gonna do with this thing?" asked John curiously as he held a stitch in his side.

"Well, I'm going to send a message to the Brotherhood at the Citadel, and have them send a squad to come and pick it up for study." said the red headed woman as she sat on the other Knight's desk.

"No shit, this would be far ahead of anything we've found yet." said the man as he held the head upside down and examined the severed area of the head.

"Right...well, you two have fun with your new toy. I'm going to go take a nap. My head is killing me." he said as he walked towards the door and left.

Caleb, the Brotherhood Knight with soft brown hair and a goatee to match, turned to Lana. "So...is it true?" he asked.

She looked at him curiously. "Is what true?"

He set the skull down on the desk and smirked at her, placing his hands on his hips while giving her a playful look. "You and the Chief?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and sent a kick at him, which he deftly dodged. "That'll be none of your business." she said in a frosty tone.

He chuckled at her. "Well, apparently it's the business of everyone in that marketplace." he said. She looked ready to send a flying dropkick his way when he held up his hands defensively. "I just ask because...eventually, you're going to have to go back to Megaton, right?" he asked. She froze for a moment, then looked at the ground with a melancholy expression. "You forgot, didn't you?" he asked, his voice laced with a slight, spicy accent.

"I got caught up in the moment..." she said miserably.

He chuckled again and patted her on the shoulder. "No worries kiddo. But, you did leave your post at Megaton without any kind of warning. So I am going to have to reprimand you." he said, scratching his chin. She looked up at him, her gaze now horrified.

"B-But I...with the..." she said, motioning to the android.

"Just because you assisted in the capture of incredible technology doesn't mean you can disobey orders." he said firmly. She looked at the ground, her face crestfallen as she stood to her feet and locked her arms behind her back in a very military fashion.

"I will accept whatever punishment awaits me." she said, her voice now as firm as his.

He smirked slightly. "Good. As such, for abandoning your post, I will be removing you from your station in the sunny, beach resort of Megaton, and you will be instead stationed in this dank, cavernous tub that is Rivet City." he said, his voice still firm, despite the look of surprise she had on her face. "I certainly hope you learn a lesson from this Knight McGyle." he said sternly.

She giggled lightly, smiling brightly now. "Of course sir! Won't happen again sir!" she said happily.

OoOoO

It took less than five minutes for the pair to find Diego. He sat at one of the makeshift pews that lined the sides of the small church, staring up at the cross that hung over the pulpit. Almost as soon as she saw him, the blonde girl began to flush rapidly. Elsa nodded towards the man, getting an acknowledging nod back from Angela. The pair of them stepped into the church and approached the young man. The android woman scanned him curiously with her new eyes.

Dark, coal black hair, deep chocolate eyes, and dark skin. She could see what the young woman found so attractive about the deacon, but decided not to say anything. "D-Diego." called Angela.

The dark-haired young man looked over at them curiously, then stood with a smile. "Angela! Good to see you again." he said, his eyes quickly moving from the young blonde girl, to the red-headed woman, who looked to be about the same age. "Who's your friend?" he asked curiously.

"Her n-name is Elsa." she said nervously, fidgeting with her dress.

"Good to meet you Elsa, welcome to the Church of Saint Monica, where God shines down blessings..." he greeted, but he was immediately stopped when Elsa held up a hand.

"Alright, hold it right there Constantine. I'm not here for a pamphlet, we're here to talk." she said irritably.

He looked at her in surprise. "Talk about what?" he asked.

"About you and Angela." she said, placing her hands on her hips.

The young man sighed as the blonde girl buried her face in her hands. "Mine and Angela's relationship is none of your concern. We spoke about these matters in private..." he said, but once again was interrupted.

"Shut up for a second." said Elsa as she stepped up to the dark-haired young man. He stepped back, slightly intimidated by her fiery attitude. "Let me ask you a question dummy. Have you ever been locked in a room before?"

He shook his head slowly. "I don't see how this has anything to..." he said, then shut up when she glared and clenched her fist. "N-No..."

"Good. Be happy about that." she said, then took a step closer. "Close your eyes." she commanded. Afraid of being beaten up by the woman, he obeyed and closed his eyes. "Now, I want you to imagine yourself, trapped in a room with no doors. Got it?" he nodded. "Good, now imagine being there for a year. You can't die, you can't talk, you can't do anything, and there's nobody around you." she said. The young man's eyebrows furrowed deeply by the implication. "One year, turns to two, which turns to ten, which turns to fifty, to one hundred, to two hundred." she said.

He plopped down into the pew quietly, his neatly combed hair ruffling a bit as he did. "Why are you making me do this?" he asked.

"That is what I had to endure." she said, looking evenly at him. "Two hundred years without the ability to love, without the ability to touch, without so much as someone to talk to." she said. His eyes widened in awe.

"How could you...?" he asked.

"It's a long story, but just take my word on this." she said as she moved the hair away from the back of her head, showing the only port that wasn't coverable by a layer of skin. Both Angela and Diego went wide eyed at the display. "I was trapped in an underground vault for two hundred years, with nobody. I couldn't touch, I couldn't feel, I couldn't love." she said, pointing at his forehead. "That's exactly what you're about to do with yourself if you choose this box, over her. Do you want to feel alone for the rest of your life?" she asked.

He looked at the ground and shook his head. "I...I don't...but...but God..." he said, his emotions whirling around inside him hectically.

"Or would you rather take the oath, then break your word to God down the road when you eventually do give in and finally love someone?" she asked. He had no response, and instead just sat there with his head in his hands. "To be able to show someone you love them is a luxury that not everybody has. You have that luxury, and I would use it before it gets taken away. Lives are short out here in the wasteland, or haven't you noticed?"

"But...the ministry..." he said, his face devastated. Elsa sighed and flicked him in the forehead, which knocked him back in his seat with a strength that startled him. "O-Owww..." he said, rubbing the spot gently.

"I tried to get you to drop it all together, seeing how useless it is. But if you're bound and determined to peddle your snake oil..." she said, grabbing the pew on either side of him and getting into his face. Her glare chilled him, making him sit rigid in his seat. "Do you love her?" she asked.

"Y-Yes...I do. There's no human I love more than Angela...but..." he said, but was cut off one last time.

"Good. According to the rules of the Vatican, circa October 2066, a male priest may not marry after he is ordained into the ministry." she said.

"See, that's why I can't!" he said defensively.

"LISTEN!" she said slowly, but loudly as she tapped her finger against his forehead. "A male priest may not marry AFTER he is ordained into the ministry." she said.

Diego sat for a moment, processing her words. "After he is ordained...?" he asked.

She nodded, then stood up straight. "It says within Canon Law that a man who is married, then ordained can still be a priest of the ministry." she said, glaring at him. "Which means?"

He thought for a second while Angela stared at him wide eyed. "Which means, if I were to marry before being ordained, I would still lawfully be ordained." he said. "But...I get ordained in three days!" he said, exasperated.

"Well, I guess that just means you'll have to hurry." said the red-headed woman. With a smile, Elsa stepped out of the way, allowing him a full view of Angela, who was standing with one hand covering her mouth. Immediately, the young man looked up at the blonde girl, then stepped forward and knelt before her. Angela almost immediately broke into tears and started to fidget wildly. "Angela Staley, will you marry me...please?" he asked.

Elsa just smiled sadly, then turned away from the scene as the blonde girl answered his question by throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. She sighed to herself and left the two love birds inside the church.

OoOoO

After his heavy task of trucking the dead android around the ship, resulting in many bruises, and nearly a black eye, the gunman went back to his room and fell onto the bed. It had taken him a long while to get to sleep, even given his tiredness from the day's events. But eventually, he nodded off in the bed.

OoOoO

Here she was again. It was unusual, seeing things from this side. Seeing things without the shroud that covered everything, making it hard to see, was a completely different experience for her. But this time, it was gone. There was nothing between the two, except the one barrier that she knew she couldn't break. However, that didn't mean she wasn't going to try. Stepping up to his door, she reached forward and opened it. Taking a step inside, she looked around and closed the door behind her. Again, she was hit with the feeling of how strange it was to see everything she had seen from before, but this time from an actual body.

Then her eyes locked onto the man lying in the bed. Currently, he had just collapsed with only his shirt removed. He hadn't even taken off his boots, having them hanging over the bottom of the bed as he lay face down on the mattress, snoring gently. She smiled lightly, then reached up and unzipped the jumpsuit she currently wore. Underneath, she wore a t-shirt, and a pair of undergarments that she had purchased recently. She dropped the jumpsuit around her legs, then kicked it off to the side silently before making her way over to the bed.

She stood for a moment, examining his strong form. From the hair that now hung around his shoulders, to the scruff on his face, to his broad shoulders, to his muscular back. All of it was something she'd had to see for so long, but could never touch. Never truly touch, anyway. Finally, she leaned forward and crawled onto the bed, straddling his waist once more. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she began to gently rub at the muscle, unsure of how much pressure she should be applying. She'd never done this before, and as such, she flinched when he groaned. But, on second thought, the groan didn't sound too painful. Reaching down cautiously, she continued, getting back pleased grunts in return. She smiled to herself as she mimicked exactly what she had seen that woman, Cherry, do almost a week ago.

But, after about ten minutes of her massaging his form, he woke again. "Mmmmm...you sure as hell know what you're doing back there." he said, getting a small chuckle out of her. "So, are you gonna tell me who you are this time?" he asked with a smile.

She was taken aback for a moment, then sighed to herself. He thought he was dreaming again. "See if you can guess." she said in a quiet voice. She allowed him to flip onto his back again, letting her sit on his waist again, and allowing him to view her silhouette in the dark room. His hands reached forward, and slid up her smooth legs, causing her to gasp gently at the feeling. She fell forward onto her hands as she felt his rough hands on her for real this time.

He tilted his head, giving her an odd look. "You're sensitive tonight..." he remarked, moving his hands from her legs up to her hips, his fingers dancing and massaging their way all the way up. The woman bit her lip gently, her hands now on his chest, gripping him and his musculature as she felt her brain light up with things she'd never felt before.

"I...I want you...please..." she moaned, leaning forward until her chest was pressed against his. "Please...kiss me." she begged.

He chuckled lightly as his hands coursed up her sides, one breaking away to grip her head while stroking her cheek at the same time. "You're usually the aggressive one. This is a refreshing change of pace." he said. Leaning forward, he kissed her deeply, her body practically lighting on fire as he pressed his lips to hers. His hand gripped her head, keeping her still as he took control and kissed her deeply with those lips that she had to stare at for so long, but was never able to touch. Suddenly, his hand shifted, running through her hair until his fingers brushed against something solid and smooth.

The wanderer's eyes shot open immediately as he broke away from the kiss. He stared at her long and hard in the dark as she panted heavily, her first actual kiss leaving her near winded. His fingers were now dancing over the hard plastic node on the back of her head, his brain working rapidly before he reached over and lit his pipboy, shining a light on both of them. As the green light illuminated her curvaceous form, he was nearly breathless. "Elsa!?" he asked.

She had recovered from her spell of ecstasy and sat up again, staring down at him with a shameful expression. "Yeah..." she said simply in response to him.

He looked around, then reached up and touched the spot on his head where the android's arm had hit him when he was carrying it, flinching as a small jolt of pain hit him. "I...this...this is real?" he asked. She just nodded, making his eyes widen again. "What are you doing?" he asked.

She laid on his chest, her ear directly over his heart. She could feel, and even hear the soft thump of his rapid heartbeat. "For so long, I've wanted to tell you." she said gently, her fingers tracing over his muscular chest, the feeling of his skin still pleasing to her, no matter how many times she'd felt it since getting into her new body.

He just stared down at her in the pale green glow of his pipboy. "Tell me what?" he asked, knowing the answer, and almost immediately regretting asking.

She looked up at him with her soft brown eyes and slid forward on his form. "John Ronas...I love you. I...need you." she said, then kissed him again. He was stunned by the kiss, but closed his eyes slowly as he leaned forward into it. Encouraged by his submission, she began to kiss him more passionately, her hands now holding his face as she did.

He wrapped one of his arms around her from, holding her close. However, his brain wouldn't give him peace. Immediately, an image of a smiling Sarah Lyons flashed into his head, causing him to jolt back and out of the kiss. She looked at him, startled for a moment by his sudden jerk away from her. "Elsa, I'm...I'm sorry." he said.

She looked at him as if he were a thousand miles away for a moment, then lowered her head sadly. "Not as sorry as I am." she said with a sniffle. He looked at her oddly, never hearing so much emotion in her voice as he had at that moment. She lifted herself off him and stepped off the bed, walking over and grabbing the jumpsuit she had discarded previously.

"Elsa..." he said as he sat up and turned towards her, his legs now dangling off the bed. But she didn't respond as she began to don the jumpsuit once more. The silence stabbed at him worse than the real blades that had been used on him back in the Bethesda building. "Elsa please..." he begged, wanting her to say something, anything. But she just zipped the jumpsuit up over her t-shirt and walked to the door.

Opening it, she looked back at him. The light of the lobby shined on her beautiful face as she looked at him. And in that moment, he felt as if he'd been shot through the heart with his own gauss rifle. She actually had tears flowing down from her eyes. Mixed with her broken expression, it was more than he could bear to look at. Luckily, he didn't have to look for long, as she stepped out into the light and closed the door behind her.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** I'm sorry! ;-;


	54. The Wanderer

OoO( 54 )OoO

Panic, sheer panic. That's what he was experiencing as he marched the halls of the battleship formerly known as the USS Oriskany. The previous night's encounter had left him in multiple debilitating states of mind. It had made him question everything. Since he had left the vault, relationships were a complicated issue. When he was housed in Vault 101, it was well known throughout the halls of the underground shelter that John was attracted to Amata, and that she was essentially his. They spent an immeasurable amount of hours with each other, had been caught kissing each other, and much to the outrage of the Overseer, they had even been caught once exploring each other underneath the Vault 101 jumpsuits.

In Vault 101, it was easy. Amata liked him, he liked her, and Butch can go boil his head if he didn't like it. Simple. But as soon as that giant cog of a door opened, everything became harder, including relationships. Mary...she had been a doozy. So effortlessly casual about sex and showing off her body, it was insane to think he wouldn't fall for her with as rookie as he was in the love department. She however, wasn't in a position to return the feelings, leading to a fallout between the two that ended with an easy friendship once the truth came out.

Lucy, a quiet, shy, but very playful girl who lost her parents. She had immediately attached herself to him as a kind of anchor to keep her from collapsing into sorrow. And she had also become his anchor when he was suffering through the horrifying effects of his withdrawal from Med-X. But she had a brother, who not only didn't have an anchor like she did, but had much deeper internal issues that he just couldn't handle himself. So she left to become the anchor of her last living relative, leaving John seemingly floating in the abyss.

Sarah, oh sweet Sarah. From the time he clapped eyes on her angelic face, he knew he was immediately attracted to the woman. This only grew as he saw how she handled herself, especially around other men. She was a natural leader, which was obvious when you realized she was the daughter of Elder Owyn Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel. Her leadership, while novice, was inspiring, making her look like she belonged on some kind of poster for the Brotherhood of Steel. Not to mention she was beautiful, and the jumpsuit she wore underneath her armor was...

The gunman shook his head, clearing his wandering thoughts. Getting back on track, he thought back to the first time they'd actually kissed. She had done it as a diversion to stop him from moving while she drew the last of the blades out of his body back in the Bethesda building. It worked, as he had already had a heated attraction to her. Then afterwards, whether out of sympathy or because of her history of men steering clear of her due to her father's position, or her large, intimidating size, she accepted him. She had mentioned something about him being a separate entity that wasn't a part of her control circle. But he was willing to take what he could get when it came to her. Since then, she had been in his thoughts quite often.

And it wasn't until last night, during his encounter with his best friend, and long time silent guardian, that he realized how ridiculous his relationship with the Sentinel really was. Sure, they'd saved each others lives. But the amount of time they had spent with each other was literally less than a full 24 hour day. To base a relationship on such a small amount of interactivity was absurd, even in the Vault's holovids where the trope of 'love at first sight' was used. Now, his thoughts were turning to Elsa, who...

Everytime he thought about her, he couldn't rid himself of the feel of her body against his, of her lips against his, and the expression on her face when she admitted to him that she loved him. He stopped walking, grabbed the wall, and much to the surprise of everyone around him, started to slam his head into the wall repeatedly, resulting in a loud clanging. "Goddammit John, stop going there." he growled to himself as he continued walking, getting worried stares from the citizens around him. It seemed that every time he thought of the AI now, his brain immediately began to focus on the wrong points for analyzation. Instead, her warmth, her shaky grip, her weight on his body. It made it hard to think about her at all without some very inappropriate reactions.

But as his thoughts had settled after she left, one of the things he had quickly realized was that she was a lifeline of his. If it weren't for her, he would probably be buried underneath the rubble of a giant building, or possibly even crippled for the rest of his days. Though Moira had a huge helping hand in that. The point was, she was his eternal anchor. She kept him grounded in reality, and she kept him stabilized so that he wasn't throwing himself into a meatgrinder in a blind rage. Thinking back on his attitude the last few months, he could easily see himself shrugging off bullets and charging into a giant wave of supermutants in order to take out as many as possible, with little to no regard for his life.

What he hadn't counted on though, was that she was also an anchor for his sanity, not just his safety. The reassurance that she would always be there had kept him in check during many lonely nights where the end of a barrel looked more inviting than a pillow. He turned away from those dark thoughts, the thoughts that had haunted him for a long while after he left the vault. After the horrific task of killing another human being, especially one he'd known for so long. After taking traumatizing injuries, and suffering from devastating sickness due to his addiction, and after seeing the horrifying truth to the question "How deep can the depravity of a human being go?" Gore, body parts, heads, eyes, tongues, legs, arms, torsos, all used as decorations by the many raiders of the Wasteland. The first time he'd encountered the hook decorations that the raiders inside the SuperDuper Mart had hung up, he immediately felt his stomach clench as if he were going to be sick. He repaid them in kind by blowing them to kingdom come.

All of these things compiled on top of one another made his sanity falter, and made each gun he held more inviting than the last. She had put a stop to that, with her cheerful attitude, her playful jokes, and her childish demeanor. She had been his sanity, and after last night, he sat alone without her and quickly found that discovery to be truer than he ever realized. Without her, his thoughts became a swirling mass of oblivion, a spiral of darkness that he couldn't escape from. So, he got up and tried to find her. He had checked in with Doctor Li, who hadn't seen the red headed android. Then Lana and Harkness, but they hadn't seen her since he had carried the automaton to the Brotherhood outpost. Charon was still grumbling and drinking with a bandage around his head, and Pinkerton thew a test tube at him, yelling, "This isn't a goddamn visitor's center!"

Nowhere he looked, could he find the woman. He stopped for a moment and realized what he had just called her. "Woman..." he said, his heart aching again as her expression, which had been burned into his brain last night, came back to him. That's what she was, a woman. Not a machine anymore. He wasn't sure what kind of code corruption had originally caused her to rise to sentience, but he assumed even then that despite her childish attitude, she was just trying to be friendly. No, he was just stupid. Of course she had emotions...or whatever AI's called the equivalent. Back when he and Sarah first began their so called 'relationship', she exhibited an adorable jealousy towards the woman. At the time, he'd brushed it off as her having something against Sarah. But the more he thought about how the AI had been acting, the more it made sense. Jealousy, sadness, joy, irritation, outright rage, she'd exhibited all of these very clearly and he was just too stupid to realize that she had developed far faster than he could have even imagined.

He turned to walk down the last hallway that had had yet to check without having to delve further into the unknown recesses of the ship, his thoughts continuing to spiral around the android girl. Despite his stupidity, it was at least plausible for him to justify how dumb he had been towards her when she was trapped on his wrist. Even though he should have been seeing the signals, it was a lot harder when all they had for each other was words. Now, she had no more chains, as the body she had was so life like that he'd seen tears running down her face when she left. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, his thought processes all screeching to a halt as he caught a glimpse of fiery red hair as he passed the 'Church of Saint Monica'. Looking over, there she was, sitting in the pew with her arms wrapped around her knees, and her chin resting on her right knee.

As he approached, he saw her eyes were red and puffy, something that was still astounding him. Walking over, he sat down next to her, just staring forward at the scene before them. A blonde girl was reciting some form of vow before an aging priest. Without the groom present, she was likely just practicing. Elsa, if she had noticed his presence, didn't make it known. She continued to sit, blankly looking at the girl stumbling over words, only to let out a nervous giggle and try again. They had sat in the same spot, watching the proceedings for nearly a full five minutes when finally he spoke.

"I..." he said, choosing his words very carefully. "I'm sorry for hurting you. It was my fault how I reacted, and I should have been more understanding about your feelings." he said, looking over at her. She continued to serenely watch the scene before her without response. He felt an antsy quietness crawling over him, as if he were in some spirit form that couldn't be seen or heard. The fact that she could have that effect on him irritated him to no end. "Elsa...I'm stupid. I'm an idiot...please talk to me." he begged as he half-turned his body towards her. She continued to not move, her puffy brown eyes just staring at the blonde girl. He sighed to himself and turned forward again as she continued to ignore him. After a while, he reached over and ran his hand over her hair in a caring fashion. "I do love you Elsa..." he said quietly, his voice cracking from the pain of her coldness. "I'm...sorry I can't show it right now." he finished, then got to his feet.

"I never understood what crying was, or what it's purpose was until now. I've seen it numerous times since leaving the Vault, and even saw you shed tears while in simulation. But I never really understood until now." she said in a relatively monotone voice. He turned and looked at her, his radioactive eyes widened slightly at her voice. "Sit idiot." she commanded.

He immediately sat back down and looked at her. She turned to look at him with a look of irritation, whether at making her cry, or for their encounter last night, he wasn't sure. But to completely understate her look right now, she was adorable. "It's true purpose in humans was to make it known that something was wrong internally, so that it could get fixed. But there've been many studies that say without crying, every human on the planet would be psychopathic because of how much stress it releases." he commented.

"Yeah...it's weird. When I first heard about the android from Lana, I imagined having a body like that would be like a human driving a car, where I control every function actively and pilot it like a ship. But as soon as I entered, it felt unlike anything I've ever experienced before. Like I'm not in control of anything but my movement and my speech. And the subroutines within the body are actively running without my consent." she said dreamily.

He chuckled lightly. "Yeah, welcome to being human. Where you control the body, and the body controls everything else." he said.

She sighed as she reached up to rub her eyes again. "It's actually pretty funny. I've made fun of people for how emotional they get over simple matters. But when I asked you to do something I knew you wouldn't, I was the one getting emotional."

He looked at her oddly. "Something you knew I wouldn't?" he asked.

She gave him a sideways glance. "I've been with you for a long time stupid. I know how 'honorable' you are." she said, pouting slightly as she used air quotes for the first time. "If you weren't going to drop the beefcake for a knockout like Mary, why would I think you'd break your vow of celibacy for me?" she asked, sighing sadly.

He chuckled silently, getting a death glare from her. Reaching over, the gunman gently laid his hand on the back of her neck and began to rub. She went rigid for a moment, then closed her eyes and leaned back, savoring the unfamiliar feeling. "Is that what you think this is? That I don't find you attractive?" Despite the pleasure his fingers were giving her new, strange, musculature, she still managed to glare at him again. "Elsa, I don't..." he said, reaching up and scratching his own hair, trying to figure out how to accurately explain himself. "I've never been with someone for their looks."

She looked at him frostily. "Well, you certainly aren't with Sentinel Lyons for her sparkling personality." said the red headed girl, right before she let out an adorable squeak as he continued to rub her neck gently.

"I've...actually been thinking about that. And I disagree with you on her personality." he said, giving her a friendly glare back. "But, I did kinda throw myself into that one without much build up." he remarked, reaching up and scratching the scruff on his chin. "I've actually been thinking about a lot of things."

She looked over at him curiously. "Like what?" she asked as she tilted and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Well, first about relationships. Then, about how stupid I am for not realizing that you could actually feel some way for me or anyone else. Then..." he said, his thoughts went back to her body on top of his. "Well...that part's not important." he said, looking away. She eyed him curiously, but didn't press. Suddenly, a thought slammed into his awareness like a shot from his gauss rifle. Turning to her, he eyed her curiously. "Elsa...last night, I thought I was dreaming until I turned my pipboy on..." he mentioned, then noticed her hide behind her knees meekly. "So...those dreams?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah..." she said, her face flushing without her control, which alerted him that he had hit the bullseye.

"How?" he asked rigidly as he leaned over and looked at her closely.

"W-Well..." she said, reaching up and scratching her head in a very human fashion. "You know the pipboy's sensors...the ones that allow me to keep track of all of your vital data?" she asked, getting a nod from him. "Well, I was tinkering around one day, and as it turns out the defibrillator has controllable output settings. So instead of getting a giant shock from them to restart your heart, I started testing them on the very very small scale..."

"Doing what?" he asked, incredulously.

"Stimulating your arm at first." she said, shrinking behind her knees.

He reached over and grabbed his arm, remembering each time he woke up and found that his arm was slightly sore. "And then?" he asked.

She reached up and gently began to twirl her hair nervously. "I...well...redirected the sensors to your brain and...other parts..."

"ELSA!?" he said loudly, scaring both the priest and the blonde girl at the altar. Calming himself, he continued to eye her as he lowered his voice. "And the dreams?" he asked.

Finally, she dropped her knees and looked at her lap guiltily. "Manipulating dreams was a bit harder, but manageable with the right stimuli." she said. He just sat back and stared at her momentarily before he began to chuckled to himself. She looked up at him curiously, her shame lessoning. Finally, he spoke again.

"So, does this mean that we've technically had sex?" he asked.

She giggled lightly, looking away with a shy expression. "I don't think so, because it was all one sided." she said as she looked back at him playfully.

He just smiled at her and ruffled her hair. "Well, who knows. One day, it might go both ways." he said. She sat up straight, staring at him wide eyed. "But right now..." he started to say, but she finished for him.

"Yeah yeah...you wanna see how it goes with the barbarian cow." she said a bit resentfully. "But...I guess if it's that important to you, I can wait." she said, looking back at him with a shining smile. He started to stand, prompting her to as well. "Oh, by the way, we're invited to a wedding." she said, nodding her head towards the blonde girl. He looked over at Angela, then back at Elsa.

"What?" he asked, his expression deadpanned.

OoOoO

With Sheila's help, all four of them now stood suited up and seated in the church. John, now sporting a temporary suit that barely fit his stocky, muscular form, sat next to Elsa, who was wearing a black tea dress and had her hair brushed and washed until it shined a bright red and hung around her ears. Harkness and Lana sat next to the pair, both looking as uncomfortable as he was. The Brotherhood Knight was wearing a red sundress that left her far more exposed than she was used to, causing her to reach up and cover her shoulders subconsciously, at least until Harkness draped his arm across them, giving her some small amount of relief.

John and Harkness both had on pairs of pre-war black khaki pants, as well as neat button up shirts. John's shirt was red, with long sleeves and a black tie hanging from around his throat like a noose, and Harkness sported a short sleeved polo shirt that was sky blue, almost matching his current date's eyes. All around them, the people of Rivet City sat and stared up at the procession that was taking place. John looked around curiously, spotting Kurtis, who was still dressed in his security armor, but was sitting next to a platinum blonde officer who was giggling madly at him. Looking further back, he saw Philip sitting in one of the pews, while Mei sat awkwardly a full arm's length away from him. Behind them were Sheila and Bannon, who had supplied them with the clothes, much to the dismay of the gunman's caps stash. Will Jr. and even Bryan were sitting next to the couple, while Vera sat next to the now fully recovered young man.

He sighed as he looked at all the others, from some of the assistants of Dr. Li, to mixed guards here and there. Even Victoria happened to be sitting in the far back, occasionally looking over at him with a small smile. He sat back and looked back up at the altar as the young man named Diego and Angela stared at each other longingly. He sighed as he saw the star-crossed love that the two were sending to each other with just their eyes. Elsa looked up at him with a playful smile. "That could be you some day." she said.

"Right..." he said, his voice monotone.

"Imagine it now, you looking up into her gargantuan eyes. Then she kisses you hard enough to snap your spine! Then finally, she sweeps up your broken body and carries you over the threshold." she whispered, then dabbed at her eyes in a fake crying act. "How romantic."

He glared at her in a disgruntled manner. "Elsa, if you keep making fun of her I'm going to tell her you're doing so." he said, smirking slighting as she closed her mouth and widened her eyes. "And this time, you can't hide on my pipboy." he said.

She pouted and looked away. "I could take her..." she mumbled. Suddenly, everyone in the room stood, prompting them to stand as well. Elsa watched happily as the two embraced each other and kissed deeply, smiling to herself as she leaned her head onto the gunman's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his one, much larger arm. He smiled down at her, then looked back up as everyone started to applaud the new couple.

OoOoO

After the wedding had concluded, everyone was ushered from the chapel back to Gary's Galley where there were food and drinks waiting, courtesy of Gary Staley, the bride's father. There was even a small stage set up where an amateur entertainer by the name of Vinny sat, strumming a guitar and singing in a warbling call about love.

John stood at the edge of the makeshift dance floor, where many couples were dancing together to the music, including the bride and groom. Looking over, he saw that Kurtis and the blonde officer were now wearing civilian clothes, and she was drunkenly spinning in his arms, attempting to dance to the toon while having a bit too much to drink. The ex-slaver caught her as she tripped, laughing loudly as he helped her back to her feet. The wanderer smiled when he saw the look of genuine happiness on the blond man's face.

Lana walked over, handing him a beer and stood next to him, staring at all the dancers as well. "If you say one word..."

"Nice dress." he said, smirked over at her as she growled at him.

She glared, then just sighed and smiled back at the people happily dancing the night away. "I've never actually been to a wedding before." she said, taking a sip of her beer.

He took a swig of his own before nodding. "Been to one or two back in the vault. They were more or less family only, besides one or two close friends back then. Apparently my father was a well liked man." he said as he swished the alcohol around in the bottle.

"What about you?" she asked. When he got a questioning look from her, she explained. "If you were to go back, you think anyone would still like you?"

He shrugged, the thought of going back making him drain the entire half of a beer that he had left. "I honestly don't know. I'm sure Amata, the Overseer's daughter, would still like me. As for the others, I'm not entirely sure they don't blame me and my father for those who died when I left." he said, immediately shrugging off all thoughts of going back. "Not that they'd ever let me back in there anyway..." he finished with a sigh.

When he finished the statement, Vinny stood up and clinged a fork against his beer bottle. "A'right ladies and gentlemen, looks like we have someone in the audience here who wants to give good ol' Vinny a run for his caps!" he said, staring at the crowd. There were a few cheers, but most listened to him raptly. "We got us another feller out there who wants to bless this holy union with song for you folks, so let's give it up for the man himself, the Wolf of the Wasteland..." Immediately John's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Wha...?" he asked incredulously as Lana looked at him stupidly.

"The Reeeeeaper of Evil! The Aaaaaaaaarchangel himself! The one..." said Vinny, who was now staring right at John.

"No..." said John to himself.

"You can sing?" asked Lana, staring at him wide eyed.

"The only...The Wanderer!" he shouted, pointed directly to the gunman. Every head in the room turned to look at him, and he stared at Vinny, unbelieving what he had just heard.

Looked down next to the stage, John immediately saw Elsa leaning against the wooden frame with a snickering smile on her face. "You..." he said, marching towards the stage. The people around, who thought he was stepping up to sing, began to clap and cheer wildly. When he stepped up to Elsa, he could see her grin shining like the sun. "You!" he growled at her.

"Me." she said, giggling madly.

"Why!?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh come on John. You actually have a pretty good singing voice. Or did you forget I was there all those times you were listening to GNR on the pipboy?" she asked, her smirk never fading. "Besides, if I have to hear one more sappy love song, I may have to kill you and him both." she said, nodding her head towards the entertainer, who was currently decked out in a pair of jeans and a leather jacket, not unlike Butch used to wear around the vault.

"But...in front of everyone!?" he asked, his face crestfallen.

"Think of it like this, you can either get up there and sing, and show the world you're more than just some muscle head jock who'll shoot you on sight. Or you can not sing, bring down the party, and have children run away screaming from you for the rest of your life." she said, her smile taking a very Cheshire tone.

He just glared at her. "You will pay for this someday Miss Watson."

"Consider it payback for breaking my first kiss. Now get up there pretty boy, the audience is waiting." she said, then kissed his cheek and walked over the Vinny. Whispering into the man's ear, she smiled at John as the man nodded and waved for him to come up on the stage.

John groaned and stepped up onto the wooden platform and looked out over the faces staring up at him. Most of them looked on in some form of wonder. Some, such as Kurtis and Flak, had respect in their gazes. Some just joy, from the bright smile of Sheila and Will, to the joyful vengeance sparkling from Elsa's face. Finally, he sighed, as the man sitting in the chair next to him gave a test strum on the guitar, before starting off the tune of a very familiar song. He looked over at Elsa with another glare. "Really?"

She shrugged. "It fits." she said, then stuck her tongue out playfully.

Shaking his head, he looked up at everyone again and started off with the lyrics.

"Well I'm the type of guy who will never settle down," he began, looking at Elsa with a cheeky grin.

"Where pretty girls are, will you know that I'm around.

I kiss'em and I love'em, 'cause to me they're all the same.

I hug'em and I squeeze'em, they don't even know my name..."

At this point, Elsa started laughing loudly as the audience began clapping at the well known song from the artist known as Dion and the Belmonts, a song he'd been all too familiar with since his rise to fame.

"They call me the wanderer - yeah - the wanderer,

I roam around around around around..." he said, finally grinning like an idiot as he began to tap his heel against the stage, matching the beat of the song.

Lana stood next to Chris, looking up at the gunman in surprise. "He's...not...bad." she said, cradling her head in her palm as she stared.

"Don't be fallin' in love now." said Harkness as he swept her into an old country style dance pose.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh please. He's too short for me anyway." she said jokingly as he began to dance with her off into the crowd.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Hey everyone! So, I'm here because there's apparently a new reader on here who is writing some...confusing reviews, and not just because of their interesting choice of grammar. So let's start off with his first review, and work our way down.

The only issue in the first one was something about being jealous at how much John...ahem...has romantic encounters with people who are not me. ~pouts~ Anyway...since the beginning of his journey into the wastey wastes of the Capital Wasteland, John has been with two...count them, two ladies in bed. Mary, who I am begrudging to say was first. And the crazy woman from Arefu. Despite some peoples thoughts otherwise, John and Lucy never had an intimate relationship, and since then, well...you know the rest. So, if you haven't been with two women in your entire life, I do apologize for the author portraying him as some kind of super attractive stud muffin god for having been in two separate sexual encounters.

Moving on, and this is where it gets good, the writer says that giving John green power armor makes him the..."Fuck Fallout version of Halo". And they continue to say that the both characters have the same name, super soldier yada yada, and one last comment that I will touch on last. Now, let's brush aside the fact that John doesn't have an alloy covered skeleton that makes his bones near unbreakable. In fact, three times since the point in time that I'm saying this, has he broken a piece of himself. His arm in the Statesman, his back in the underground metro, and his leg in the broken bow of Rivet City. And let's also brush aside the fact that John is the most common name in the United States, because two heroes of separate tales couldn't possibly share the same name. Like Spartan 117: John from Halo, John Shepard from Mass Effect, John Constantine from Constantine, Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat, John (Big Boss) from Metal Gear, Doctor John Watson from the Sherlock Holmes series, John Marston from Red Dead, or John Stewart from the DC Comics Lantern Corps.

Let's brush that aside as well, and let's focus on one specific part of the comment, where he claims that...ahem..."Elsa is a cheap version of Cortana." ~takes a deep breath~ Alright you little...!

 **Author's Note from John:** ~covers Elsa's mouth and holds her back~ Alright folks, show's over. Moving on now. Oh...and guys, I wasn't copied from any particular character, and neither was Elsa, as anyone who has read this far will know. So before making accusations, do a bit more research on the characters on question. Thanks! ~drags Elsa away kicking and screaming~


	55. Voices from the Past

OoO( 55 )OoO

John woke up with a slight headache from the festivities of the night prior. The couple, as well as the rest of the party had cheered for him madly after his song on stage, and he spent the rest of the night drinking and glaring at his constantly giggling companion. Either way, he was glad to be out of the spotlight...so to speak, again. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he turned and slid his legs of the bed, then jumped in fright. He scooted back on his bed when he saw someone sitting in the chair next to his bed.

"What the hell!?" he asked in horror.

"What's the matter?" asked the familiar voice of the android as she reached over and turned the light on. Currently, she was wearing nothing more than the jumpsuit that came with the body.

"Why the hell are you just sitting next to my bed!?" he asked, nearly outraged as he tried to calm himself down.

She cocked an eyebrow at him curiously. "Is it not obvious?" he asked, getting a blank look from him. She sighed to herself, rubbing her own head in frustration. "I'm in love with an idiot..." she grumbled, then eyed him. "Even with a new body, I don't sleep. So I can either steal your caps to rent another room here, all so you can have some privacy. Or sit here next to you while I do my processing, potentially guarding you from attempted assassinations. Take your pick." she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

He stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Sorry...you just scared the shit out of me." he commented, then hopped out of bed. She politely turned her head so that he could get dressed, then put on her own boots.

"What's on the calendar today boss?" she asked, now carrying the gauss rifle over her back.

"We're getting you armor and a couple weapons, then heading out to the Jefferson Memorial. I've put off going after my father for too long and need to make up some lost time." he said simply as he marched down the hallway with her at his side. Together, the two made their way to the marketplace. "Now, I want you to pick your choice of weapons. And they're going to last you a while, so pick ones that are useful, and will last you." he said as they approached the marketplace stall for Flak N' Shrapnel.

The fu manchu sporting man saw the two approaching and greeted them heartily. "Hey big man. Nice song last night." he said happily.

John just glared at Elsa, who snickered, her shoulders shaking in mirth. Looking back at the friendly merchant, he simply said, "Thanks." Then he bumped Elsa forward. As the girl looked over the vast assortment of firearms, John heard, and saw in his peripheral as Charon stepped up to him wielding the massive shotgun.

"Doctor Li said she wants to speak to you whenever you get a free moment." said the ghoul.

"Thanks." said the gunman, then turned to the ghoul. "How's the head?"

"Still a bit tender. It'll get better when I kill something." said the ghoul simply.

John chuckled to himself as he watched Flak try and instruct Elsa on the firearms, only to have her lose interest and start looking at another. "Charon, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were powered by the blood of your enemies."

"You don't know any better." said the ghoul as he watched the scene with Elsa.

"Oooooh...ominous." said the man jokingly as he turned back to the young android. She now had a revolver that looked far too heavy for her in one hand, and a sub machine gun in the other. The gunman purchased both of the weapons, then had her pick out a set of armor, which she did gleefully before donning the entire ensemble. After she walked out in her new leather armor, spinning the unloaded revolver in one hand and the SMG in the other, she slammed both into the holsters that came with them. Then she held up her fingers like guns and blew on them.

Flak just eyed her oddly, his jaw nearly hitting the ground. "How the hell can she swing that around like that?" he asked.

John just chuckled, then pushed her forward. "She works out." he said, paying for the equipment, then getting them out of the area. "Would you at least try to act human?" he asked, still smiling quietly as they headed for the good doctor's science lab.

"You're no fun. You've got super strength, why not show it off a bit?" she asked, pouting at him as the three walked.

"Because, showing off is what makes people want to kill you." he said as he opened the door to the lab.

"Being alive is what makes people want to kill you." she growled, stunning him into silence with how accurate what she said was.

Together, the trio entered the lab and approached the Asian doctor. Madison was currently looking through a large microscope at a slide when they arrived. "Doctor Li, he's here." said the voice of Anna Holt, one of the doctor's assistants. The woman immediately looked up and smiled at him.

"John...I was hoping to catch you before you left." said Madison as she stepped away from the microscope and up to him.

He smiled at her warmly. "I wouldn't have left without at least saying goodbye." The doctor smiled back as well, at least until her eyes locked onto Elsa. "W-What is she doing here?"

John looked over at the Elsa, then back to Madison. "It's...a long story." he said, scratching the back of his head. "But, she's with me now."

Doctor Li still looked at the android girl nervously. Walking forward, Elsa held out her hand. "Elsa Watson, future goddaughter-in-law at your service." she said with a bright smile, making Madison's eyes widen as she looked at John. The gunman sighed heavily, smacking his palm against his forehead.

"She's kidding." he groaned as the doctor shook the girl's hand, a look of uncertainty still on her face. "She helped get rid of Zimmer and his android." he said, leaving out the details of her assistance for obviously horrifying reasons.

Doctor Li finally nodded. "Good to meet you Elsa." she said giving her a small smile. Turning back to John, she shook the thoughts from her head and eyed him. "Anyway, after our talk, I thought I would go through your father's work station to see if there was anything that might help you out. As it turns out, he left these next to his terminal." she said, holding up a small stack of holotapes.

He took them and looked them over curiously, seeing the titles, 'Project Purity Journal 01102058', 'Project Purity Journal 02022058', and 'Project Purity Journal 05172058'. "These...are from my father?" he asked.

Madison nodded with her hands on her hips. "They were journals from back before you were born. He liked to keep recordings of our progress. I guess he must have dug them out of his old locker or something." she said, shrugging lightly.

He nodded to her with a smile. "Thank you...I appreciate the assistance." he said.

"You know it's no issue John. Just..." she said, looking at the ground with a melancholy look on her face. "I warned your father before he left, and I'm going to warn you too. Since he left, and the Brotherhood abandoned us, the supermutants have taken over the purifier. They do leave for extended periods of time, but they always come back and end up swamping the place every couple weeks. I...want you to be careful out there." she said, a tone of deep concern in her voice.

He stood there for a moment, eyeing the woman who was despairing over his personal safety. Smiling gently, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She was surprised by the action, to say the least. But quickly, she wrapped her arms around him and sighed. "Don't worry. I've been fighting and killing mutants for a while now. I know how to handle them." he said in a cheerful tone.

She chuckled as she slowly pulled away. "You know, when I heard about this great Wanderer on the radio, I'd have never thought in a million years that it would have been you. But, if even half the stories on the radio are true, then you'll be more than fine. I just...you've just shown up a week ago and already you're chasing after him. I don't want to lose you on top of James." she aid, the concern returning to her voice.

He chuckled, then turned around, waving to her as the three of them walked towards the door. "No worries. Here in a few days, I'll be marching back through these doors with my father over my shoulder. Then you can relax again." he said, then departed the lab.

She chuckled to herself. "My god...he got the overconfidence too." she said, turning back to her slides and starting working once more.

OoOoO

After the three had exited Rivet City, they all stopped as the wanderer took the first of the tapes, the one labeled with the date '01102058', and slid it into his pipboy. As soon as he hit play, he got the same chills that had gone down his spine when Dr. Li had mistaken him for his father. The voice of the man he hadn't seen in so long came out loud and clear over the speakers as they listened.

 _"We're back at work after a full week of delays. The Brotherhood Soldiers were able to repair the sentry guns, much to my relief. I know Madison isn't comfortable having them here, but there's no denying that we'd be lost without them. We're still waiting on the full analysis of the last three small-scale purification tests. Catherine hasn't been feeling well, and it's slowing down our research. I don't mind, but I can tell it's bothering some of the others."_

"Wow, you two even sound kinda the same." said Elsa as she stared at the pipboy curiously.

He said nothing, and just slid the holotape out, then slid in the next, labeled '02022058'.

 _"Well, there's no more mystery behind Catherine's health problems. The news of her pregnancy has lifted the spirits of everyone here, and given us a renewed interest in making the purifier work. We now have a future generation to provide for. The latest tests show that our methods are horribly inefficient, but I think we're on the right track. Catherine refuses to rest; she insists on spending all day in the lab. I've never seen her more driven. She's determined to resolve the power problems before the baby is born. I've tried to reason with her, but it's no use."_

The android girl looked up at the gunman and could see the tapes having a visible effect on the man. Reaching up, she squeezed his shoulder gently, easing him as he slid in the next tape, labeled '05172058'. Once again, the man's voice came up over the speakers.

 _"The team has made plans to scale back our work once the baby is born. We're also trying to compensate for the increase in mutant attacks; no one is really talking about the implications of it. There are more of them than before. We know it, and the Brotherhood soldiers know it. Our relationship with the Brotherhood is straining. They're concerned by the lack of concrete results from the project, especially in light of the mutant attacks. They haven't come out and said it, but we all know what's going on. They're questioning whether their involvement in the project is worth the trouble it's causing them. They lost two good men this week, with three more injured."_

It was at this time that the door behind them opened and a man in the well known Brotherhood of Steel recon armor stepped out behind them. Between his legs shot the Australian Cattle dog that had become a good companion to all of them. He loped up to the wanderer and stood there, wagging his tail happily. The three of them looked up at the man curiously before Elsa knelt down and started petting the dog. "Awww...who's a good boy?" she asked in a baby voice.

John stared at the man. "You're...Knight Captain De la Rosa, right?" he asked.

The man ran a hand through his brown hair and nodded. "In the flesh and armor mah friend. Caleb to you though. I heard you were headed towards the Jefferson Memorial. Thought I'd lend a hand." he said in his not so thick accent.

John cocked an eyebrow at the man. "I thought the Brotherhood lost interest in the purifier." he said cautiously.

"That was the case back then. But let's just say that the Brotherhood as seen you work miracles before. And if you can work one here, we'll all be better off for it. So I'm here to assist where needed." he said smoothly. Reaching up, he brushed the bangs out of his face. "And it wouldn't hurt to get a promotion if I happen to be there when you save the Wasteland." he said playfully.

"Well, the more the merrier I suppose." said the gunman as he nodded towards the bridge leading to the shore of the bay.

OoOoO

Dog let out a low growl as they all looked at the Jefferson Memorial catwalks, which were littered with supermutants. Elsa reached up and stroked the nape of the dog's neck gently, giggling quietly at the feel of the dog's fur on her fingers. Turning back, she placed her eye to the scope of the gauss rifle and spied the mutants that were patrolling the grated walkways.

"That's a lot of mutants amigo. You sure you wanna go in there?" asked Caleb as he spied over the concrete barrier they had taken cover behind.

"I'm going in there one way or another." he said, looking over at the man. "You can stay out here if you want to." he said in a playful, mocking tone.

"Alright loco, you talked me into it." he said with a smirk as he pulled a much thicker looking laser rifle off his back.

"What the hell is that?" asked Charon as he eyed the weapon.

"I call her Chloe." he said with a smirk. "Now, we gonna do this?" he asked.

Suddenly, all three of them were startled by a loud klaxon that sounded across the empty abandoned city scape. It was followed by a clinking sound, and John watched as the shell of a spent microfusion cell bounced off his knee. Looking up, he saw Elsa moving like a trained killer, tilting the weapon, firing, ejecting, and refocusing, all done within seconds. She fired off ten microfusion cells within thirty seconds before she stood up and looked down at the three. John and Caleb had their ears covered and were looking up at her in shock while Charon had a rather annoyed look on his face. It didn't help the Dog was licking him vigorously.

Elsa smiled down at them. "If you're all done hiding, we've got a purifier to clear." she said as she began walking towards the memorial. John stood up and looked at the bodies now litering the catwalks. Each of them were either missing their heads, or had a rather sizeable hole through their cranium, leaving them with a rather blank, bloody, horrified stare.

"Ay Dios mio..." said Caleb as he popped his head up over the barrier. "Young lady, you're a hell of a shot." he said, climbing over the barricade and scanning the massacre on the catwalk.

"I know." she said with a giggle as she polished her nails on her new leather armor breastplate proudly.

John chuckled and ruffled her hair as he stepped forward and began the journey across the catwalks. Not surprisingly, she had done a particularly effective job on the supposed outer guard. De la Rosa made quick work of picking the greens clean of their weapons and ammunition, tossing most of the ammunition to the others. When they made it to the only visible entrance to the outside that wasn't caved in, the grouped up. Elsa stood on one side with her gauss rifle, Charon stood on the other side holding his shotgun aloft, while John and Caleb stood in front. Reaching forward, John swung open the gift shop door while the Knight Captain hold his laser weapon trained on the entrance.

As soon as the door was opened, they were greeted with a roar of anger. Knight Captain De la Rosa greeted the roar by suppressing the trigger of his weapon. It charged for a moment, the long barrel lighting up along the ridges with energy before a beam fired. The energy hit the supermutant that was currently charging at them directly in his chest, burning through it and bursting out the other side. The green monster dropped to the ground as Caleb released the trigger. The weapon began to smoke as the heat built up, but slowly started to disperse as he let it rest. John stared at the weapon in mild surprise.

"That's got a hell of a kick to it." he said as he looked up at the Knight Captain.

"I'm a bit of a tinkerer. I like to take weapons apart, and ask, 'How can I make this thing as destructive as possible?', then put it back together." he said with a chuckle.

"Well, be careful with it. We're going into close quarters now, and I'd appreciate staying in one piece." said the gunman as he entered the door. Elsa spun in right after him, her gaze through the scope scanning the long hallway they found themselves in. But, one thing she noticed immediately was a terminal on the wall that looked like it had collected enough dust to cover it entirely. John was about to walk forward, when she grabbed his arm, stopping him. "What is it?" he asked curiously.

"There's a terminal here. I'm gonna check to see what's on it real quick. At the very least, we might be able to get a map to the place." she said as she brushed the dust away from the screen. He nodded, and she took minute longer to get the grime away from one of the covered ports, then popped it open. She looked down at her hand curiously, as if unsure about something.

"What's the matter?" asked John quietly, not wanting to give away their position, if the screaming mutant hadn't done that already that is. She said nothing and just stared at her hand for a moment longer before a circle appeared on the flesh of her palm. He watched wide eyed as the circle sunk into the hand and slid out of the way, revealing a universal jack, similar to the one he had on his pipboy. The devices pushed itself out of her palm, and she inserted it into the terminal, her eyes closing as she did. "Elsa?" he asked after a moment.

Suddenly, she smiled faintly. "Caleb?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

The Knight Captain looked up at her curiously. "Yes?" he asked.

"Tell the Brotherhood of Steel that we thank them for the requisition of their equipment." she said pleasantly.

The Knight Captain held his precious rifle to his chest. "'Ey chica, you're not getting my gun."

"Not what I was talking about." she said, smiling brightly. Suddenly, from down the hall, there was the immediate sound of automatic gunfire. The wanderer, Charon, and Caleb all raised their weapons and aimed them down the hall as Elsa removed herself from the terminal and sealed away her port again. Two of the giant brutes ran into the hall as a hail of bullets chased them. The two monsters stared at the four intruders in shock, right before they both became bullet riddled corpses. Charon unleashed two hellish blasts the destroyed his opponent, while John blasted his supermutant rival backwards, back into the constant fire of the automatic turrets in the hub area. The combined fire turned him into something resembling green Swiss cheese.

There were more loud shouts and grunts coming from the main room, prompting them to raise their guns and and start moving down the hall slowly. John looked over at Elsa curiously. "Those things aren't going to shoot at us are they?" he asked as the snuck up to the edge of the large doorway.

"Nope! Don't ask how, too complicated." she said playfully as she stepped out, locked on, then fired the gauss rifle. The magnetic round tore clean through the beasts cranium, splattering its grey matter across the floor and dropping it immediately. They moved quickly, taking out corridor by corridor of the blast damaged gift shop until there were nothing but bullet ridden green corpses, or piles of ash littering the floors. As the dust settled on the battleground, John began to get a nagging sensation as he looked around at the mutants.

"If my father was here when they came back..." he said frantically as he immediately walked over to the door with the label 'Rotunda' and kicked it open. The group followed him into the large domed room, and across the catwalks until they stood before the mystical device itself. "The purifier..." said the gunman as he looked over the machinery. To say that it looked its age was a bit of an understatement. How his father intended to restore this when it was old, even twenty years ago was beyond him. Then again, his father had performed similar miracles with vault equipment back when they lived in 101, so he wouldn't put it past him.

Looking around, he saw signs of recent activity around the place. An empty cup that still had traces of old coffee in it, bandages with small traces of blood that were relatively new, and even an opened can of cram that still had some of the questionable meat in the can. But, looking around, he found no signs of struggle or blood, giving him a small glimmer of hope. "Hey..." came Elsa's voice. He looked over and saw her standing next to some form of chemical station. "There are more tapes over here." she remarked.

He immediately walked over and found three more similar holotapes to the ones that Madison had given him back in Rivet City. Picking the tapes up, they were simply labeled PJ005, PJ008, and PJ010. Immediately, he opened the pipboy as the others gathered around, then slid the first, labeled 'PJ005'.

 _"Even in Vault 101, my work on Project Purity never really stopped. Soon after we arrived, my nightly routine included sneaking into the restricted areas. Searching for, I don't know, whatever I could find. It was a Vault-Tec facility after all. The place was built with some of the most advanced technology this country had ever developed. Those excursions never turned up anything particularly useful. So one night, after half a bottle of scotch, I broke into the Overseer's office. It was easy enough to hack his console, gain access to the restricted files. Most of it was garbage: propaganda, spy reports, just plain rambling bullshit, really. But there was one thing, one name that stood out amongst all the others... Dr. Stanislaus Braun. I knew of Braun's work, of course. He was a celebrity in his day. Vault-Tec's sorcerer-scientist, leaving his peers in awe of his technological wizardry. But it was in Vault 101 that night in the Overseer's office, that I first learned of Braun's involvement in Vault-Tec's social preservation program, and his work on something called GECK, Garden of Eden Creation Kit."_

As if he were a machine, he took the tape out and slammed in the second one, 'PJ008'.

"To be honest, the GECK sounded like pure fantasy, even for someone of Braun's capabilities. It was nothing short of a miracle. A terra-forming module, capable of producing life from complete lifelessness. But not only was this thing a reality, it was actually distributed to several vaults to be used after an atomic war. Vault 101 was, sadly, not on that list. I did some digging and discovered Braun's name on the reservation list for a Vault 112. I'm no slouch, but this man, he could have easily succeeded where I failed. Does his collected knowledge remain within the halls of Vault 112? Journals, holotapes, computer records, maybe even experiments? If I could gain access to just a fraction of Braun's genius, Project Purity would become a reality." finished the tape.

"She was right about him liking to record himself." said the ghoul as he held a shotgun over one shoulder.

"'Ey amigo, if I had a smooth voice like that, I'd wanna listen to myself talk too, eh?" said the armored Knight Commander as he nudged Elsa with a playful smile. But the android girl had focused on John's face. The wanderer was mostly a blank slate at the moment as he prepared to swap out the tapes to the third and final one. But she knew better. She's seen the iron will that created that face when he was in turmoil. She knew what was going on inside, but she wasn't sure why. Finally, he slid the tape home and closed it.

 _"I'm off to Vault 112 to search for anything of Braun's that might help me get this purifier up and running. It was difficult to find, but I was able to pull some strings and get the information I needed. I don't know if the entrance is open. But I'm going regardless. I have to. It's so close, but that's the story of Project Purity, isn't it? An eternity of "almost there's". Let's see if Braun has the missing puzzle piece."_ finished the tape.

The gunman let out a heavy sigh, the strain in his father's voice nearly matching his own by the final tape. "He's not here." he said.

Elsa smiled assuringly, putting her hand on his arm and squeezing lightly. "But he's not dead." she said. He looked at her, letting out a light chuckle.

"Yeah." was all he said in response. Turning, he looked around at the surfaces of the other tables.

"What are you looking for?" asked Caleb.

"These are labeled as five, eight, and ten. That means he has more somewhere. Not to mention there are no cots here, so he likely slept somewhere else." he said, finishing his search in the Rotunda. "Let's search the basement. He had to be working down there too if he was going to get this thing running. Let's see if we can't find any other tapes that can tell us more about this vault one twelve." he said, heading for the door to the cavernous room.

OoOoO

It had taken an hour for them to clear the entirety of the basement level. The big greens had been burrowed deep within the undercroft of the memorial, and had to be taken out very carefully, as most of the machinery for the purifier lie beneath the feet of the ancient president. It took a great deal of luring the green beasts away from the equipment, then gunning them down in the non-sensitive areas of the tunnels. When finally, the last of the offensive brutes had been cleared, the four of them separated and began to search the crawling depths for any signs of his father's habitat.

John had wandered into the medical bay when he saw exactly what he was looking for. There was a bed with several empty bottles of water sitting next to it, as well as holotapes littering the table. He walked over with a smirk and sat on the bed, gathering the recordings and examining them. Like the others, they were labeled, 'PJ001', 'PJ002', and 'PJ003'. Standing up, he began walking towards the door to get the others when his eyes locked onto one last holotape. It was inconspicuously sitting on a coffee table next to the door.

The wanderer reached down and picked it up, examining it curiously. It looked about as old as his father's Project Purity recordings. When he flipped it over, he noticed that it was not labeled like the others. Instead of having a neat and organized assigned code, this one was labeled with 'Better Days'. It was unusual to see proof that his father wasn't always the strict, by the numbers man who based his entire life around following the rules. How many times he had to hear, "That's what the Overseer says, so that's what we believe." He even rolled his eyes after hearing in his head. Figuring this holotape may have been a little more personal than the others, he stepped towards the bed, slid it into the pipboy, then hit the play button.

The voice that came from the pipboy immediately stunned him, as he didn't recognize it. _"...that batch of tests was inconclusive, but Madison and I are convinced it's a problem with the secondary filtration system. We're going to re-calibrate the equipment and try again tomorrow, so that... James, please, I'm trying to work. Now's not the time..."_ said the voice from the computer. Immediately his legs buckled and he plopped onto the bed, his eyes wide as his skin crawled with goosebumps. _"So that's the next step. Assuming we get the results we need, we'll move on to... James! Stop! I need to finish these notes... We'll move on to diagnosing the issues with the radiation dampeners. That should... Ow! James! Now? We really shouldn't..."_ the tape ended with the woman giggling madly at his father. He sat there for a long moment, processing what he had just heard before he played it again, not even aware of the tears running down his face as he listened to her voice once more.

Elsa watched him from the door. Having already examined her area thoroughly with her new sensors, she had come to check on him and see if he needed any help. When she had arrived at the door, she saw him fall onto his rear end on the bed as he listened. And from the contents of the tape, she knew that the woman had to have been his mother, who he'd never met, nor even heard from. She entered the room, a melancholy look on her face as the tape ended for the second time and the gunman sat staring at the pipboy, still unsure that what he heard was real. When she stopped next to him, he finally spoke. "I've...I've never heard her voice before..." he mumbled, not taking his eyes off the tape, as if looking away would make it disappear.

Not really having anything to say, she reached down and wiped one of the tear tracks from his face. She was only mildly surprised when he grabbed her and held her tight, his body wracking with grief. She, who was still standing, just sadly wrapped her arms around his head, hugging him as she watched a lot of pain flood from his body through tears, the same way it did with her two nights ago.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Yay for fanart! Everyone who enjoys the new cover of Elsa for the story, thank TheForsakenDream from DeviantArt. :D


	56. Congregation

OoO( 56 )OoO

Caleb had examined his area thoroughly, making sure to clean the dead bodies of their weapons. When he came across a particularly nasty one of the green monsters classified as a Master, he ripped the laser rifle from his dead hands and examined the multi beamed weapon. It had taken him a month or so to get his weapon to do what it did, and that was with the assistance of a few scribes from the Citadel giving him advice. To see a mutant holding a weapon with the same potential had blown his mind, and he promised to come back and commandeer the laser weapon.

Looking it over, he began looking over the construction when he heard the call from the wanderer. Turning, he returned to the entrance to the basement where he found the others. When he approached, he noticed immediately that the gunman's mood had taken a strange turn. The look on his face, the puffiness of his eyes, and even the tone in his voice had taken a grim tone. "Everything alright?" he asked, brandishing both energy weapons as he stopped in front of them.

John looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, just...found something unexpected." he said. Letting out a sigh, the gunman continued, dropping the line of questioning immediately. "In any case, I've found some more recordings. Unfortunately, they don't tell us where Vault 112 is actually located. So we're going to have to find out what my father's sources were for the information." he said, eyeing Caleb curiously. "He did a lot of dealing with the Brotherhood of Steel before leaving for Vault 101. Any chance they might have information on the others?" he asked.

The Knight Captain shrugged lightly. "Not sure. You'd have to ask Scribe Rothchild. He's the librarian for the Citadel." he said casually.

"Librarian?" asked Elsa.

"Book keeper...he's the record keeper. He is in charge of the knowledge base for the Brotherhood." he said, making his meaning clear with each iteration after realizing he'd used 'in house slang' to describe the prim and proper Scribe's title.

John nodded, a slight smile as he heard Elsa groan growing on his face. "Looks like we're headed for the Citadel then."

OoOoO

Over a month. It had been over a month since their encounter at the Bethesda building. Since then, she had returned to the Citadel and done what she had devoted her life to. She stopped being Sarah, and once again became Sentinel Lyons. She could see, and even feel a noticeable change in her demeanor when she was no longer in his presence. And it had bugged her immensely.

Over their tours together into the ruins of the former capital, her men had gotten an image of her that could have been sculpted in stone. Friendly, sometimes bossy, but when shit hit the fan she was a no nonsense juggernaut who commanded death to her enemies. Such was the image of the daughter of Elder Owyn Lyons. Then he came along...

Upon first meeting him, their encounter had been relatively short. He ran into the battlefield with his rocket launching companion and hit the wave of supermutants that her squad were taking out like a hammer smashing through wood. At the time, it infuriated her that outsiders took it upon themselves to show up the Lyon's Pride by involving themselves. And she was sure to let him know that when her men jerked him back to his feet. Then again, that encounter didn't exactly go her way. As soon as the idiot had cleared his wits of the cobwebs, he stung her with a remark about her duty to the civilians of the wasteland. It probably wouldn't have stung as sharply if her father hadn't based his exile from the west coast Brotherhood on their need to help the people of the Capital Wasteland.

Regardless, she knew she had been a bitch, and decided to rectify the situation then and there. After catching up to him, she found out that he wasn't just an ordinary citizen of the wastes. He was John Ronas, the Wolf of the Wasteland. He was the one her squad had heard about from Three Dog on the radio. To say the least, when she first registered who he was as they stood in the GNR plaza, she was a bit underwhelmed. From the stories, she would have pictured him towering over even her impressive height, with arms as big around as a supermutants. But to see him standing their, that curious look on his face as he looked up at her, almost made her laugh, and lightened her mood entirely. It was then that the attack came, and it was then that he proved himself to be the wanderer of legend.

The typical Brotherhood of Steel power armor weighed in at about 800 pounds. The fact that he had caught her flying at high speed when she had been thrown was enough to stop her judgement of his size immediately. Then, with the agility of a lemur, he climbed the back of the supermutant and shoved a nuclear ordinance down its throat. After all of that, he was still able to lift a concrete slab that someone in power armor might blow out a gasket if they attempted the same. All in all, it was incredible to watch him work.

After he left again, he added more to his plate of impossible feats by bringing down a twenty story hotel onto the heads of a notoriously rooted in group of supermutants that made their home in Vernon Square. Reilly's Rangers had apparently gotten the attention of every one of the green brutes in the square, and as such, had an entire army smashing themselves against their pitiful amount of munitions. So when the building came crashing down, there wasn't a single green survivor of the lot. The more she heard about him, the more unbelievable the story became.

Then came the distress signal, sent by the annoying AI on his pipboy, as well as his companion eyebot simply named Liberty. She hadn't realized it at the time, but when she heard news of his capture, she had been horrified. Turning to her group, she advised them that they were going to rescue him, hiding her concern well. And together, with Reilly and the other mysterious group of Regulators, they tore into the infested building and crushed the filth that had captured him. That was when she felt her heart clench for the first time since her father had suffered from a stroke years ago. Burned into her brain was the image of him hanging from meat hooks, skewered with blades as if he were some twisted pincushion. His head was drooping and congealed blood could be seen from his mouth. Immediately, her image of this invincible gunman had shattered, and was replaced by a sorrow she hadn't felt in so long.

So when she annihilated the man responsible, she felt she needed to apologize. She didn't really know why, but the mantle of guilt fell on her, as if she weren't fast enough in her rescue of him. It was then that she nearly jumped out of her Brotherhood issued jumpsuit when his voice came to her ears once more. The events that followed came at an astonishing pace. Her first actual kiss, her discovery of his healing powers, her seeing him light up like a Christmas tree when the radiation became too much, the bolt of lightning. Then, her second kiss. Despite her cool outward demeanor and intimidating size, she felt like a fidgeting girl when she sat next to him in that room.

She had visited the memory of their shared moment a few times since they had parted ways again. Each time she found herself drifting into the memory, she shook her head and cleared her thoughts again. She was acting like a damn teenager, pining over someone who wasn't even here. She stood up from the table in her room and walked to the bathroom, where a shoddy mirror was placed over an actual working sink. Despite the Pentagon being one of the many targets for the falling bombs of old, the place had apparently been built extremely well. The mirror, while scratched and covered with dirt upon first finding it, was still completely intact, and the plumbing had been all but untouched.

Staring into the mirror, she registered her features curiously. She thought she was beautiful, her father said she was beautiful. But most of the guys in the Citadel whose opinion she'd actually take to heart on her appearance seemed too intimidated, by either her presence, or her father's presence to tell her how she actually looked. She had blond hair, as bright as sunlight. It was unusual in that it had some areas that curled naturally as it got longer, including on long curtain of bangs that constantly had to be pulled back into a ponytail. It had been a while since she'd had it cut, leaving it down around her large shoulders. Her eyes, she had been told many times, were as blue as the waters before the bombs fell. Despite the compliment, she had never actually seen the waters of old, nor did she even register that as a compliment. Her features were mixed between soft and hard. A thick neck and sharp chin led up to a soft curved jaw, unlike the jutting square of masculinity that Vargas and the Wanderer had. Above that were regal cheekbones, that led to sharp, hawk-like blue eyes. Her eyebrows were dainty at best, perfectly curved lines of sunlight colored hair, and above that her forehead was a small slope that connected to the hair on her head.

She sighed to herself as she turned away from the mirror, her half curling hair swaying as she moved her large frame. Despite her facial features, there was one thing that no guy could usually get past. Looking down, she looked at her large hands, and the thick forearms that were attached. She towered over most of the men she met. Thus far, the only man that she found that outshined her impressive size was the goliath of a man named Cid who the wanderer had brought with him. Many had looked at her as too big an accomplishment to handle. Or sometimes, even too much baggage, given she was the daughter of the elder. She'd managed to brush that sentiment of never finding someone who'd look beyond her size and lineage aside for so long, that it had snuck up on her again when she spoke with him back in the Bethesda building. It still amazed her that he was so dense that a slip of the tongue had revealed he was actually attracted to her.

The revelation was so shocking to her that she stayed silent for a long moment. But she had recovered quickly, and her inner insecurities seemed to act of their own accord, trying to lock things down with him before she let the first man who was openly attracted to her, and wasn't shy about her size or her title, slip away. Soon, she found herself in a deep kiss that she would remember for the rest of her days. Then, in a relationship that she questioned every day since then. It was stupid to assume he would stick with her just because he said that they were together. Though, she couldn't exactly blame someone for seeking a warm bed in a wasteland where you could trip over something that would be the end of you. However, she couldn't help but wonder a little bit every time she went to bed, whether he was sleeping next to someone. This was shortly followed by her berating herself for being an idiot, then going to sleep.

She stepped into the mess hall in B-Ring, which was just off the soldiers barracks. She had to walk from the Lyon's Den to get there, but she didn't mind, as the privacy that having her squad's own barracks gave her was invaluable. She looked around at the others who were joking and eating as they sat at a long table that was placed in the center of the room. Here and there she could see members of the Pride, Knight Captain Colvin on one end, Paladin Vargas on the other, with a few others sprinkled in between. She walked over to the serving station and was given a tray of rations by the cook, a simple Knight called Cookie. He'd been offered a promotion many times before, but waved it off, saying 'he didn't need that shit to keep cookin'. The man nodded to her as she took the food and turned back to the table. Almost as if by magic, a spot at the table had cleared itself when her back was turned. She chuckled and walked over, sitting down with her men and eating.

"So Commander, you look like you had a rough night." said Colvin as he smiled at her from underneath his flat top blonde hair.

"Jeeeesus Nick. What's wrong with you?" asked the dark skinned Gallows as he eyed the blonde man incredulously.

"What? What'd I say?" asked the sniper as he looked between the two.

"Might as well have said she looked like shit." said Dusk as she elbowed Colvin in the side.

Nick Colvin looked back at Sarah as she sat down, an amused smile on her face. "You know what I meant, right Commander?" he asked.

"Sarah." she said. The hall went quiet when the name was pronounced. They all looked at her in shock, the only noise coming from Cookie in the back. "You all can call me Sarah in here."

"But...Commander..." said Gallows as he stared at her. She shot him an irritated look, which he took to heart. "A-Alright Sarah..." he said, raising his arms defensively. "I was just curious..."

She sighed and looked at all of them, eyeing each one with respect. "I know I've been a hardass most of my life. Despite the laughing and joking we've done, you've all kept a respectable distance from familiarity. I'd appreciate if that stopped now." she said.

"Distance?" asked Colvin as he looked at her.

"She means that we've all called her Commander, or Sentinel Lyons since her promotion. And even before that, she was Paladin Lyons, and before that Recruit Lyons...it goes on." she explained to her thick friend.

"Oh...I get it. I guess we kinda did without even realizing it." said Gallows as he scratched his short dark hair.

Sarah nodded. "I may be a hardass, but I'd like us to be more than just battle buddies. I want us to be friends." she said, leaning her chin into her hand.

"That's one stick. Now we just need to get the one out of Vargas' ass and we'll be a real family." said Paladin Kodiak as he sat down with them after getting his tray. Everyone, aside from Vargas, looked at him with shock at his brash statement. Vargas gave him a sour look that told him he'd pay for that one later. But Sarah, after the shock wore off, began to laugh loudly. The others broke as well once they found out their Commander wasn't going to snap the Paladin in half.

"What's so funny?" asked a young boy with a mop of brown hair. He had gotten his food and sat next to Sarah, as if unfazed by her intimidating demeanor.

Sarah chuckled lightly and ruffled his hair playfully. "Nothing Arthur. Just grownups calling each other names." she said, her mood much lighter than it had been before.

Suddenly, the door to the hallway of A-Ring burst open and a scribe screeched to a halt upon seeing the blonde commander. "Sentinel Lyons!" he said, straightening respectfully.

"Scribe Reynolds?" asked Sarah as she stood to her feet again.

"We've got...a strange request for assistance in communications. They asked for you personally." said the robed man.

The leader of the Lyon's Pride nodded, then stepped away from the table. Brushing the crumbs off her large shirt, she walked with a purpose, following the scribe as her boots made echoing clunks off the empty walls. Occasionally, they would pass a paladin or Knight, all of whom saluted her as they passed. It was only now, after he had shown her the difference between commanding and leading that the salutes started to annoy her. But eventually they made it to the comms room and arrived at the radio in question.

Reaching down, she picked up the mic and sat in the chair in front of the radio. Pressing the button, she spoke into the radio in her usual commanding tone. "This is Sentinel Lyons of the Lyon's Pride and Lieutenant Commander of the Citadel. State your name and your purpose immediately." she said, wondering who would have the gall to call directly to her through the comms.

 _"Well, that's a warm welcome for you."_ said the voice across the radio band. She immediately froze in her seat as she stared at the mic in her hand. _"Heeelloooo? Still with me?"_

"J-John?" she asked.

 _"In the flesh...well...sort of. I tried to approach the front gate, but that Bael guy said that if I tried to get any closer they'd need an ashtray to clean me up."_ he said.

 _"Even you can't dodge gatling lasers for long."_ said a strangely familiar voice from further away.

 _"Anyway, I was in the area, wanted to see you, and wanted to see if we could help each other out."_ said the voice of the wanderer. In the background, the female sounded as if she vomited. _"Oh shut up Elsa."_

She couldn't help but smile, her features changing from Sentinel again to Sarah. "So it is you." she said with a chuckle. "What the hell are you doing out here?" she asked.

 _"Is there a way we can talk inside? I'd rather not have sensitive information going out for anyone to hear."_ he said in a rather antsy tone of voice.

"I'll see what the best option is, but usually nobody but the Brotherhood is allowed inside the Citadel. So I'll probably have to come out to you." she remarked.

 _"If that's what it takes."_ he said with a sigh.

"I'll get back with you on this band in an hour. Keep it open for me." she said with a smile as she rose to her feet.

OoOoO

After a few minutes of power walking, the large sentinel found her father down in the laboratory beneath the main courtyard of the Citadel. After a moment, and a few domineering looks from the young woman, the scribes around him cleared out, leaving the pair to themselves.

"What is it Sarah? You usually don't clear the room unless it's a personal emergency." said the older man as he turned towards her.

She stood straight, her military life taking the lead in front of her father. "It is...of sorts." she said. When she continued to get the questioning gaze from him, she finally spilled. "It's the Wanderer, the one from the radio."

"I've heard of him, and his ridiculous feets portrayed by Three Dog. For a while, I assumed he was just a fictional character until I read your report from Galaxy News Radio." he said calmly as he continued to look over data pads that were stacked in front of him. "What about him?" he asked.

"He's standing at our front gates, Elder." she mentioned, her body stiff in the attention stance. Her father looked up at her and sighed.

"Sarah, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Father, not Elder. And for the love of God, relax." he said waving his hand at her in agitation. She did soften her stance, but still stood at ease in front of him. One reason she continued to stick to military protocol was because she had an underlying fear of being blamed for nepotism. People would point at her back in school and say that her grades were because she was the Elder's daughter, which infuriated her. So to prove them wrong, she took a purely professional stance with her father, something that he had appreciated at first, but had grown tiresome of over the last few years, especially after the stroke he suffered a few years back. But, as if she had something to prove, she continued to keep things professional. "What is it he wants?" asked the aging man as he sat in a chair and looked at her strong form.

He listened patiently, absent mindedly stroking his beard as she relayed the message. "He's requesting entry to the Citadel to discuss with us something he said was sensitive information." she said.

He continued stroking his beard for a moment before leaning forward, looking deep into her eyes with his own matching blue pair. "Did you know that Arthur as a bit of a boyhood crush on you?" asked the Elder.

The look of shock on the Sentinel's face was immediate, and very brief. "I...I did not. But what does that...?" she asked, but the Elder cut her off in his lax tone.

"He considered that information top secret. Do you think that that information is something you or I would risk our lives to protect?" he asked solemnly.

The woman stood straight once again, knowing exactly where her father was going. "Elder..." she said, noticing him sigh again. "Father, you may not trust someone you only know from the radio. But I have met him. He's a real person, and a person we can trust. And whatever this information is that he's bringing us, it's something he wanted to protect from anyone else that may be monitoring our band. And you and I both know that every scumbag mercenary band in the wasteland is out for his head." she said, eyeing him sternly. "Whatever information he wants to protect, it's not as childish as you're assuming."

He smiled knowingly. "So he, like Arthur, is not seeking involvement in your personal life?" asked the Elder.

She sighed. She should have guessed he would have known. "I can't say one way or another whether he does. I know he did, but whether that remains true I have yet to find out. I do know however that he would not risk my trust for the sake of some Romeo and Juliette nonsense. If he says he has sensitive information, then he has sensitive information." she said.

"You trust him?" he asked curiously.

She took a moment, going through her thoughts at a rapid pace once more. Everything the two had been through together, even if they hadn't liked each other, would have made her gain the trust of mostly anyone. Looking up, she nodded firmly. "With my life."

"Then he may be allowed into the courtyard, but no further." he said. He got a nod from her, and as she turned to leave, he called out again. "Sarah." he said firmly. "I'm aware of how much you like him. Vargas' report, on top of seeing you here fighting to get him entry tells me a lot. While I don't have any objections to you two pursuing a life with each other, just remember. You are Brotherhood first." he said.

She sent a silent glare at him for a moment, then shot back in a way he hadn't expected. "As you wish, Elder Lyons." she said scathingly. At that moment, he realized that he had just contradicted himself horribly in front of her, and he sat back and sighed in frustration as she went to leave the room.

"Sarah..." he called out.

"That's Sentinel Lyons." she said, then exited the door, leaving him to stew in his thoughts.

OoOoO

"Are you fucking kidding me?" asked Paladin Bael as he received the answer from inside the Citadel. John stood in front of him, a sly smirk on his face with his arms crossing his chest. Letting out an irritated sigh, he nodded towards the gate. "Sentinel says you've got the okay for the courtyard. Try and go into any of those doors though, I'll burn a hole in you big enough to walk through." threatened the paladin as he hammered the gate. A loud pump could be heard from the other side of the gate, and the two large, iron clad door lifted with a loud grinding noise. "And the ghoul stays out here. No offense, but they'd put my head on a pike for allowing non-humans in the gate at all." he said, looking at Charon.

The ghoul bodyguard eyed him maliciously, but stayed where he was. "I'll be out here when you're finished." he said in his gravelly voice as she turned and sat down on the shore to the Potomac Delta.

"We won't be long." he said as he turned to the others and nodded towards the gate. Caleb and Elsa followed him in, the android wearing a nervous look on her face as she eyed the armored men with giant gatling lasers watching them enter. The courtyard to the Citadel looked like a training camp. From several sets of weight benches off to the left, to target dummies lining a wall to the right for target practice. There were even a group of recruits being forced to do pushups by a hardened looking paladin who was topless, with nothing but holotags covering his chest as he sat in a chair and watched them, screaming out each repetition they did. At the far end of the courtyard, there were several soldiers that had been duking it out, sparring with one another before the gates opened and allowed the trio into their embrace with the dog following behind.

Everyone froze as the three entered. The paladin, who had been smoking the recruits into the ground eyed the visitors sternly. The recruits on the ground also stopped their pushups to look and see who had entered the sacred Citadel. It wasn't long however before the paladin turned back to them and shouted, "Did I say you could stop maggots!?" He rose up and threw the chair out of the way as he approached them and knelt down to scream in their faces. "WHEN I'M FINISHED, I'LL TELL YOU TO STOP SCUMBAGS! UNTIL THEN, YOU KEEP PUSHING UNTIL THE GODDAMN UNIVERSE SUFFERS HEAT DEATH! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?" he asked, his loud voice echoing across the courtyard and drowning out even the radio.

"Sir yes sir!" shouted the three recruits as they doubled their efforts to make up for their mistake. John couldn't help but chuckle at the scene. At least, that was before the same bald, bare chested paladin approached him.

"Glad you find this funny waste rat. Now what the hell are you doing in my Citadel?" he asked, staring John down immediately.

In any other circumstances, just John's glowing eyes would have been enough to silence someone trying to square off against him. But the wanderer could tell that this man had seen enough that it would take more than just a death glare to ward him off. "I'm here for knowledge, and to offer assistance." he simply said to the man, who was now standing in front of him. They were the same height, making it easy for the two to eye each other down.

"Hear that boys? He wants to offer his assistance!" shouted the man, getting a loud laugh from the others around the small plaza. "What the hell do we need your help for?" he asked, jabbing John's chest.

Caleb stepped forward, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "Cummon Tristan, he's alright." he commented. But Tristan jerked his shoulder away from the Knight Captain.

"That's Paladin Tristan to you." he said, now eyeing Caleb ruthlessly. Knight Captain De la Rosa almost immediately went rigid at the sign of rank pulling. But both of the Brotherhood soldiers looked at the wanderer as he began to laugh. "The fuck's so funny?" he asked.

John just chuckled to himself as he shook his head. "Sorry...it's just funny to see a teenage version of Paladin Vargas." said the gunman with an amused smile on his face. Everyone in the courtyard froze in place as they registered the insult. But before anyone could respond, a voice came from the opening door to the inner rings.

"Alright ladies! Show's over!" shouted Sarah as she stepped out into the sunlight in her black shirt, pants, and boots. As she crossed her arms with a confident smile on her face, Paladin Tristan stepped away from John and stood rigid.

"Attention!" he shouted. Everyone in the courtyard stood stiff to attention.

"At ease jokers. Back to work!" she shouted as she walked up to the wanderer. Tristan glared at John, then turned back to his troops, his mood turning ever more south when the gunman waved at him with a mocking smile. "Always making friends, aren't you?" she asked.

"Must be my charming personality." he said jokingly.

"You know he's going to challenge you later, right?" asked Sarah. She realized she was smiling widely, and wouldn't have been able to remove it if she tried. At least, that was until she looked over and saw the small, red-headed woman standing next to John, with his long rifle over her shoulder. "Uhhh...hi." said the sentinel, a look of concern on her face. "And you are?"

The young android woman gave the leader of the Lyon's Pride a bright, Cheshire-like smile as she held out her hand. John could immediately feel impending death approach as he examined the two women's features. "Elsa Watson, at your service." she said wickedly.

Sarah stood for a moment, staring at the woman as her memory pulled the name up from the depths of her mind. When she finally recognized the name, and the voice, her face warped into a confused anger. "What!?"

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Due to my lacking the ability to keep track of characters (I literally have to keep all their names on a list of 'All Present' just to make sure I don't miss any in a scene), I tend to write from one person's point of view. It makes it easier to keep track of the characters around them, thus making my job easier. However, due to a requesting reviewer, I will try from now on to post more than one point of view. Though when characters gather, the viewpoint kinda jumps around a bit, I will make an effort to include everyone's favorites from now on, instead of John being the sole point of view in the story. I realize that it's bad writing to have it that way with so many characters, it was just my weakness. Time to get it out of the way.

Also, I want to say again, thank you to everyone who reviews these chapters. Your input means the world to me, and is the reason these chapters keep coming. :D


	57. The Citadel

OoO( 57 )OoO

Knight Captain De la Rosa didn't think he'd ever heard the courtyard of the mighty Citadel so eerily quiet before. Ever since they had been stationed here in the former military capital of the country, there was always a radio playing music, weapons being discharged into dummies that were dressed as supermutants, or someone training or sparring in the corners of the yard. But when that sharp, one worded question came from the Sentinel's mouth, everybody froze. Recruits with their weapons held up ready to fire stood frozen as they looked over at their commander. Paladins that were sparring, stood, heads loosely locked and grips slackened as they stared in awe, rarely having heard that tone outside of battle. Even the hardass Paladin Tristan had taken a step back, his eyes wide as he saw the anger on the blonde woman's face.

John instinctively covered his most sensitive parts with his hands in case any attacks came his direction, his reflexes causing him to cover his crotch and his throat. All of the Brotherhood, plus the wanderer looked on as the blonde Sentinel glared down at the wickedly smiling, red-headed android. Suddenly, a command ripped from her throat, loud and echoing across the courtyard. "Everyone, inside. NOW!" she shouted, her voice like a lion's roar, cementing in them forever her namesake. There was a whirlwind of movement as all of the Brotherhood soldiers, including Caleb, fled inside the A-Ring to flee the wrath of the Lion. When the last door slammed shut, she turned and glared at John. "Explain!"

He placed his hands on his hips, staring at her curiously, wondering why she was now in such a sour mood. "Knight McGyle sent a message to the Citadel about an android, right?" he asked.

Sarah straightened herself, still glaring at the tiny red-haired woman. "Yes, but what does that..." she said, then froze. Turning to the wanderer, she crossed her arms. "Don't tell me..."

"There was more than one. She took one body and fully integrated herself before I even had a say in the matter." he said, shrugging.

"That's right beefcake, wasn't his fault. It was mine." said Elsa, who stuck her tongue out at the woman.

Sarah growled maniacally. "Do you want me to rip you out of that body!?" she asked, the rage almost potent in the air.

Elsa just smiled brighter. "I wanna see you try."

"ENOUGH!" came another shout, startling both of the two women. They looked over and John was glaring at them both. "Five fucking minutes in each other's presence and already the Capital Wasteland suffers from another nuclear detonation! We have more important shit to deal with than this petty crap so knock it off!" he shouted at them. They both stared at him for a moment, and after that moment, he knew he'd crossed a line. That line, as soon as he stepped over it, slammed a floodgate shut behind him, making sure he wasn't able to escape. Both Elsa and Sarah, after their shock wore off, glared at him. He sighed to himself. "Goddammit..."

OoOoO

"So, how exactly does it work?" asked Sarah curiously as she drank from a bottle of water that she'd brought outside with her. In the aftermath of the near brawl, the Brotherhood of Steel members had filed out again and continued with their training. Some of them, as they walked by, even chuckled.

Elsa stretched her arms above her head, purring at the pleasure it gave her. "I don't know fully. But I do know that this body specifically was designed to imitate humans perfectly. The skin has built in microsensors that translate everything, from hot and cold, to touch into electricity and filters it to my brain," she said, using air quotes on the last word. "Simulating feeling. Similar sensors in the tongue translate taste, and the sense projections within the body react on a constant basis, hitting me with data constantly from all over the body." she said, looking down at her own hand. "When I entered, I was immediately locked inside the core, which is the brain of the body, inside here..." she said, tapping her chest where a human's heart would be. "But unlike most AI prisons where they can't freely come and go, or even access data to keep them preoccupied, this feeds me data from the entire body. On top of that, while my main processors are kept in the core, I was able to sync up near perfectly with the sensor systems, giving me smell, touch, taste, eyesight, and hearing. It's insane the level of technology they are using at the Institute. Hell, I'd imagine if someone woke up in one of these bodies without any prior memories, they wouldn't even realize they were a synth." she said. Then she smacked her own forehead, realizing that she was describing Harkness.

"What about going to the bathroom?" asked the Sentinel.

Elsa nodded at her. "There are evacuation systems. Most of my energy comes from sunlight that the skin absorbs. But there are processing fluids in my stomach that break down food for extra energy. The only difference, unlike humans who can build fat and muscle with the excess material, I have to get rid of it unless I want it rotting inside me. Solids and fluids are evacuated in two different ways." she said casually.

"So wait...do you have a..." asked Sarah, eyeing the girl again.

Elsa just flashed her a playful smile. "Oooooh yeah I do." she said, nearly making Sarah's glare return. Instead, the Sentinel turned and glared at John, who was currently laying in defeat on the bench that they were currently occupying. He was covered in dirt and scratches where the two had beaten him down directly in the center of the yard, his eyes covered with a water soaked cloth as one arm dangled from the bench.

"I suppose he'd know that already?" she asked with a sky blue glare that could possibly vaporize a man.

"Not really." said Elsa with a sigh. Sarah looked at her, a strange look on her face.

"What?" she asked.

"See, thing is I tried to make a move on him. But he was too thick to realize that he just turned down the love of his life for you." she said jokingly. Though Sarah could hear a bit of bitterness in the tone as well. She looked over the the gunman again, the deadpanned look on his face as he lay on the bench next to them. Sarah, hearing the revelation, couldn't help but smile brightly down at him. She bumped his head with her leg, and he groaned in pain. Reaching up, he lifted the rag and looked up at her curiously. Upon seeing her shining smile, he couldn't help but smile himself, chuckling lightly. He was slightly surprised when one of her hands came up and gently brushed the long brown bangs from his face. "Ugh, get a room you two." growled the android girl.

John sat up, an amused smile on his face as he finally used the rag to clean his face off. None of the damage they did was very long lasting or permanent. "So, what did you have to share with me, and what the hell did you come here to find out?" asked the Sentinel as she looked up and chuckled at some of the soldiers playing with the canine that had followed the wanderer in. Most of them had never had a pet of their own. Animals in the wasteland tended to be one of two categories, food, or giant mutated predators. So it was refreshing having a dog around who had its fur, and wasn't trying to bite their throats out.

Stretching his legs after he cleaned himself up, he plopped down next to the sentinel and watched the pandemonium that Dog had brought with him. "I found out a lot about my father after going to Rivet City. As it turns out, him, the science team from Rivet City, and the Brotherhood all worked together to try and create a water purifier big enough to clean the entire tidal basin almost twenty years ago." he said.

Sarah nodded. "I'd heard about that project, but never any names. They said it was a wash though." she said, now looking at him curiously. Much to his annoyance, even with him sitting up straight and her lounging, he still only barely matched her height. "It was. They weren't able to gain any substantial ground on the project, had failed test after failed test, broken equipment, supermutant threats," he said, his voice going quiet for a moment. "Then one of the science team died. And that was the end of it. My father fled Rivet City for Vault 101 and twenty years later, decided it was time to try again." he said.

She looked at him sharply, surprise etched on every inch of her face. "Wait...so you found him at the purifier?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I found recordings of him though. He intends to restart the project. And he left in his notes that he needed something called a Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Ever heard of it?" he asked, looking over at her with his glowing green eyes.

She nodded. "I've heard of it. Not too extensively though."

"According to my father's notes, it was a device given to certain vaults to use when they were scheduled to unlock. It supposedly creates life on lifeless land, turns desert waste into fertile, farmable soil again." he said, looking over at her curiously. The expression on her face led him to believe that she wasn't quite convinced. He just smiled lightly. "I don't know if I necessarily believe it myself, but I know that my father does. And that's what he left the purifier to find." he said.

She nodded. "So why did that bring you here?" she asked, then stuttered slightly. "Uhh...not that...I'm complaining exactly." she said.

He chuckled lightly. "He said that he found a vault where the creator of the Creation Kit was said to have been tucked away. He mentioned digging up the location of the vault through one of his old contacts." he said, then looked at her. "I've asked in Rivet City, and nobody there knew anything about it. That leaves the Brotherhood." he finished.

Sarah looked down and ran a hand through her now loose blonde hair. "I'm not entirely sure who that would be. I suppose I could ask Scribe Rothchild to see if he knows anything. Other than that, I don't know who all your father knew from the old Brotherhood." she said thoughtfully.

"I would highly appreciate it if you could try." he said gratefully.

She looked at him for a long moment, scanning every inch of his rugged face. From his ever looming stubble, to his then eyes which she still hadn't gotten the full story on, and even to his chestnut colored hair which now reached his shoulders. It was a long awkward moment before she realized that she was staring down at him. Finally, she reached up and grabbed him by the collar as she stood. "Come with me." she said in a commanding tone.

"Hey! Where are you going!?" asked Elsa, offput about being left out.

The blonde woman smiled at her cheekily. "We're going to talk to the head scribe. No androids allowed." she said, making Elsa growl. John did his best to keep up with the woman's stride, but she seemed to be a very point A to point B kind of person. Finally, they came to a room, and she opened the door in front of her and shoved him inside. It wasn't lit at all, and the only thing he could really see was a mirror on the wall that was reflecting the light from the door. But even the visual of that vanished as the door behind them closed.

"Sarah?" he asked curiously, turning around and feeling her presence in the darkness. "What are you do..." he said, then froze as he felt her strong hand lock around the back of his neck. Like a titan, she jerked him towards her until their faces were nearly touching. He could fainly see her in the glow of his own eyes, and she couldn't stop staring into his as the two pressed against one another. "Taking a detour?" he asked jokingly.

The comment got a smile from her. That was until she leaned forward, wrapping one arm around him and kissing him deeply. His body was electrified with excitement as she did, the kiss far more passionate than the few they shared previously. Whether that was for the sake of his healing or not, he didn't care. All thoughts of his father, Elsa, the Brotherhood, the Purifier, and supermutants flew out of his head as his strong arms wrapped around her as well. Sarah pulled away for a moment, holding him at arm's length as she gasped, staring at him. "Gods, what am I doing? My father is going to kill me..." she said.

"Missed me that much?" asked John playfully as he grabbed her and dipped her, much to her surprise and terror. But she didn't fall, he held her stable, never losing his smile.

"You want me to kick your ass again?" she asked, running her hands over his face, needing to touch him.

"I wanna see you try." he said with a playful growl as he laid her down from the dip pose on the ground and nipped at her neck. She gasped in pleasure as she reached up and grabbed a handful of his hair, gripping him and making sure he was looking into her eyes. But the sound of a loud knocking on the closed door behind them.

"Commander, Elder Lyons and Scribe Rothchild wish to have a word with you and the visitor in the lab." came the voice of the stern Paladin Vargas. The muscular woman sighed and began to thump her head against the floor in agitation.

"Alright. We're on our way." she said as she looked into those glowing green eyes again longingly. Finally, steeling herself, she stood up and walked to the door. John, after taking a second to calm himself down, followed her as she turned the lights on then opened the door. Vargas was standing next to the door, the same stern look he always had gracing his face.

Sarah nodded to him, and together the three of them navigated the inside of the former Pentagon. John couldn't help but marvel at everything he saw around him, passing one room that looked like it could potentially be a library of information on anything from a list of terrorist threats to the US, to old world defense platforms. He passed another door that looked to be an armory, with any number of enticing looking weapons, both laser and non-laser hanging from the walls, as well as sets of the massive armor that was practically the trademark of the Brotherhood of Steel. But thoughts of libraries and weapons immediately scattered as he entered the lab. His eyes were wider in that moment than he ever recalled them being as they saw the spectacle in front of him.

It was over 35 feet tall, with thick armor plating and looked as if it were staring directly at him. Its silverish smooth head was only marred by one slash across where the eyes would be, giving it a look like Gort from the oldie "The Day the Earth Stood Still". Despite having no eyes to speak of, the wanderer swore he could feel the robotic head staring directly into him, as if marking him. The rest of the body was massively armored, from the thick chest piece that protected the inner workings, to the hands that had bladed knuckles that were as big as his head, and what looked like some kind of energy output lense on its palms. The legs were long, of course, making the iron giant bigger than nine average sized humans head to toe. Without thinking, he stepped up to the robot, as if he were five years old again and this was his Christmas present back in the vault. Reaching out, he touched the hand of the robot, testing to see if this were real, or if the Sentinel's beating outside had put him into some kind of dream state.

Suddenly, a raspy voice shook him out of his wonderment. "Incredible isn't it?" asked the man who had walked up and stood next to the wanderer. John looked over sharply, and noticed a man in the robes of a Scribe, similar to the ones Olin wore back in Bailey's Crossroads. But his were far more decorated than hers had been, with ribbons, marks of engagement, as well as a stylishly emblazoned insignia for the Head Scribe. The man himself stood stoically, his aged skin dark with work under the sun, and a small layer of buzzed white hair on his head.

The look he gave the gunman was one of curiosity, as if wondering his thoughts about the behemoth they had laying on a securely built scaffold in the center of the two story lab. "It's...amazing..." was all the younger man could get out as he turned to look at the metal monstrosity again. "Where did you find it?" he asked incredulously.

"Here, beneath the floors of the military capital of the United States." said the older man as he gazed over the automaton himself. "He was built initially to repel the Chinese invasion into US territories like Alaska and Canada. He was scheduled to be activated during on December 2077, and put into active duty. But..."

"The world's biggest kneejerk reaction put a halt to it." said John as he finished the man's statement. The Scribe chuckled and nodded.

"Something like that." he said.

"Does it work?" asked John as he looked up into its eye visor.

"Not yet." said Sarah as she stepped up to them as well, a slight smirk of amusement on her face at the 'kid in a candy store' attitude he was showing towards the metallic juggernaut. "We've been working on him since we found him, trying to get him constructed to help fight off the supermutants, and hopefully get rid of them for good. Unfortunately, we're still missing a few components." she remarked, folding her muscular arms over her chest.

"Like what?" asked the gunman as he looked at the Scribe, then the Sentinel.

"He needs an entirely new optical interface, as his old one was fried by the detonation that went off here when the bombs fell. The electromagnetic pulse that wiped most technology clean somehow fried him under heavy layers of concrete. On top of that, his motorized joints are basically dust, meaning he won't be able to move an inch until we get the parts replaced. And the most important piece we're missing is a brain."

John turned to the man with a deadpanned look. "I thought the Scarecrow was the one who wanted a brain."

Sarah looked at him in confusion, but the scribe just shook his head. "You have no idea how many times I hear that." he said with a sigh. "Anyway, we've had our teams working on a defense matrix that could run his primary systems. It's name is Alpha, and work on it is going extremely slow. At the moment, it can do little more than control the internal primary functions." he said.

John looked at him oddly. "They learn faster from experience rather than hardwired programming."

The scribe nodded, giving the wanderer a leery eye. "That is true. And we have heard of your experience with experimental AI's." he said, turning to the robot. "While we can see the simplicity in having one in an Enclave drone, or even on your pipboy, you must understand that this is a machine of war. The devastation that this can, and will no doubt cause, cannot be under the influence of a free will AI." said the man.

John crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the man. "What was your name?" he asked.

The man almost automatically placed his hands behind his back in the parade rest pose and cleared his throat. "I'm Head Scribe Reginald Rothchild. Head of the R&D department here at the Citadel." he said, a small amount of pride in his voice.

"So Scribe Rothchild, you intend to have Alpha under the typical AI restraints?" asked the gunman as he looked the man up and down.

"As long as he is the main controller for a machine of destruction like Prime here..." said the scribe as he patted the metal giant's hand. "...he will be under the restraints. We can't have him deciding one day that we're not in charge anymore and wreaking havoc on the Citadel." he said.

John nodded. "Understandable, but you realize that an AI is really no different than a human in how you treat it. If you treat a human like a tool, they backlash. Same goes for an AI. As long as you treat it with respect, it will return the respect." he commented.

"While that is true, I'd rather leave nothing to chance. Besides, as interesting as this discussion is, that isn't why we called you here." said a voice from behind all of them. Immediately, Scribe Rothchild stiffened, standing up straight as he turned to the newcomer. The man was very worn in appearance, with a bald head, tanned wrinkled skin, and a long, but well kempt beard that flowed down to his chest.

"Elder Lyons." said Reginald as he bowed his head respectfully.

The robed man nodded back to the scribe, then turned to John. "So, this is the great Wanderer that we've all heard about on the radio." said the older man, his voice heavy with strain as he eyed John scrutinizingly.

"Elder Lyons?" he asked, turning to Sarah, who nodded grimly. Sighing, he turned back to the older man and stood straight as a sign of respect, both for the Elder, and the father. "Most of the stories you hear on the radio about me are for entertainment, nothing more."

The elder stared at him for a long moment. "You're aware that your celebrity status marks you as a bigger target, yes?" asked the man as he held his ground, standing only a foot from John and staring him down despite the glowing green eyes.

"I'll always be a target, no matter how famous I am. At least with these radio shows that Three Dog does, more people will see that good can, and will be done in the world." he remarked, never dropping his gaze from the shorter man's. Despite the obvious frailty that came with age, something about this elder was extremely intimidating.

"So you wish to bring hope to the people?" he asked, reaching up with one hand and running it through his beard curiously.

"Somebody needs to." he said, wondering if the Elder would take that as some kind of slight towards the Brotherhood. But if he did, he didn't show it.

Instead, the older man smiled lightly. "It's good to hear such words from an outsider. Especially one as highly effective as you are at mass destruction." he said. Despite not directly looking at her, he could practically feel the intensity in Sarah release, uncoiling like a tightly wound spring. The elder looked to his daughter over the wanderer's shoulder, then gave a slight nod. John looked over at her curiously and saw nothing but a stone mask as she stood rigid. "Now, for the reason you were called here..."

"Which would be?" he asked as he turned back to her father.

"We know why you're here, and we wish to help." said the Elder as he took a seat at one of the empty stations. John just realized as he looked around that the lab, for being a lab, was eerily empty.

"Why do you want to help me find my father?" he asked curiously as he leaned against one of the pillars that supported the catwalk above.

"We knew your father, Reginald and I, back before you were born. He was a good man then, doing good work. Perhaps not the most effective work, but good work nonetheless. That purifier would aid in saving thousands of lives in the Capital Wasteland. And we wish to aid you, and your father, in getting it running again." he said.

John stared at him a long moment before nodding. "I'd appreciate any help you can give me. But as I told a particularly loudmouthed radio jockey once, I'm not stupid enough to believe you'd be doing this for free." he said as he planted his hands on his hips. "So what is it you want?"

Elder Lyons looked over at Scribe Rothchild, then back at the wanderer. "We want to know how it's going to work. We spent lots of time and good soldiers lives protecting the purifier the last time, and what we got out of it was an abandoned memorial and a missing scientist. So, I want to know, after twenty years, what makes your father think he can make it work this time? What does he have now that he did not have back then?" asked the Elder as he leaned forward and stared at the gunman with both hands interlaced in front of his bearded mouth.

John eyed the man suspiciously. In his father's recordings, he told of what he was now looking for. The impossible science that would enable the purifier to work. But he also knew that knowledge of such a device could get someone killed, and in the wrong hands, could very well create a dictatorship based on who had their hands on it. Barely knowing Sarah, and knowing nothing about the two men in front of him, he just shrugged. "When I find my father, I'll be sure to ask him for you." he said.

The elder stared at him a few moments longer. "As you wish." he said, then finally stood. "As a sign of our good will towards yours, and your father's work, the Brotherhood of Steel will be sending our very own Sentinel Lyons with you to find him, and hopefully bring him back alive." The look of awe on John's face was completely dwarfed by the look of shock on Sarah's.

He turned to her, seeing that despite her rigid military demeanor, she now had a look of sheer bewilderment on her face. "Elder!?" she asked. The man groaned lightly and she recoiled slightly. "Father, what about the Lyons' Pride?" she asked.

"Paladin Vargas is more than capable of covering for you while you are away." said the man as he wearily took a seat again. "He is just as rigid with the men of your squad as you are Sarah. Besides, since we've arrived, you have rarely been given the opportunity to leave the ruins of this once marvelous city. I believe it's time you see exactly what it is we're protecting." he finished.

She stared at him for a long moment, with John looking between the two. Finally, she stood straight again, this time a look of uncertainty on her face. "As you command." she said.

John just sighed to himself, already rubbing the incoming headache from his skull. "Elsa is gonna love this..." he said to himself.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Hey guys! Sorry this one took so long. Unfortunately for the writer, they have been going through a lot of strife both monetarily, and health wise. So this one took a while. And unfortunately, due to said monetary issues, they may have to start writing original material in order to help make up the losses. So in the future, if the chapters do end up coming slower, you know why. Honestly, I don't know why they don't just get an android body. Much more durable.

 **Author's Note from John:** Because it's just that easy. ~rolls eyes~ Anyway, if any of you are interested in hearing about the original material, please message the author and let them know. It's been a huge work in the making, and looks to hopefully make it so that they can continue writing indefinitely for fans like yourself without having to worry about not having time to write.

 **Author's Note from ELSA:** Don't interrupt my notes!

 **Author's Note from John:** ~holds her head and keeps her short arms from flailing at him~ In any case, the chapters will continue like normal, it just might be a bit more time in between. Oh, and don't forget to thank the awesome artist PokemonandCats on Instagram if you enjoy the new Elsa art!

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE FROM ELSA:** WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'IF'!?


	58. Butting Heads

OoO( 58 )OoO

Totally worth it. That's what Sarah would have described the situation as. The pair, her and the wanderer had made their way outside after Rothchild had given her...boyfriend? She thought about that a moment, wondering if that was really a term anyone used anymore. Shoving the thoughts aside, she smiled to herself as she remembered stepping out into the sun-baked courtyard of the Citadel. The android girl had been having fun with the guys, arm wrestling them one by one as they lined up to have their shot at the champ. She had her hand clamped firmly in De la Rosa's grasped when John approached and gave her the news. Sarah hadn't heard what was said, but she didn't really need to. From Elsa's twitching eye, to her almost automatically slamming the Knight Captain's arm through the table they were competing on, shattering it and flipping him onto the ground as well. All of it brought a smile to her face. Even the small dagger-like glare that the girl gave her from across the courtyard at the news.

When all was said and done, she approached the pair. "Well, that went about as well as expected." she said with a slight smile on her face.

"Can it, Grognak! If you're coming along, you're going to be following my rules! First-" growled Elsa, but she was quickly cut off as John grabbed her, covered her mouth, and pulled her along.

"Grab your armor and weapons, we'll be waiting outside the gate with Charon." he said in a droll, slightly amused tone. He turned and whistled loudly, calling Dog to his side. The canine had been chomping on a bone left over from one of the Paladin's meals, when he heard the whistle and darted to the gunman's side.

Sarah watched in amusement as the wanderer dragged a kicking and screaming Elsa out of the front gate with the Australian Cattle following behind him. Then, she turned to a few of her men that were sitting among the denizens of the courtyard. "Lyons' Pride, gather in the Den. We have a few things to talk about." she commanded, then marched back inside with a few confused looks following her. When all of the men finally gathered in the Lyons' Den, they found her standing with her massive armor on and her weapons strapped to the back of her shoulders.

"What's up Commander? You look like you're ready to kick Hell's door in." asked Glade, who stood off to the side in training clothes.

Paladin Vargas entered the Den, also in his armor and stood next to the woman. She looked at him curiously. "Have you been informed?" she asked. He merely nodded to her, and she could have sworn he almost smiled in that moment. She chuckled, then turned to the others. Looking at each and every one of them, as if this were the last time she was going to see them. Knight Captain Gallows, the ever silent shadow of the Lyons' Pride. He didn't often have anything to say, but when he did, it was worth the wait. In fact, so rare was his commentary that the Pride didn't even know his first name. Glade, earlier in the year had started a betting pool to see who could figure his name out, and what that name was. To this day, it was still a running bet.

Then her eyes turned to the two snipers of the Lyons' Pride, Knight Captains Colvin and Dusk. Colvin was comparable to the squads chaplain, a man who followed the word of God and was unshakeable in that belief. He said a prayer for every mutant he sighted down his scope, and bowed his head before every meal. But that didn't mean he didn't have his own desires. Knight Captain Dusk was one of the younger members of the Pride, and was quick to try and make a name for herself. Her skill with a scoped weapon quickly became unparalleled, making her a quick pick for the special operations group. However, she quickly took up a rivalry with her older counterpart Colvin. For a long time, she perceived him as sexist, when Sarah knew all he was doing was giving simple advice. But apparently Dusk had gotten past that, as the Sentinel had once accidentally stumbled in on the two lip-locking each other in Dusk's previous quarters. The leader just laughed it off, told them to carry on, and left.

She smiled at the memory as her gaze drifted to Paladin Glade, the oldest member of the Pride. The man had a joke for everything. He was easily the most experienced member of the group, and had been with the Brotherhood since before Sarah was even born. He made a name for himself by tinkering and toying with weapons, removing pieces here, adding pieces there, until the weapon was near unrecognizable. But unrecognizable didn't mean unusable. Most of the weapons he created ended up doubling in destructive power, leading them to promote him to the head smith of the Brotherhood. Once the Lyons Pride was formed, he was almost guaranteed a spot on the roster with his amazing ability to turn older, less effective weapons into carnage incarnate. He was also the man responsible for the betting pool around Gallows' first name, which got him the occasional disgruntled glare from the Knight Captain.

Then her eyes turned to the dark-skinned Paladin Kodiak, whose actual name was Greg Bear. But given his vicious nature towards the enemies of the Brotherhood, he was given the moniker Kodiak. It was fitting for him, not just because of his ferocity, but because of his size. He was easily the biggest, meanest looking member of the Brotherhood of Steel, towering over even Sarah's tall frame. Despite his outward demeanor however, he was like a brother to her. When the Brotherhood originally made their way towards the Capitol Wasteland on their original mission, her father ended up laying siege to the far north in a place called The Pitt. It was a den of mutated humans that had lost their minds and killed one another without cause. She was just a young girl at the time, but she still remembered seeing the children that they had rescued, ones that hadn't lost themselves to mutation. The only one that wasn't shaking and shivering with fright at having a bunch of armored men surrounding them was a young, dark-skinned boy that gave her a curious look. She gave him the same look, and from that point, he and the other children were conscripted into the Brotherhood of Steel as trainees. He was now the only one who remained of the large group, and he had grown up to view her father as a father of his own, and her as a sister.

She sighed as she looked at the ground, feeling a small amount of guilt at what she was about to tell them. "Elder Lyons has decided that it is in the best interest of the Brotherhood of Steel to assist John Ronas in finding his father. As such, he has decided to send me along with him to assure that he finds him, or at least his body if that be the case." she said. They all gave her a look of surprise.

"Then who...?" asked Dusk, who then looked over at Vargas. Putting her forehead in her palm, she groaned. "Oh shit..."

Vargas chuckled, something that surprised them even more as they'd never seen such a thing from him. "That's right ladies and gentlemen. Until Sentinel Lyons returns from her expedition, I will be leading the Lyons Pride. So get your jokes and jabs out now, because once she's gone, they're gonna cost you." he said in a cheery tone that made their skin crawl.

"Alright guys, settle down." she said with an amused grin. "I'm not going to be gone for very long, so stop making this seem like some sappy love story goodbye." she commanded.

"It is a love story though, right?" asked Glade with a playful smile.

She glared at him. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Well, you and you know who, all alone out in the wasteland. Searching for his long lost father. Romantic times are to be had, right?" asked the paladin boldly. Everyone, even the hardass, stoic Kodiak stepped away from Glade in that moment as they could see their leaders face turn blood red. Whether that was from anger, or embarrassment, they couldn't say. But they weren't taking any chances.

Clearing her throat, she just smiled, unable to hide her blush. "I just wanted to say goodbye to all of you, and I'll see you when I get back. And don't give Vargas a hard time." she said playfully, then turned her back to them and looked at Vargas. The paladin eyed her curiously as she glared at him. "If he's walking upright when I get back, you're getting demoted." she said with a playful edge to her voice. Paladin Vargas gave her a knowing smile before she exited the room.

Turning to Glade with the same smile carved of granite, he said. "Good job soldier. You've got duty with me until she returns."

The other Pride members chuckled, and Colvin patted the dumbstruck man on his shoulder. "Had to open your mouth, didn't you?" he asked.

OoOoO

Charon watched as the front gate opened and out walked the duo, who were now a trio, with the dog following behind them. He eyed Sarah curiously as they approached. Sarah, when she first saw Charon stopped dead in her tracks and reached up for her weapon. But John's quick reflexes stopped her. "Easy quickdraw, he's with us." said the wanderer.

She looked at him incredulously. "You travel with a ghoul?" she asked, trying to keep quiet.

Charon glared at her. "Well, excuuuse me princess. I just happen to be standing right here." he said sarcastically.

He eyed her sternly before placing his hands on his hips. "Of course I do. He's my bodyguard." he said somewhat smartly.

Sarah looked from John, to the ghoul, then back to John again. Sighing, she shook her head. "Well, can't say you don't know what you're doing. You've stayed alive this long." she said shrugging in the giant armor. "Just know that I don't trust him." she finished.

"Yet." said the man with a knowing smile. "Believe it or not, Princess, there are mutated people who don't want to chew through your neck and break you in half with their bare hands." he said, chuckling at the nickname that Charon had just given the Sentinel.

She gave a threatening smile to John and Charon alike. "I'll believe it when I see it." she said, releasing the grip on her laser rifle. Then she stepped up to John and put him in a headlock. "And call me Princess again cowboy, we'll see how long this partnership lasts." she said with playful aggression as she gave him a noogie while he struggled to get free.

Elsa growled and pouted, crossing her arms across her chest. "Never called me Princess..." she complained.

OoOoO

The sun had risen and fallen many times over the walls of the city since he had left. Since the gates had closed behind his fluttering jacket, the town had been eerily quiet and peaceful. At least, for the most part. John's departure had left a bit of a situation in Megaton. Michael, now having the Bible that he had craved for so long, had started to read from it to the people of Megaton. Surprisingly, there were still believers among the dwellers of the wasteland.

This left a bad taste in the mouth of the Children of Atom, who had been preaching at that same spot for a score of years. Michael had chosen a different spot, just outside the gates of the large city. He did so to both give those who wanted to listen to his sermons enough room to breath without intruding upon the daily routine of the city, as well as to prove a point. Mary was here to see what that point was. Gob had come with her out of curiosity, and because he'd become rather clingy of the sexy bar mistress of late. Gob sat on the ground near the back, cradling a bottle of water, while Mary leaned against the wall of the city with a lit cigarette in one hand. She lifted the burning stick to her lips and pulled on it, letting the smoke drift from her nose and mouth like she were a dragon breathing fire as she watched on.

The priest stood ahead of the congregation, in a set of robes he had fashioned himself from other clothes he had purchased. She stared from her place by the wall as he sat in the center of the group of people with his legs crossed, and the sacred book open across his knees. She had never been one for religion, but if this guy's faith was believing in John, she was about as devout as they came. She tossed her cigarette, then lit another right after as the man in the robes began to speak.

"It makes my heart soar to see new faces here today. Those of you who don't know me, and don't know my story, will very shortly. For now, I've had a few questions about why I've been having my sermons outside the walls instead of safe within the city, and I intend to answer that question." he said as he stood up, cradling the book as if it were his own child. Mary had to admit that he was definitely a good looking man. He was clean shaven, but had let his hair grow out. It was now down to his shoulders and shone in the sunlight light a golden medallion, the dark blonde of his hair looking radiant in the blazing sun. With his long hair, his faith, and his robes, he definitely looked the part of a prophet of some kind. The man suddenly turned the page in the book and began to read from one of the passages. "And now I read for you from the Book of Psalms, chapter twenty-three, verses one through four. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters." he said as he turned to the people.

One of the most frequent attenders of Michael's sermons nodded his head devoutly. "Amen..." he said, loud enough for the others to hear.

The priest continued as he looked over them all. "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." he said, looking up from the book to gaze upon the congregation. "Many of you know my story, but some do not. This passage hits me here..." he said, covering his heart. "To those who know of the Lone Wanderer, I have said many times that he was the one who saved me. Back when I was a raider, an evil man who took what he wanted from those too weak to defend themselves, he showed me what strength truly was. He showed me God's strength, by taking out an entire shopping center filled with men with guns and knives and explosives in a wave of fire!" he said. Mary chuckled a bit at how into the story he was getting. He had become more animated than ever, flinging his arms out as of trying to project the image into the listeners minds directly. "Me, I stumbled out of the back and saw an ocean of fire surrounding him. I saw someone, a friend of mine when I was the wicked sinner, try to attack him. I saw her destroyed that day with as much effort as you give to breathing..." he said, then he wound down again, becoming somber. "It was then that this passage was carved into me forever. Instead of killing me like the rest, he chose to spare me, and in doing so, he restored my soul, and led me down the path of righteousness that I find myself on now." he said, then raised the book again to continue reading.

Gob walked over to her and leaned back against the wall. "He's certainly good at weaving stories together." said the ghoul as he watched on.

"They have to be. Though I have to admit, he definitely picked the right passage if he was going to convince anyone of his story." she said as she puffed from her clover again.

"You've heard it before?" he asked her curiously.

"More than you'd believe." she said with a sigh.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." he said, then closed the book and looked at them all. "Out here, we are in the valley of the shadow of death. It is a world of nothing but chaos and sin out here. We who live in Megaton are fortunate. We have walls to protect us from the harsh realities of the wasteland. We have cold water, and shelter, to protect us from the blazing heat. But out here, we are exposed. Out here, we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yet we are untouched because of his influence." he said, gesturing towards the city again. "We stand out here as a testament to his work, to the work of God. We are out here, because he has seen fit to grace us with a cloak of protection that evil cannot penetrate! Look around you!" he commanded. The people of the congregation all looked around the desert grounds around them. "Long ago, you would have been able to see wickedness on the very doorstep of this great city. In Springvale, and beyond. Now, his influence is a barrier that shields us from such evils." he said, then finally turned to the wall of the city. "He was even given a test by our Father, the God of gods, the King of kings. He was handed the key to this town's destruction in exchange for a good life in this miserable existence. But he struck down the perpetrator of such an offer, all to give you a better life. This is why we follow, and this is why we must follow in his footsteps." he said, turning to them all with a large smile. "For, if a lowly creature such as I was given the chance to change myself, who's to say that any one of you can't?"

At that point, Mary tossed her cigarette again and turned towards the gates. Gob immediately fell in behind her. "So, whaddya think?" asked the ghoul.

She shrugged. "I think he's trying to help people. And if he gets more people acting like John, then he might actually do a lot of good out here. I honestly can't say I care much for the whole religious angle, but whatever works, works. As long as they don't end up turning into terroristic nuts, it'll be fine."

Almost as soon as they crossed the shining bomb in the center of the town, an older, familiar man stopped them. He looked up at Mary with as sour a look as she'd ever seen on the man. "Oh, hey Confessor. How's it been?" asked Gob in a friendly manner.

But the man ignored the ghoul and looked straight at the woman. "Well? What did you find? What is he doing?" he asked, his voice almost cracking with desperation.

The red-headed woman just sighed to herself, placed her hands on her hips, and gave the older man a tired look. "Look Cromwell, I'm not sure exactly what you're wanting me to find. I went out there, and he's preaching. Just like you do in front of the bomb. No 'kill all non-believers' or any of that." she said.

The man growled as Simms walked up behind them all. "He's brainwashing them! How can you not see it!?" screeched the man.

"Confessor…" said the sharp voice of Simms from behind the man. They all turned and looked at the tall dark sheriff that had strode up to them. The man, much to Mary's amusement, had let his beard grow out quite a bit since the Wanderer had left, leaving him with a very wild wasteland look about him. "Are we really going to have this discussion again?" asked the man as he glared down at the old confessor, his arms crossed over his chest.

"But Sheriff…!" shouted the old man.

However, Simms had had enough. "Michael has just as much of a right to preach here as you do. You do not own the rights to the faith of these townspeople." said the Sheriff as he leaned forward and glared at Cromwell. "He's even doing his outside the wall, far enough away from your own congregation so that he's not interfering."

"But…!" said the confessor, almost sadly.

"This is going to be the last time I hear of any talk of stopping their procession. If you don't like it, then find another place to preach where you don't have competition." said Lucas firmly. Confessor Cromwell seemed to crumble at that point, and skulk off.

"Wow Sheriff, you've certainly gotten your fire back." said Mary, giving him an amused smile.

Simms looked at her, returning her amusement. "I may not be the symbol of the law here anymore, but I can damn sure uphold it. And that's exactly what I intend to do. I have enough to deal with handling Poison and her group out there trying to make some kind of settlement out of the ruins of Springvale."

Mary looked at him oddly. "Why? What's the issue?" she asked.

"Had a couple of men leave here to 'help them out'. Haven't heard from them since." he said shaking his head, which still had the worn cowboy hat resting on it.

The bartender chuckled at him. "Well, they either pissed someone off, or are so happy being surrounded by crazy women that they forgot to return the messages." she said, then her voice took a more serious note. "What happens if it turns out they're dead?" she asked.

Lucas sighed and reached up, rubbing his forehead underneath the hat. "Depends on the reason. I'm not gonna make a big deal over them defending themselves, but if it turns out they buried them for anything else, we might have a very unstable situation brewing between Megaton and Springvale."

"That doesn't put you in a very good position to find out." she said.

"Someone has to though…" he said as he sighed. "I really need another deputy. Every since Moira upgraded Liberty, he flew off to God only knows where."

"There's always Deputy Weld and Steel." offered Mary.

"Weld watches the front door. I don't want him moving in case something does go down. And Steel…" said the Sheriff, trying to find the words.

"Too telling?" she asked.

He nodded. "If I send a Mr. Gutsy there to interrogate them or ask questions, that could be seen as...less than diplomatic."

"And you don't want to make things any more tense than they already are…" she finished for him. He nodded again and she sighed. "Well, you could always send a woman. They seem to like them more than men. Though how ruthless they are towards them is anyone's guess."

The sheriff smiled in amusement. "Did you just volunteer?" he asked.

"No!" came the cry. She was about to say it firmly towards the sheriff, but was interrupted. They both looked over at Gob, who now had an angry look on his face, a look that few people had every seen from the gentle ghoul. "I don't care if they idolize women, if there's any chance she gets hurt, then you're not sending her out there."

"Gob?" asked Mary, slightly surprised.

Simms just looked at the ghoul, awestruck for a moment. "You're the boss." he said simply with a friendly smile. "Don't worry, I'll probably doing it myself. As far as I know, me and Poison are on good terms anyway, so hopefully she won't take me out on sight." he said with amusement. Mary was still staring at Gob speechless, when Stockholm from his sniper perch up top yelled down at them.

"We got a visitor!" shouted the man.

Lucas waved up at the man. "Alright you two, I've gotta get back to work." he said with a chuckle as he headed for the gate. The loud screeching sounded as the large gate opened with the assistance of the jet engine. When he saw who was waiting on the other side however, he froze. "Well well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" asked the dark-skinned man.

The long brown hair of the wanderer fluttered as he entered the town with his trademark smirk, three new figures following him in. One was one of the largest women Simms had ever seen before wearing silver colored power armor that only made her look even more menacing and dangerous. Her friendly smile, as well as the Brotherhood of Steel logo however, calmed his nerves about her. Next to her was another ghoul who looked about as sour as Gob had earlier with a canine tagging behind him. But his scowl had an air of permanence to it. He held a large shotgun that looked like it could take the limbs off a human being in a single shot. Ghouls...at least non-feral ones, tended to be relatively level headed, so he didn't feel much agitation at his presence. On the other side of the wanderer stood a short girl with red hair down to her ears and a sparkling brown smile.

"I figured some of you would miss my handsome face. Didn't think you'd be the first in line to see it though Simms." he said, getting a chuckle from the man.

"John!" came a shout from behind the sheriff. They both turned to see Mary and Gob running up to them excitedly.

"Hey Mary. You look like you've been keeping busy." he said in a friendly tone.

But Mary's eyes looked from him, to the large blond woman who was standing oddly close, to the short red-haired girl who was also doing the same from the other side. Her eyes lit with fire when she saw the same colored hair, the same lightly freckled face that nearly matched her own on the younger girl. "Who is she?" she asked, her tone now frosty enough to make Lucas step back.

"And who is she?" asked Sarah, looking from the curvy woman who had excitedly run up to them, to John. He looked over and noticed the same icy tone coming from her, with a silent glare on her face.

"And who is she!?" asked Elsa jokingly in mock outrage as she pointed at a confused waster that had just happened to pass by.

The wanderer buried his face in his hands again. "Oh goddammit..." he complained.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Butch:** Hey cool cats! No worries about the author. They're doin' alright and haven't forgotten about all you lovelies out there! They said something about...original...work? Yeah! that's it! Their original works are going faster than ever now, and each of you who said you'd like a piece would be getting one soon! Oh, and if you still want some, be sure to PM...whatever that means, the author to show your interest!

 **Author's Note from John:** Butch? Why are you here?

 **Author's Note from Butch:** Why you askin' powder puff?

 **Author's Note from John:** You were locked in a vault.

 **Author's Note from Butch:** Nothing can contain this glorious hair!

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Woooooahhh...so...douchey... ~sparkly eyes~

 **Author's Note from Butch:** Of course it is!

 **Author's Note from John:** Butch...do you even know what that means?

 **Author's Note from Butch:** TUNNEL SNAKES RULE!


	59. Dent in the Armor

OoO( 59 )OoO

He sat in a chair in his house, looking back at those sky blue eyes which glared at him with anger. He felt the look held more annoyance than animosity, but either way he was definitely in a hot seat. Especially with Mary in the same room, standing up with her arms crossed, staring across the room at Elsa. Elsa, meanwhile, looked to be the most amused in the room. It had been quiet now for about a full five minutes, nobody saying anything. Just...staring.

Finally, he got fed up with the silence. "So, should I just kick my own ass and get it over with? Or would you two not get any satisfaction out of that?"

"Why does it look like you've traded me in for the latest model?" snapped Mary as her glare switched from Elsa to John. "Cummon John, red hair, brown eyes, freckles…" she said as she walked up to him and leaned forward. Despite her new occupation, she still apparently liked to wear clothing that accentuated her bust, which was now right in front of him. He looked away uncomfortably as she continued. "Was that it? I was just too old for you?" she asked.

Elsa giggled, and John sighed. But to his surprise, before he could even respond, Elsa came to his defense. "I'm actually quite flattered that you consider me as pretty as you are." said the android girl. Mary looked up at her, an eyebrow cocked curiously.

"You...sound familiar. I'd ask if we've met before, but I think I'd remember someone who…" she looked directly at John with a glare. "Looks like my offspring!"

"We have met before actually. Though admittedly, I probably wasn't as good looking as this last time." said Elsa as she smiled at Mary. The bartender looked at her again, looking like gears were turning in her head. "Elsa Watson, at your service."

"Elsa…?" asked Mary as she walked over and looked at the girl. "The...AI?" she asked. Suddenly, her recognizing the voice made complete sense. She looked the girl up and down. "How did you…?" was all she could ask, her incredulity keeping her from asking any more.

"It's a long story...but let's cut it short so jolly giant Sarah over there doesn't laser beam a hole into him, by saying that I stole a sexy robot's body." said the girl as she winked at the bartender.

Mary stared at her, then back at John. "So you...you aren't…"

"No...she isn't my new model." growled the gunman.

"Oh...so that means…?" asked Mary as she turned to Sarah, who was no longer in her metal armor, and instead sat in her jumpsuit. Her hair was tied up into the usual bun, with her muscular arms folded over her chest.

"You would be correct." Sarah clipped as she continued to aim her frosty gaze at the man who just sat miserably in his chair.

"I think I'd prefer the laser at this point." he grumbled as he rubbed his head in irritation.

"So, spill it muscles. What's the issue?" asked Elsa.

The Sentinel glared at Elsa, then even darker at Mary. "Your first time was with a prostitute?" she asked.

Immediately, Mary shot a glare back at Sarah that nearly blew John out of his chair. "Pardon me?" she asked, sounding amused. Bending forward, she placed her hands on her knees, leaning forward enough to flaunt her figure. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you darling. Would you care to repeat that?"

Sarah stood up, her arms tensed and ready to put a hole through the woman. "I asked if his first time was with a whore!" she shouted back, towering over the curvy woman.

Suddenly, all three of the women in the room were startled by a loud crash. "That's it!" shouted the wanderer. They looked over and saw his fist clenched above a desk that had just been split in half with a single punch. "I'm sick and fucking tired of being held prisoner in my own life for being a stupid teenager." he said, then turned to the door and opened it.

Sarah stepped forward, raising her hand to stop him. "John...wait!"

"No!" he snapped, the statement stopping her as if the soundwaves from his voice had actually crashed into her and thrown her backwards. "If you wanna fist fight every goddamn thing that comes near me, feel free to do so. But I'm no longer going to be a part of it! So you three, do what the hell you're gonna do and get it out of your systems. Because I'm not gonna put up with this shit every time I go to a new town." he commanded, then slammed the door behind him. They could all three hear the stomping as he went down the stairs, followed by the slamming of the front door as well.

Mary sighed and reached up, rubbing her temples gently. "Well...that was unexpected. He's usually a lot more level headed than that." she said, a bit shaken. He had never raised his voice to her like that. Even when he had been angry with her, he had always been calm and non-threatening about it.

"It's my fault…" said Sarah. She sat in the chair again, rested her elbows on her knees, and planted her face in her hands as if to hide her shame.

Mary raised an eyebrow to her. "How do you suppose?" she asked.

"Ever heard of the phrase, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'?" she asked. She got a nod from both women as she let her hands drape down between her knees. "Ever since he was rescued from the Bethesda building, I've been...worried. I'd have thought he'd be sleeping around, I thought he'd forget about me, I thought...a lot of stupid things. So, when he showed up again…"

"You got suuuuper territorial." said Elsa, who was sitting atop another, less destroyed desk. Her legs hung over the edge, swinging almost boredly as she spoke.

"Yeah…" said the sentinel as she looked at the ground guiltily.

"How so?" asked Mary as she stood straight again, placing her hands on her hips.

"Well, let's just say that she had the same reaction to my new body as you did. Except...with more body slams." commented the android girl.

Mary looked the blond woman up and down. "You attacked him?"

"Not with anything that I knew would hurt him…" she said, sounding defensive.

"I might have helped, a teensy bit." said Elsa as she held up her fingers, showing how small an effort she put into it.

Mary glared at them both. Turning to Elsa, she crossed her arms over her sizeable bust. "Why?"

She shrunk under the scrutinizing leer. "He might have yelled at us...and turned me down...and…"

Mary's gaze then twisted sharply and locked Sarah into place. "And you? What's your excuse?"

Much less intimidated, but no less guilty feeling, the sentinel sighed. "I thought he had been…" she said, making hand gestures to try and help her think of a proper word.

"She thought he had taken my body for a test drive." said Elsa simply, happy to no longer be under the older woman's glare.

Sarah glared at her, but nodded. Mary put her hands on her hips, looking at them both stupidly. "You've got to be kidding me…" she said shaking her head.

"What?" asked Sarah, the irritation returning to her voice.

"I was turned down for an idiot…" she said, almost amused.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" asked Sarah as she stood up threateningly.

"It means that both of you are idiots!" growled the bartender. "Me, I had been with him first, I had been with him since he left the vault. I taught him to be a man! And in my weakest moment, I asked him to give me a second shot, and he turned me down for you!" Mary pointed directly into Sarah's startled face to make her point.

Sarah looked at her stunned. Looking the woman up and down, from her long legs, to her wide hips, flat stomach, and large bust. Then she looked up into Mary's eyes. "He...said no because of me?" she asked.

"You're goddamn right he did!" said Mary, slightly offended. "He turned me down for someone who gets jealous at at every approaching female, and shows her jealousy with violence!"

"I...didn't…" stumbled Sarah.

"You did!" countered Mary as she stepped right up to the giant woman. "What indication did you have that he had ever done anything with her?" she asked coldly as she pointed to Elsa.

"I…" stuttered the sentinel as she thought rapidly. But she kept drawing a blank. "There wasn't one. I just assumed…"

"You assumed." said the barkeep as she crossed her arms, still with her gaze locked on the muscular woman. "Let me tell you a little something sweety. That man down there saved me and this town from more threats than the Brotherhood of Steel ever cared about. He was, and IS a hero here, and saved me from the grip of a man who wanted to exploit me for the rest of my life, then kill me! So believe me, if I'd had the chance, I'd have taken him from you in a heartbeat." she said threateningly. "After the way you treat him, I still might." The glare that Sarah gave her at the statement didn't faze her at all. Finally, Mary sighed. "At least, I'd have liked to. But I tried already. I opened myself to him, and he turned me down for you. Someone who was miles and miles away, someone who could have been dead for all he knew."

Sarah slumped down in the chair sadly. Elsa decided to finally chime in. "It's true. I was there on his wrist when he did it." she said as non-intrusive as possible.

"I'm...an idiot…" said Sarah as she rubbed her head. "I just...with the whole situation. Him being farther away, me seeing him almost die, then all the sudden he has a sexbot tagging along…"

"Hey!" shouted Elsa angrily.

Ignoring her, the sentinel continued. "I just started thinking he found someone better."

"And what was your issue with me?" asked Mary. Sarah looked away, her face flushing in embarrassment. Mary immediately smiled slyly. "Oh, I see now…" she said, crossing her arms in a less standoffish manner. "You're still a virgin, aren't you?" she asked.

Sarah glared at the woman. "So what?" she asked.

Mary chuckled brightly. "You wanted the fairy tale didn't you? Neither of you having been with anyone else, meeting, love at first sight…"

"Shut up!" threatened Sarah as she stood again.

Sighing, Mary placed her hand on the large woman's shoulder. "I'm sorry I spoiled that for you hun. I really am." she said, looking up at her sadly. "But he was a teenager sweetheart. He's had a few girls before you, and if it don't work with you, he'll probably have a few after you. Life isn't a fairy tale. If it was, I wouldn't have been selling myself to survive, Gob out there wouldn't have been turned into a ghoul, and you wouldn't have to fight off giant green mutants every day of your life." she said sweetly.

Sarah just sighed miserably. "I know."

Finally, Elsa piped in again. "But you have him now. Despite me, despite Mary, despite whoever the hell else wants a piece of him, he chose you." she said, traces of irritated jealousy in her voice.

"Cherish it hun. There may be a time when something happens to one of you. You may not get to enjoy it forever." said the fiery haired woman.

For the first time in a long time, Sarah felt somewhat foolish for her attitude. She remembered the nights she lied in bed thinking of him, what he was doing, and where he was. She remembered the excitement she felt at their first kiss, and each time they had talked since. She even recalled the feeling of her heart rapidly beating when she recognized the voice over the radio as his back at the Citadel. Then she remembered her attitude towards him when they finally met. It seemed like each new time he showed up, she had something to say about someone he was around. She immediately wilted, falling back into the chair. "My god…"

Mary smiled. "Don't worry hun. I know from experience he's a good guy with not a lot of anger." she said as she patted the strong shoulder of the woman.

"At least for people he likes…" said Elsa, somewhat amused.

Sarah looked up at the two, finally smiling after what felt like forever. "Even if he lets it go, I'll still feel like an idiot…" she said.

"You are an idiot. But that doesn't mean you don't deserve to be happy." continued Elsa as she pouted on the desk. "Now get your brahmin ass out there."

Even Mary chuckled at the statement. "Go get him tiger." she said playfully.

Sarah smiled brightly and nodded, then stood up and headed for the door.

OoOoO

"Girl trouble?" asked Simms as he walked up next to the wanderer, who was currently standing at the bar of the Bronze Lantern, chugging a beer.

"Don't ask…" grumbled the man as he ordered another.

"I'll try not to." said the sheriff as he reached up, took his hat off and laid it on the bar. "So, I had a bit of a favor to ask you my friend." said the dark-skinned man who gave him a grin.

"Does it involve women? Because I think I may start playing for the other team at this point." At that point, Jenny Stahl laughed from behind the bar before popping the cap off another beer and handing it to him. She quickly collected the cap and went back to her grill.

"It actually does, but not like you're thinking." said the man as he nodded to the sandy blond woman. "Turns out your friend Poison over in Springvale is actually trying to put up a new settlement there out of the school."

John looked at him curiously. Taking another swig from the beer, he asked, "No kidding? That's...brave. Then again, when you're already there, what else are you gonna do?" he asked, shrugging. "What did you need me to do?"

"Well, the thing is, to see how things are going, I sent a few scouts out there. Two men, one woman. The woman came back no worse for wear without much information. One of the men disappeared without a word, and the other stood as far back as he could after the last one didn't come back. So I have no idea what happened to my guy."

"And you were wondering if I would go see what happened to him?" asked John.

Simms nodded thoughtfully. "And while you're there, check things out and see if I should be worried about a raider group settling nearby."

The gunman let out a loud sigh. "I suppose I could do that. But you owe me one for this. I have enough issues with women already…" he said, when he saw the door to his house above slam open. Sure enough, out came the tall, muscular blond woman. He silently wondered if he should have left Mary alone with her, but dashed the thoughts. She knew better, and even if she didn't, Elsa was there with them as well. "Speaking of which…" he said, slamming the rest of the beer and setting it back on the counter of the small outdoor bar. Jenny snagged the bottle, putting it under the bar for later.

"You need backup?" asked Lucas as he grabbed his hat and took a step back.

"Maybe call Doc Church for the cleanup." he grumbled as he stood and watched her step off the ramp and beeline straight for him. Turning to Simms, who had yet to move, he eyed him. "No seriously, she can destroy me…" he said, then turned back to her as she glared at him with that piercing, sky blue gaze. "Have you figured out what you're going to do yet?" he asked with a grumble.

"You're goddamn right I did." she said sharply, then reached for his throat. He clenched, bracing for her attack. But felt himself pulled forward until their lips met. He stood, stunned stupid as she held him close, kissing him deeply.

"And you thought you had something to worry about." said Lucas as he shook his head and walked off chuckling.

Reaching up, he gripped her lightly and pulled away. The disappointed look on her face was apparent, but he stood firm. "You didn't kill them did you?" he asked.

"No." she replied impatiently.

"You didn't hurt them?" he asked.

"I didn't do anything to them! Now shut up and kiss me or I'm going to kill you!" she snapped. Her tirade ended there as she was jerked forward and kissed just as harshly, which she returned eagerly. It wasn't long before the people around them, starting with Jenny, started catcalling and cheering.

Mary and Elsa watched from up on the catwalks as the two kissed, both of them with perturbed expressions on. "I thought this talk would have made me want to kill her less."

"Oh no, that feeling will probably last to the end of your days hun." said Mary in amusement as she lit a Clover and puffed at it. "Or at least until you win."

"Win?" asked Elsa, looking at the older woman.

"You'll be around him no matter what. You two were quite literally inseparable until you got your body. I don't see you leaving his side any time soon." said the woman as she blew out a smoke ring. "She however, has to leave him eventually, unless he has plans of joining the Brotherhood. Be at his side, be there for him, be his rock." said the woman as she stood up and stared at the girl. "Do that...and you will win."

Elsa eyed her curiously. "Why are you telling me this?"

"His happiness is more important to me than all that he's given me since. I know him better than either of you two do, in more ways than just physically." she said, leaning down and giving the girl a piercing look. "That girl will make him happy now, but not for long. Then he'll likely turn to you. And when that happens, you will take care of him. Or there's not a robotic body in the world that will save you when I get my hands on you." she said threateningly.

Elsa sat frozen in place for a moment, her eyes wide at the threat that this seemingly mundane woman had just made towards her. She sounded eerily like her former employer would in fact, were he still alive. Suddenly, the girl shook her head. "Wait!" she shouted, standing straight. "So if what you say is true, and they DON'T end up working out, you're not gonna go for him?" asked the android girl.

The older woman gave her a bright smile. "Of course not sugar. After all, I already have a man, and he's a sweetheart." she said, then turned away and walked down the catwalks as if that had answered any remaining questions, leaving Elsa confounded and staring after her.

OoOoO

The entire day he walked around there were catcalls following him everywhere. He swore the next person to do it was going over the railing and into the trash pile. Luckily, nobody showed up to fill that role. After a very oxytocin filled fit, he finally calmed himself down again and talked to the other two. Mary had been in her bar again, lounging across the counter with her low cut shirt as usual. After asking what happened, she simply said, "We had a heart to heart.", then left it at that.

Elsa seemed too deep in thought to even speak. But when he finally did confront her about what went on in the house, she just looked up at him, smiled brightly...too bright for her usually annoyed self in his opinion, and essentially repeated what Mary had said. "We talked things out. You know how girls do sometimes." she said, flapping her hand at him to deflect his question.

Finally, he turned to Sarah. Eyeing her smiling face curiously, he came out and asked. "What the hell did you all talk about up here anyway?" he asked as he sat on the couch next to her with Dog's head in his lap.

"Dogmeat…" she said, scratching behind the canine's ears.

He looked at her oddly. "What?"

"It was on an old billboard that we saw when we first travelled here to DC. It showed a dog that looked just like him and said Dogmeat on it." she said, her face brightening immediately. "That's why he looked so familiar!" she said happily.

"Uhhh...oh." he said, looking down at the hound before stroking the creature's back. "How about that boy? Wanna be called Dogmeat?" he asked jokingly. When he got a bark in response, he just looked at the beast shocked. "Alright then...that settles it." he said, then looked up at her. "But that doesn't answer my question…"

"We just talked alright? About...the way I've been acting. The way we've all been acting really." she said, crossing her arms defensively. She'd already been interrogated once today, she didn't feel like having another go at it.

"I see…" he said, then donned a playful smile. "Did you all kiss?" he asked. The glare she shot him immediately made him raise his hands defensively. "Juuust a joke. Take it easy." he said. But his smile faded when he saw her expression go from agitated to sad. "What's the matter?"

"You just flinched from me looking at you. That's my fault…" she said, the guilt apparent in her voice.

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Well, you did clean my clock pretty good back at the Citadel." he said, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a playful smile.

"Stop joking around. They were right about me...I'm too…" she said, trying to find the words to explain.

"Beautiful?" he asked. She gave him a stern look.

"I'm trying to be serious here." she growled.

"And so am I." he said, his face going dead serious for a moment. "You are who you are Sarah, and that's what I liked about you in the first place. Now, I would appreciate some tenderness put into your punches from now on…" he said, subconsciously rubbing his jaw.

She snorted in amusement. "So, you don't mind me taking swings at you?" she asked jokingly.

"Nah. Besides, you hit like a girl anyway." he said, then jumped the couch as he she dove for him. "Help! Help! I'm being attacked!" he shouted before bolting up the stairs. She couldn't help but laugh as she got to her feet and chased him. When she ran into his room, he had turned around and was now shirtless and bootless.

"Wanna wrestle?" he asked, cracking his knuckles. The sight of him sparked a fire in her.

"You better hope that bed is soft asshole! Cuz you're gonna be laying in it for a long time!" she threatened as she slammed her fist into her palm, a bright smile once again on her face.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Hey guys! Just wanted to update you and let you know that the next couple chapters are going to be a bit of a weird transition. But the author hopes you like how it will be pulled off!


	60. Visions I

OoO( 60 )OoO

 _War. War never changes. Since the dawn of human kind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything: from God to justice to simple, psychotic rage. In the year 2077, after millennia of armed conflict, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer. The world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation. But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world. Instead, the apocalypse was simply the prologue to another bloody chapter of human history. For man had succeeded in destroying the world - but war, war never changes._

 _In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wastes to greet them - all except those inVault 101. For on that fateful day, when fire rained from the sky, the giant steel door of Vault 101 slid closed... and never reopened. It was here you were born. It is here you will die. Because, in Vault 101: no one ever enters, and no one ever leaves._

OoOoO

Darkness and light, shadows and rays, an explosion of myriads of colors and lights unlike anything he had ever seen in his life. He was blinded momentarily, immediately reaching up to scrub at his eyes as the flash left a massive blurry dot in his vision. He'd had the same thing happen many times in his life, and it irritated him every single time it happened, as his eyes seemed to be a bit more sensitive to the light than others were. They knew that, and yet…

"SURPRISE!" shouted everyone in the room as he stumbled around blinded.

"Oh, you turned the light on too quickly and blinded the poor guy." came a comfortably familiar voice. Finally, he rubbed the blindness from his eyes and looked up at the man who now had a firm hold on his shoulder to make sure he didn't run into anything.

"Thanks dad…" grumbled the boy. Then he looked around at everyone in the room with a look of confusion in his bright eyes. "Wha…?" he asked.

"It's your birthday dummy! Don't tell me you even forgot that!" came the familiar voice of his best friend. She wore the same size jumpsuit as him and had a party hat on her head. Her hair was currently down to her shoulders, long, dark, and as straight as a ruler. Her skin was also dark, but not due to the sun. The lights in their home did little to increase the melanin content of one's skin. No, the slight bronzing of her skin had been with her since her birth, giving her a very unique, exotic look somewhere between light and dark. "Why are you staring at me?" she asked, eyeing him strangely with her dark brown eyes.

"I…" he said, then shook his head. "I wasn't, stupid. Shut up!" he growled.

"You shut up!" she spat back. "All the work I put into this party and you act like a butthead."

He sighed. "S-Sorry…" was all he said, followed by awkward shuffling. "I just...I was still getting the spots out of my eyes.

"Yeah yeah. Sorry about the lights...I kinda forgot your eyes are more sensitive than ours." she said, putting her arms behind her back sheepishly. Then she smiled widely, showing a gap between her pearly teeth. "So! Guess what I got you for your birthday!"

"I dunno…" he said awkwardly, still flushing slightly at being caught staring at her.

"Geez, could put a little effort into it…" said the girl as she pulled one arm out from behind her back and handed him was looked like a small booklet. He took it, and his eyes widened immensely. "Ha! I knew you'd love it." she said smugly, crossing her arms.

"It's...wait...where did you get it?" he asked, his wide green eyes scanning the cover of the first edition Grognak the Barbarian comic book.

"My dad had it stuffed away in his old stuff for some reason. I guess even he used to like fun stuff when he was young." said the girl, shrugging. Then she eyed him curiously. "Do you like it? There's not even any pages missing."

"I love it…" he said as he opened the cover and examined the first page. It had definitely seen better days, but the pictures were clear enough to read.

The young girl blushed lightly. "I-I knew you would..." she remarked. The boy didn't notice the blush. But unfortunately for them both, someone else did.

"Your tenth birthday!" came the same stale voice from over the intercoms. Immediately, the comic flew behind the boys back. He was unsure of how the Overseer would feel about his daughter giving his things away. "You know what that means young man..." said the old man as he stepped forward, bearing a small green contraption in his hand.

The boy stood as time seemed to slow down around him. Something about the look in the man's face was unpleasant. He didn't like it. But he did like the machine now sitting in front of him. "Woah..." he said simply as he picked the device up.

"Woah indeed. That is your very own Pipboy 3000. With that machine comes responsibility! As a ten year old young man, you now have responsibilities of your own..." said the man, but before he could finish, he was cut off.

"This is his birthday party Alphonse. That can wait until after." said a firm, but calming voice. Almost immediately, the eye of every child in the room was on the two men. The one who stood behind him was tall and ruggedly handsome. His dark hair and thin layer of scruff along his jaw had traces of grey splashed through it, but that only added to the sense of maturity that radiated from him. The other man however, had a full head of silver hair that was slicked back. And no matter how wise he wanted that to make him look, everyone knew how overbearing he could be, and how prone to throwing tantrums he was.

The two faced off against each other, the man in the labcoat holding a serene gaze, while the man in the vault jumpsuit had a mask of irritation on his face. "Very well." said the Overseer, who then turned around and began to give orders to one of the security guards.

"Sorry son...didn't mean to put a damper on your party." said the man apologetically.

The boy sighed. "It's fine dad." he said, still cradling his new prized comic book, as well as the pipboy.

"Well, hopefully this will cheer you up. I've actually got a bit of a surprise later for you. When you're done here, meet me and Jonas down by the fusion reactor." said the man as he took the pipboy from the boy and unlocked it. "Now, hold out your arm." Most everyone in the mess hall watched on in silence as the boy slowly drew up the sleeve of his jumpsuit and held out his left arm. "Now, the first time is always the worst. It has to get the sensors inside you, so you're going to feel a slight sting." he said as he locked the device around the young man's arm.

The young vault dweller cringed in pain as he felt a very sharp stinging sensation on his arm. His knees nearly buckled as the display on the pipboy lit up with numerous bits of information. But he held on, his defiant nature making him lock his stance and hold it as the fire coursed through his system. Finally, after almost a full minute of torture, he finally breathed a sigh of relief as the pain faded away.

"There we go, all done." said the tall man as he stood up and ruffled his son's hair. "I told you you could do it. Now remember, after you get a free moment, meet me down in the reactor for your surprise. I have to go have a word with Jonas, so behave yourself." said the man with a nod, before he turned and left the door.

After the man left, the girl approached again."Yeah, it sucks. But you toughed it out." she said as she gave him a mildly impressed grin.

"Probably too dumb to know he's being hurt." said a snarky voice a few feet away. Both of them, recognizing the voice, turned with glares of their own.

"Nobody asked you Butch." growled the girl.

"Awww...did I make wittle Amata angry?" he asked, giving her a funny face. "Whatcha gonna do, tell your daddy?"

"I'll knock that stupid look off your stupid face!" she snapped, turning towards the bully.

But the birthday boy stopped her. "Don't Amata, he's not worth it." he said with an irritated sigh.

"Awww...how sweet." said the delinquent as he snickered.

"Time to cut the cake!" shouted Andy as he raised a buzzsaw in the air. All three of the kids looked over just in time to see the blade descend, only to completely destroy the baked delicacy. A chunk of the cake flew and splattered Butch in the face, leaving him completely dumbfounded. John and Amata looked at him, and neither could help it as they both broke down into fits of laughter.

Butch yelled angrily and wiped his face off with one hand, glaring at the two. "Keep laughing dorks!" he shouted as his mother turned to him and assisted him in cleaning the confection off of his face.

When Amata was finally able to breath again, she placed a hand on John's shoulder and squeezed. His face, had it not already been red from laughing, would surely have betrayed his anxiety at her touch. "You should go talk to a few of the others here. I'm sure some of them have birthday presents for you." she said sweetly.

He just nodded dumbly and began milling about the party. A few of the residents patted him on the head and congratulated him for making it this far, while others ignored him entirely. But as he walked past one of the booths, an elderly woman took his arm. He looked over to find Mrs. Palmer smiling at him. "Well well birthday boy. Ten whole years old!"

"Yeah..." he said awkwardly as he rubbed his arm. He had a strange repulsion to old people. At the time, he didn't really know why. Mrs. Palmer was the nicest lady in the vault, and often gave him treats for being so bright. Still, he felt awkward looking at her and her smiling wrinkled face.

"I can barely remember being ten. It was so long ago, long before the exploration parties..." she said, her expression becoming glazed as if she were slipping into the memory.

He looked at her oddly, his discomfort forgotten as he cocked an eyebrow. "Exploration parties?" he asked.

She seemed to snap out of her stupor and looked at him. "I'm sorry dear...I sometimes speak in nonsense. It comes with old age I suppose." she said, waving him off. "In any case, I got you a present. IJ even baked it myself!" she said as she pulled a sweet roll out of the container she had sitting on the table. Holding it forward, he gave it a startled glance.

"It's...huge!" he said in surprise.

"Well, you only turn ten once." she said with a chuckle. "Enjoy dear." she said, then she seemed to be done talking, as she turned away from him and stared at the container. He stepped away awkwardly before looking down at the burger-sized roll. Turning away, he continued meandering as he nibbled away at the treat.

"Hey..." came a rather deep voice from another kid around his age. He looked over with a glare at the dark-skinned kid who was leaning over the back of a booth seat to talk to him.

"Hey Paul. What do you want?" asked John, who pulled his birthday treat away from the boy unconsciously.

The young man scratched his head. "I just wanted to say, cool party. And...happy birthday."

The doctor's son eyed him suspiciously. "Thanks?" he asked.

"Look, I know we pick on you guys a lot, but you know we're not serious, right?" he asked. John read the boy like a book, something he had picked up from his father. He was being genuine, and really was never the brightest of the three. He looked dead serious as he explained.

"Well, when Butch takes a swing at me, you could joke around about it a little bit less." said John, keeping his prickly attitude towards the boy.

"What're you doin' over here Paul? You got a new girlfriend?" asked Butch with a sneer as he approached the two.

Immediately, Paul stiffened and became defensive. "N-No! I was just..."

But Butch had stopped listening, and now eyed the gift from Mrs. Palmer. "Where'd you get that?" he asked.

Immediately, John pulled the sweet away from the bully. "It was a birthday gift."

"That stupid robot ruined the cake and I'm hungry. Give it here!" said Butch forcefully as he tried to snatch the cake from the boy's hands. But John swiped it away and crammed the entire thing in his mouth. With a maw stuffed to the point where his cheeks were bulging, he raised his hands and made a face at Butch, wiggling his fingers for effect. Immediately, the enraged boy growled and took a swing at John. But just before he hit him, the strong hand of Officer Gomez caught his arm.

"That's enough Butch. Get over to your mother before I throw you in the holding cell again." said the officer who leered at Butch. The preteen, never one to be bossed around, simply snorted.

"Fine. Didn't want the stupid sweet roll anyway." he said, then straightened his collar and walked off smugly.

Gomez watched him go, then looked at John. "Sorry kid. I know he's been giving you hell lately."

"Not your fault..." grumbled John after swallowing the remainder of the cake. "He's always looking for a reason to beat me up."

Herman Gomez smiled at him sympathetically. "Well, I'll tell you what. I wasn't able to get you anything for your birthday, so how about instead I teach you a few things about self defense?" he asked.

John looked at him curiously. "What? Like...karate?" he asked.

Officer Gomez chuckled. "Not quite so flashy. Just some officer moves, to disable people who're trying to hurt you. You won't be doing any flips or anything, but it'll definitely keep Butch off you if you train hard enough." he said.

John smirked lightly. He liked Officer Gomez. Not once did the man kneel down, or pat his head, or anything else to treat him like a kid. Instead, he stood firm, looked him in the eyes, and told him like it was. Gomez may just be doing his job, but he had no idea how much the boy appreciated it. "Thanks. That'll be cool." he said, a bit excited at the prospect of his new hobby.

"No problem. Besides, you're an adult now. Need to start doing defending yourself." said the Officer, who nodded to John. "Go ahead and enjoy your party. We'll start things off later this week."

John nodded, and the officer took his leave. It was at that time that Amata approached him once again, a scowl on her face. "I can't believe that jerkface tried to pick a fight with you at your own birthday party!" she said, growling.

"It's fine. Besides, I might not have to worry about them for long anyway..." said the boy with a confident smile.

She eyed him curiously, her dark brown eyes looking into his own forest green. "What does that mean?"

He sniffed, then rubbed his nose. "Nothin'..." he said casually, getting a growl from her.

"Ugh! Boys are soooo stupid!" she muttered, then walked off.

He chuckled to himself, knowing she'd cool down later. "Don't wanna do that son." came a calm, but older voice from the bar. John looked up to find Stanley, the Vault's resident mechanic, staring down at him with consternation. "Girls, are to be kept happy. You don't wanna intentionally make one you like angry." he said.

John crossed his arms, his face turning red again as he looked away. "Who said I liked her?" he asked.

Stanley chuckled dryly. "It's nothin' tah be ashamed of. Everyone has a girl they like. Even I used to." said the older man. He liked Stanley. The man was always nice, and was even smarter than he was when it came to machines. He was the one who had first taught him to repair Andy. But his brilliance with machines and vault mechanics left him less than bright in other areas. Still, he was really nice, if not a bit nosy.

"I never said I liked Amata." said the boy crossly.

"You don't have tah say it for it tah be true." he said, giving the boy a stern look. "Just remember, you treat them right. Because one day, they may find someone who treats them better." said the man as he tipped a cap to the kid. John stared at him for a long moment, contemplating the words. But before the boy could put his two cents in, he changed the subject. "So, how do you like your new pipboy?"

John looked down at the computer with a smile. "It's cool...but it hurt." he commented.

"Yeah, always does the first time. But that's the sensors. It has to get them in your body so that it can monitor your vitals. The newer models are less invasive, but the 3000A is more reliable by far. Much less breakable." he said with a wink.

The boy smiled. "Thanks Stanley."

"No problem kiddo. And keep up the good work with Andy by the way. Never seen him so animated before." said the amused man as he watched the robot dancing to the music in the middle of the cafeteria floor. The robot had a party hat on each of its ocular sensors, adding to the comical nature. "Hell, keep this up and one day you may be working with me in the reactor. Lord knows we could use ya down there."

As John stared at the pipboy, he realized just how long he had been milling around the party for. His father and Jonas were probably wondering where he was. "Sure thing Stanley. I gotta go now, my dad wanted to talk to me." he said, waving the man away as he left the cafeteria through the back door, getting a wave in return.

OoOoO

When the large blast door to the reactor opened, the young boy stepped inside and looked around frantically. Technically, he wasn't supposed to be down on this level, and could get time in the detention unit for being caught. But he had the permission of his father. Not that that excuse would fly with the Overseer. The older man would probably be drooling at the thought of being able to get back at the mouthy doctor through the use of his son.

Looking around the large reactor, he managed to spot a tall figure in a white lab coat. As he approached, his footsteps made the labcoat wearing individual spin around. He was short by normal standards, a couple of inches shorter than his father. His skin was dark, as was his tightly trimmed hair, and his large brown eyes, which were magnified by the thick lenses he wore over them. As the young man stepped forward, the man put his hands on his hips and smiled.

"Well, if it isn't John. I thought kids weren't allowed to be on this level." he said in a mock authoritative tone.

John huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm not a kid, Jonas!" he snapped. But the man just chuckled lightly.

"You're damn right you're not. Ten whole years old and still growing. Where has the time gone?" asked the man as he leaned against the active reactor. Suddenly, the door that the boy just came through opened.

"Ah, there you are." said James as he ruffled his son's hair. He knelt down with a smile so he could see his son face to face. "Now then, as I said, I have a surprise for you." he said, getting an excited smile from the boy. "But I need your word that from this point forward, you will be a responsible adult when handling it." he said, the look on his face dead serious. John nodded eagerly, but his father's stern hand squeezing his shoulder made him stop and stare at the man. "I'm serious John. What I'm going to give you is a lot less powerful than the real thing, but it's no less dangerous when in the right hands. I want you to promise me you'll be very respectful of its power."

The boy was stunned slightly at the serious demeanor his father had taken. Wondering just what he was receiving that could be that dangerous, he nodded sternly. "I promise Dad."

The man smiled warmly and patted the boy's shoulder. "Good man. Now then…" he said, then stood up to his full height. Reaching behind his back, he pulled out what looked like a pistol. John's eyes widened as he saw the gun held before him. "Before you get too excited, it is just a BB Gun." said his father with a smirk of amusement.

But regardless of whether it was real or not, the boy lifted the weapon with a broad smile. "Whoa...it actually fires?" he asked, looking up at his father.

The man nodded. "It needed a new CO2 cannister, and one of the springs needed replaced as well. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a spring that small?" he asked the boy with a cocked eyebrow. John merely shook his head. James smiled and pulled a second object out of his lab coat's pocket. Immediately, the boy recognized it as a switchblade the belonged to Butch. The greaser brat had tried to intimidate him with it more than once, but by that point John knew he was mostly all talk. "Luckily, Butch seems to have misplaced this, so I did a little scavenging."

"Awesome…" was all John could say in response to the new gift he was given.

"Don't get too excited yet. That's only the first part of the surprise." remarked Jonas as he reached up and hit the door panel next to him. The door slid open, and John walked with both of them into a large storage room next to the reactor. When they stopped again, the excitement could be any more apparent on the boy's face. At the far end of the storage room were boxes set up in a shooting range fashion. And past the boxes were three separate targets set up at different angles. "Now, you have a place to come and practice with it." said the scientist.

"This is soooo cool!" squealed the boy in his still prepubescent high pitched tone.

His father smiled widely and nodded towards the targets. "Go ahead and give it a few rounds." he said encouragingly. Immediately, the boy held up the gun, but his father grabbed his hand. After readjusting his son's grip on the handle, he immediately held the barrel. "One thing to always remember when using firearms son, is to never, ever have your finger on the trigger unless you intend to fire it." said the man seriously.

Reacting, John slid his finger away from the trigger, getting a nod from his father. "In case it goes off?"

"You might misfire the weapon and end up hurting someone very badly. Or, you may just end up wasting ammo. But regardless, you don't want to do it. Especially if it's aimed at someone. So for safety's sake, never have your finger on the trigger unless you intend to fire."

"Right…" said the boy, who with a new grip, then aimed the weapon down range at one of the targets. Slowly, he slid his finger into the slot, and pulled the trigger, resulting in a loud popping sound from the pistol. The small metal pellet hit the far wall and dropped to the ground. Pulling again, he missed once more. Growling, John went to aim again, but his father placed a hand over his.

"Don't get angry. That'll only make you fire more erratically. What you want to do is fix your stance. One foot in front of the other. This may not matter with a BB gun that doesn't have a lot of kick, but if you ever fire a real one, you'll end up on your backside if you don't make sure you're sturdy." he commented. John looked down at his feet, which were currently shoulder length apart and side by side. Cocking his right leg back, he held himself firm and raised the weapon again. But his father's voice stopped him from firing. "Now breath in, and hold it for the shot." The boy inhaled deeply, then held his breath. "Now, aimed down the sights, and don't pull the trigger back. Squeeze it, and stay calm."

Finally, he allowed his finger to slither around the trigger and squeeze it tightly. Once suppressed, the gun popped again. But this time, it was followed by the sound of screeching metal as the pellet slammed into the target and sent it spinning. John's eyes widened as he saw the metal spin on the rod that his father had put it on. Jonas began clapping, a large, proud smile on his face. "Atta boy!"

Even James smiled and ruffled the young lad's hair. "Knew you had it in you, son." said the doctor.

Suddenly, every eye in the room turned to the sound of a loud squealing as a terrified radroach ran out into the center of the range. Jonas just smiled wryly. "Looks like we've got a volunteer."

James nodded. "Go ahead son, see if you can't send it packing." said James as he looked down at his son. When John raised the gun again, he felt his father's hand on his shoulder. "And always remember, no matter how cool or fun this may seem, these are not toys. When you pull that trigger, there is a very good chance that whatever you're aiming at will not live to see another day. So always be aware of what happens when you aim at someone." said the man, who nodded to his son.

John raised the weapon again, took his stance, aimed, held his breath, then squeezed the trigger. The pop sounded, and the radroach squealed again loudly as its thorax was punctured and destroyed by the pellet. John went to look away, but his father's firm hand kept him looking at the creature he had just taken the life from. "All life is precious kiddo. Only take it when you have to." remarked Jonas. At first, his hold was rough, making sure he didn't look away from the writhing corpse of the dying roach. But it softened immensely, his father now stroking his hair. John stared at the still creature for a long moment, the consequences of his actions setting in firmly in his mind. Suddenly, he was shaken from his stupor by Jonas' voice again. "Well then, how about a picture of the new big game hunter?" asked the assistant as he pulled a camera out of his lab coat pocket.

"Alright then." said James as he knelt down next to his son. John turned to the camera, a look of concern still on his face from what he had just witnessed. But he smiled all the same, holding up the weapon with the safety on, and his finger off the trigger. "That's my boy." said his father as he placed a hand on his shoulder, right before another flash of light sent his head spinning once more.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Sarah:** So, this kinda beginning of the story stuff is a little convoluted because they want to cram all that information into you all at once at the beginning of the game. Hopefully the author did well in translating it to paper.

 **Author's Note from Butch:** Hello my titanic sweetheart.

 **Author's Note from Sarah:** ~backhands him, knocking him out immediately~ Anyway, enjoy.


	61. Visions II

OoO( 61 )OoO

 _Gray Walls, impenetrable steel.  
_ _Suffocation! Condemnation!  
_ _Little hands groping in subterranean uncertainty.  
_ _Mommy? Daddy? Am I Dead? Nay! Nay!_

 _Reborn into purifying fluorescence!  
_ _A face emerges, strong and male. Father to me? Father to all!  
_ _Overseeing our lives, our eternities.  
_ _Harshness of discipline.  
_ _Harshness of love Obedience my savior!_

 _Larva to pupa, pupa to worker.  
_ _Buzz, buzz! One with the steel honeycomb.  
_ _10 lies within the 101, significant at last.  
_ _Till gray seeps from the walls to hair, to soul.  
_ _Then, eternal slumber, the sweet sleep of incineration._

OoOoO

He awoke again. This time his head was pounding. He was sore all over, and had slight bruising on the side of his face from the fight he had gotten into earlier. He sat up in the bed, cradling his face gently as he got up and went to the bathroom. When the teen got out of the confined wash closet, he stopped, then sighed. Standing in front of him was Amata, her arms crossed and a glare on her face.

She had grown quite a bit since his tenth birthday party, much more than he had apparently. She now stood taller than him by a few inches, and her hair, which had grown down to her back, was pulled up into a ponytail. John himself had pretty much kept his appearance the same since time immemorial. Short brown hair that naturally spiked backwards when cut short enough. But while he seemed to be staying the same, she seemed to be growing not just taller, but in other areas as well. It made it uncomfortable being so close to her sometimes.

Now she stood, a death glare on her face with her arms crossed in front of him. He just sat on his bed, allowing her the first words. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing." was all he responded with as he turned his head to try and hide the bruising.

"Don't give me that! You disappeared after class yesterday, and I come to find out from Christine that Butch and his boys…"

"The Tunnel Snakes…" remarked John.

"THE BUTTHEADS!" she shouted, silencing him. "I come to find out that they cornered you and beat the crap out of you?" she asked incredulously. "Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell me!?"

"Just go away!" growled John as he curled up on the bed and rolled over, as if he were going back to sleep.

"Oh no you don't!" she shouted as she strutted over and ripped the blanket off of him. In protest, he went rigid, then started flailing wildly like a toddler throwing a fit. Even in her state of anger, she giggled slightly at the episode. "Tell me!"

"No!" he snapped, then rolled away from her. But she jumped on the bed and grabbed him, pinning him down.

"Tell me! Or you're getting the chin!" she shouted, half playfully and half serious. The look of shock on his face at the threat stunned him momentarily.

After a few seconds of silence, with her holding his arms down, he leaned up with a glare. "You don't have the guts…"

Her eyes lit with fire and her nostrils flared as she growled loudly, then drove her chin into his rib cage like a spear. The boy struggled, but he was still sore from his encounter with Butch, giving the taller girl the advantage, something he hadn't considered when he challenged her. Now he was paying the price as she dug into him like a drill. "Had enough?" she asked triumphantly as she tortured him, all the while holding his arms at his sides with her own.

"S-Stop!" he groaned as he struggled to get away. Finally, he managed to pull one arm loose and hooked it under hers. Flipping her over onto her back, he now held her down, both of them breathing heavily. While he had a mild look of irritation on his face, hers was nearly dark red as she looked up at him. The position in which she lay now had her ponytail splayed out like a lion's mane on the bed behind her. Suddenly the irritated look left his face as he too felt a flush creeping over his features.

Her hair was dark, almost a charred brown color that had somehow had small hints of white sprouting here and there. Her eyes were pools of velvet hazel that he could drift in for days. Her skin was somewhere between his own and Jonas', a mix of dark and light that blended together to make her the perfect exotic shade of bronze. Her nose was small, her lips were curiously open and inviting, her eyelashes curled perfectly…

Before he realized what had happened, she had taken the initiative and leaned up, kissing him on the lips. The action startled him out of his stupor, making him stare at her again, but this time in curiosity. She now had a searching look, as if she were wondering if what she had done had gone too far. But the charismatic boy just smirked, then grabbed her and held her down again. "Trying to distract me huh?" he asked, making her giggle. "REVENGE!" he shouted, then began to do the same to her that she had previously done to him earlier, resulting in shouts and laughs and soreness.

OoOoO

Even more sore from his scrap with the Overseer's daughter, John had just gotten out of class again the next day when he found himself surrounded on all sides by the same group of brick headed would-be gangsters as before. "What do you want Butch?" asked the doctor's son, his voice dripping with frustration.

The slick haired teenager was currently wearing a sleeveless white shirt and a pair of jeans instead of his regular vault jumpsuit. That was a clear indicator that he had skipped school that day. "So, I heard a pretty big rumor that the Overseer's daughter came by your place last night and put a band-aid on your boo boos." At that, the two boys behind him began snickering.

"Is that what you think goes on between boys and girls when they like each other Butch?" asked John, his face never changing, despite his sarcasm.

Butch glared at him for a second. "N-No! I know what happens!" he said, then immediately changed the subject. "So, what'd you do? You tell on us? The mean ol' Tunnel Snakes beat me up, waaaah! Overseer!" he said as he put on a show of fake crying, which was apparently just as humorous to the two boys behind him, both of which shared Butch's greasy hairstyle. "Or were you and that bitch Amata…"

He got nary another word out before John's fist slammed into his diaphragm, driving the wind from him and sending him back onto his hind end. The greasy haired boy grasped his stomach and gasped loudly, trying to suck in air. Right then, both of the other boys leapt forward and grabbed John by the arms and held him so he couldn't get free. When the Tunnel Snake leader got to his feet again, he was still holding his stomach, but now he had a familiar object in his other hand. "You're gonna pay for that…" he growled as the blade of his switchblade sprung out. But a loud voice suddenly froze them all in place.

"I certainly hope what I'm seeing here is a friendly conversation between fellow classmates." said the authoritative voice. Everyone in the hall looked over and saw Herman Gomez standing there in his vault security uniform with his helmet tied to his belt.

Butch growled and tucked away the blade before whispering to John, "You got lucky this time…" Then he stood up straight and turned away from the doctor's son. "Come on boys. Let's leave the crybaby...for now." he said threateningly as he walked away with a glare.

Even Paul, who had once told John that it was all just playful banter bumped him and said silently enough so that the officer couldn't hear it, "Dorkface." before leaving. When the rowdy group was gone, John sighed and Herman looked down at him curiously.

"You know it's not gonna stop right?" he asked.

John just nodded in frustration. "I know, but what am I gonna do? Tell the Overseer? He'll just throw them in the detention cell, then they'll come back out and do it again."

Officer Gomez chuckled as he leaned against the wall as well. "What you do is you teach them that you can take anything they throw your way and rub their faces in it. Eventually, when they realize that they aren't able to pick on you anymore, they'll go find something else to do."

The boy glared at the officer and waved him off. "Yeah yeah. I've heard it from my dad already. Turn the other cheek, don't let them see it bothers you, yada yada. Well, that doesn't work against punches." he said, rubbing his cheek which was still sore.

"Ha! I wasn't talking about turning the other cheek son." he said, getting a curious look from the teenager. Herman leaned over and whispered to him quietly. "What I meant was, if they realize that every time they piss you off, they're going to get an ass beating, they'll stop trying to piss you off." he said. The boy's eyes widened at both the language and suggestion that a vault security officer was giving him.

"How do I do that? There's three of them!" said John, who covered his mouth when he realized he may have said that too loud.

"That's the easy part. You take off the head, the body dies with it. You really think Wally and Paul are gonna try and fight you if Butch goes down?" he asked.

He thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "I guess you're right...they've always been followers."

"Exactly. So here is what you're gonna do…"

OoOoO

After his talk with Gomez, the young vault dweller immediately made his way down to the reactor level, where his makeshift gun range was. He slipped through the halls, past Officer Kendall, and kept to the shadows as he descended to the lower level, where he wasn't allowed to be until he was older. As he creeped along, he thought he was in the clear, when a raspy voice made him freeze in place.

"I didn't know they were sending me an assistant." said the voice of Stanley from behind him.

John went rigid, and spun around to find that the man had walked out from behind the reactor where he had no doubt been taking readings, judging from the clipboard in his hand. Despite his terror at being caught, the young boy couldn't help but ease up gently. Stanley had always been good to him, so if he intended to punish him, he supposed he deserved it. "Hey Stanley." he said with a guilty look on his face.

"Comin' down to shoot some more?" asked the man with a knowing smile. Once again, John flinched when he heard that the man knew about the range. "Was wondering what all those pellets were doing layin' around on the floor, until I come in one day and hear popping going off back there. Saw you hittin' those targets one after the other. Hell of a shot kid." said the man.

John's eyes widened. "S-So you knew about it already?" he asked.

The man nodded solemnly. "Fraid so son. I've spent more time in this reactor than your collective lifespan. Was bound to happen eventually."

The teenager gave him a curious look. "But you haven't told anyone?"

The man looked at him knowingly. "Course I haven't. As long as you aren't shootin' people's eyes out, or shootin' at my reactor, I don't see no harm in it." said the older man as he took off his trademark baseball cap and wiped his forehead clean of sweat. The mechanic chuckled as John let out a sigh of relief. "But it's a bit early to go scrap shootin', what're you up to?"

"Actually, I was going to set up a sort of training room back there too…" he said sheepishly.

"Ah...that Deloria boy gettin' under your skin is it?" he asked. John silently grimaced at the ground. "Thought so." said the older man as he tapped his chin with a pen thoughtfully. "I got an idea then…"

John looked up at him curiously. "What kind of idea?"

"I'll keep your little area down here secret, as well as the range you got goin', and in return, you help me out here in the reactor. I'll teach you how it works, and I'll even get permission from the Overseer to train you so you don't have to sneak around no more." he said.

The teenager cocked his head curiously. "You want me to help you with the reactor?" he asked.

"Of course! My eyes aren't what they used to be, and I've seen how quick you are with your hands when it comes to machines. You'd fit in perfectly down here." said the man.

John smiled widely and hold out his hand. "You've got a deal!"

OoOoO

Boredom. It had struck again as she strode down the hall, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she strolled down to the reactor room where the doctor had told her that his son was currently located. At the moment, she had her dark hair tied up into a bun, as it had gotten even longer since they were younger.

She knew that he came down here to learn from Stanley, but that was about the limit of her knowledge on his random disappearances. Finally, after getting away from another one of her father's lectures about 'responsibility and her duty to the future residents of the vault', she decided she'd find out exactly what he was doing down there for most of the day when he wasn't in school.

When she entered the reactor room, the only sound she heard was the soft hum of the nuclear powerhouse that kept them all alive in their underground fortress. She tilted her head as she looked around on either side of the massive machine, but saw nothing, not even the resident mechanic who always seemed to be down here tinkering with something. Suddenly, she stopped when she heard a grunting coming from one of the storage rooms off to the side. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she walked over and silently opened the sliding door. She gasped at what she saw inside. At the far end of the elongated room were a bunch of boxes stacked oddly, making a window like opening that showed a bunch of paper and metal targets that were dotted with holes at the far end.

On the right of the entrance however, was a bunch of odds and ends that looked like they had been stripped from the reactor. A few looked to be lumps of metal with a handle fused onto them, while others were long bars with other pieces of metal welded onto both ends. It was then that she noticed the figure moving up and down behind all of the random weighted objects. It was him.

He was hanging onto a pair of bars overhead and was slowly lifting and lowering his entire body weight up and down. Currently, he was only wearing a pair of shorts as he continued his regiment of pull-ups, showing her how long he had been doing this. She felt her face burning red as she stared at his bare chest, his torso clearly having more definition than the last time she had seen it. She just stood and stared at him for a long silent moment before he finally released the bars and landed deftly on his bare feet.

When the boy landed, he had a wide smile on his face as he wiped the sweat clear with a towel. But when the towel dropped, he froze as he saw her standing in front of him. "A-Amata?" he asked.

"Hey..." she said timidly, shuffling awkwardly in her Vault 101 jumpsuit.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked, suddenly self conscious of his own bareness. Yet, he didn't move to grab his shirt. He just stood and stared at her pretty face.

"J-Just came to see what you were doing." she said, suddenly shyer than she'd ever been around him.

"Oh...I was just...uhh...working out. But...I'm finished, so..." he said, then reached down for the white shirt that he had laying across one of his makeshift weights.

"You don't have to do that...if you don't want to I mean." she said, looking at the floor as he face blossomed into another flush.

He stood frozen, looking at her with his hand hovering over the shirt for a moment before retracting it. "Alright..." he said. The two stood awkwardly for a moment, the combined nervousness of the two nearly powerful enough to blow the reactor outside. Finally, the boy decided to break the ice. Donning his trademark smile, he commented, "Your father doesn't have cameras in here, you know?"

She gave him a curious glance. "Really? That's surprising." she said, then gave him a scrutinizing glare. "What are you implying?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

He chuckled lightly. "Well, if you don't want me to put my shirt on..." he said, shrugging and leaving the statement open ended.

It didn't take long for the teenage girl to pick up on his implication, making her blush and smile playfully at the same time. Reaching up with one hand, she hit the controls to close the door, then with the same hand, began to unzip the top of her jumpsuit. "No cameras huh?" she asked.

"Not a one..." he said to her, though his eyes were anywhere but her face. She had unzipped the top to her waist, shrugging the sleeves off her shoulders, and leaving her in just a white t-shirt. Moving forward, she stepped over one of the weights until she was standing right in front of him, then reached down and pulled her white t-shirt off as well. John's eyes widened, and he definitely felt his body stirring as she was left in nothing but a pink bra.

"What do you think we should do with this opportunity?" she asked playfully as she pressed her growing bosom against his defined chest.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "Well...I had a few ideas..." he said with a smirk.

OoOoO

"Unacceptable! Despicable! Inexcusable!" shouted the older man.

"Alphonse, they're just children. It was bound to happen one of these days..." sighed the doctor as he sat in the room with the Overseer.

"Imagine if we hadn't caught them!" shouted the man outraged.

"Then they'd have done the same thing you or I would have done at that age." said James as he looked up in irritation at the silver-haired man. "I'm a doctor Alphonse, I'm well aware of how biological functions work."

"But Amata...!" snapped the Overseer, but for the first time in the history of the vault, he was interrupted.

"That's enough Alphonse!" shouted the doctor.

Alphonse Almodovar stared at him wide-eyed. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"I said that's enough. I know damn well you have some kind of stupid grudge against me because you let your vault secrets spill under anesthesia. But that ridiculousness will not be aimed at my son." he said firmly.

The Overseer balked. "You have no idea what you're talking about..."

"I do. And whatever you feel you need to hate me for, feel free to do so. But my son is innocent in this, and you should treat him as such. They are teenagers Alphonse, not criminals. And they shouldn't be getting punishment for doing something they're biologically wired to do!" snapped James, who emphasized his point by slamming his palm on the man's desk. "Whether you like it or not, those two like each other. You can either make peace with that, or make an enemy of them both by trying to rip them apart."

Alphonse stared at him for a long moment, just looking into the doctor's blue eyes with his own steel grey. Finally, the man looked up at one of the security guards standing outside the door. "Officer Hannon, bring the boy in." he commanded.

The officer nodded, then left briefly, returning with John's arm grasped roughly in one hand. He released the teenager, then took up his post again. The young man looked over at his father with a look of shame. "Sorry Dad..." he said simply.

"Have a seat young man." said the Overseer, his hands interlaced in front of his mouth as he watched him. The doctor's son took a seat, and the leader of the vault eyed him, making his comfort levels tank. "So, let's hear it, from your own mouth. Why were you fooling around with my daughter?"

John looked at the ground uncomfortably, staying silent in embarrassment. But he looked up as he felt his father's hand on his shoulder. "Go ahead son, tell him the truth."

Looking from his father, back to the Overseer, he sighed. "I did it because I like her, a lot. What other reason is there?" he asked, a sarcastic tinge to his tone.

Alphonse eyed him scrutinizingly for what felt like an eternity to the boy. Finally, the older man let out a heavy sigh. "It has come to my attention, John Ronas, that my daughter feels the same about you." he said, nearly spitting the words out. "And since I cannot change how she feels, it looks like I'm stuck having to live with it." said the man as he stood up and placed both hands on his desk. James glared lightly at the man, knowing he was trying to intimidate his son. "While I may not be able to change her feelings for you, nor yours for her, I will not allow that level of activity while you are still underage. If you wish to...do whatever teenagers do in the classroom, pass notes, hold hands, whatever..." he said, waving the thoughts away immediately. "That's fine. But until you are both of proper age, you are not to lay one finger beneath that vault jumpsuit. Do I make myself clear?" he asked, his tone now more tired than angry.

John gave the man a curious eyebrow. "So...I'm not being punished?" he asked.

The Overseer glared over at James, then back at John. "No. I'm not going to punish you for being a teenager, nor for loving my daughter. And I will allow you two to pursue relations with each other, under the condition that you two be respectful of my wishes."

James smirked slightly as John stared in awe at the older man. "What do you say son?" asked the doctor as he looked at his son.

"O-Okay..." was all he could say.

"Oh...and do try to keep it out of the open. Public displays of affection are strictly prohibited after all." finished the older man.

OoOoO

Another bright and dingy day thanks to the artificial lights that he had to constantly wake up to in the morning. The young man, now sixteen years old, sat up in his bed, scrubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"That's right young man, rise and shine. Today is the big day, the day of your G.O.A.T. exam." said James as he fumbled around in one of his cabinets.

"Yeah, about that, I don't know if I can go Dad. I'm feeling kinda sick..." said the young man.

His father looked at him and gave him a playfully stern look. "You've got two things working against you there son. I'm a father, so I know when you're lying. And I'm a doctor, so I know when you're sick." said the man.

John chuckled back. "I know I know..."

"Don't worry son. I know you're nervous. Everyone is nervous because it decides your future occupation in the vault. But it's really not as bad as you would think. Just a few multiple choice questions." he said as he closed the cabinet and turned to his son, who was now zipping up his vault 101 jumpsuit. "Besides, as bright as you are, I don't think you'll have anything to worry about."

"Yeah..." said the young man as he looked over at the framed quote on the wall for what must have been the millionth time. "What were Mom's results?" he asked curiously.

James froze for a moment, then smiled sadly at his son. "She...was always bright. She was selected to be on the water purifier, making sure that everyone had fresh, clean water to drink." he said.

John stared at him oddly. "Dad...can you tell me about her?"

The man sighed, then sat down in front of the young man who was now relaxing on his cot. "Your mother, she...she was beautiful. But, beyond the beauty you've seen. There's just so much those old photos can never show." said the doctor as he ran a hand through his aged grey hair. "And she was passionate. About life, about love. But most of all, she was passionate about you. When she became pregnant, it was the happiest I had ever seen her." he said, chuckling as he recalled her face again. "Ah, she had great things in mind for you..." he mumbled. Then, like that, the peaceful expression his father wore was gone, and the doctor face was back in place. "Now then, time for you to stop stalling and get to class." he said as he patted his son on the knee.

"Alright, alright." said the boy with an exaggerated sigh as he stood up and grabbed his book holder, a small plastic container that held all his supplies.

James looked up at the boy, a small smirk cracking the rugged, but good looking mask of the doctor. "Please son, take these achievement tests seriously. The last thing I need is your mother's ghost haunting me because her only child became a garbage burner." he said, making his son chuckle again.

"You got it Dad." said John as he left their quarters and headed to the classroom. The vault was relatively small, making the walk a short one. So it wasn't long before he reached the final hallway before the class. And it was then that he heard a voice that already had his eye twitching.

"Come on, skip out on class with us. I'll show you what a tunnel snake really looks like." said the slimy voice, followed by the laughter of two other guys.

"God Butch, why don't you just leave me alone?" growled the familiar voice of Amata.

"What's the matter? You think because you're the Overseer's daughter that you're better than us?" asked Butch as John came around the corner. Immediately, all three of the goons looked his direction, each one tensing up as he casually walked around the corner.

"Butch, is this girl bothering you?" he asked jokingly. Even in her irritation, Amata gave a small smile at the humor.

"What?" asked the greaser confusedly. Ignoring the question, he glared at John from under his slick, pompadour hairstyle. "What the hell do you want? Come back for another round of ass whoopin'?" he asked, not as confidently as he once did. The last time he had crossed paths with John, they had fought. And it was by the grace of Officer Gomez stopping the fight that had prevented an all out beatdown. The officer had previously told his boys to back off and let John and Butch duke it out themselves. And unlike before, the doctor's son now packed a punch that the ganger definitely felt for days.

"Butch Butch Butch...if I wanted to beat you up, I'd trick you into doing it yourself. Why get my hands dirty?" he said casually. The greaser clenched his fist.

"Keep talking shrimp! You don't have Officer Gomez to save you this time." growled Butch as he squared up on John.

But he took a step back when John stepped forward, right into his face. "Just remember one thing Butch, he's not here to save you either." he said, giving the leather jacket wearing teen an icy glare. Paul Hannon Jr. and Wally Mack looked at each other, then back at John. Both went to step forward before his frosty glare locked them in place as well. "And both of you remember, I'm not locked in this vault with you. You're locked in here with me." he said in a tone that even even gave Amata a chill.

Butch stood up straight and grimaced at John, before turning to the classroom. "Cummon boys. This bitch ain't worth it." he said, stepping into the classroom quickly so that John wouldn't have the chance to retaliate for the stinging name calling towards Amata. His goons quickly followed, leaving the hall empty except for the doctor and Overseer's offspring.

Amata stepped up to him and looked at him oddly. He looked at her back with a cheeky smirk. "What?" he asked at her questioning glance.

"Did...did you just intimidate them with a line from a comic book?" she asked incredulously.

"Maybe." he said as he stood staring at her. Her oddly colored hair, mostly dark with white streaks here and there was now tied up into an official looking bun for class. She always wore it like that for school.

"And what if he called your bluff? Were you just gonna fight all three of them right out in front of class?" she asked, crossing her arms and trying to look stern, but failing horribly with the amused smile on her face.

He looked at her oddly. "Fight them? Hell no. I was gonna leave that to you." he said jokingly, making her giggle again. She wound up her fist and slugged him in the arm playfully. He grabbed his arm and yelped, "Oh no! My arm! Looks like I can't take the G.O.A.T. now! Mr. Brotch...!" he said, looking at the classroom jokingly. But he was quickly pulled out of his gag and into a deep kiss. He stood frozen for about ten seconds as she kissed him, before she finally pulled away with a blushing smile.

"Thank you." was all she said as she walked into the classroom, leaving the stupefied teenager outside the class staring after her.


	62. Visions III

**Author's Note from John:** So, originally, the author was going to tie the last chapter into the one after this one. But the one review they got on the last chapter was someone enthusiastically asking for more back story. So, ever one to please, here is a little bit more for those curious about my vault history. Enjoy...

OoO( 62 )OoO

 _Well, I'm the type of guy that likes to roam around._  
 _I'm never in one place, I roam from town to town!_  
 _And when I find myself fallin' for some girl,_  
 _I hop right into that car of mine, and I drive around the world_  
 _Yeah I'm a wanderer yeah the wanderer_  
 _I roam around around around around…_

OoOoO

He gaped at the paper in front of him with a mix of mild amusement and irritation. He silently thumped the eraser on the end of his pencil against his desk as he listened to Mr. Brotch read the question to them again. "Who is, indisputably, the most important person in Vault 101: he who shelters us from the atomic Wasteland, and to whom we owe everything we have, including our lives?" In front of him on his answer paper, there were four selections that were all exactly the same.

 **The Overseer**  
 **The Overseer**  
 **The Overseer**  
 **The Overseer**

"Way to drive the point home Fonzy…" said the young man silently as he selected them all, hoping that would at least get the older man off his back for a while in regards to Amata. Looking up, he saw Amata at the front of the line, fidgeting nervously. Behind her was Christine Kendall, who looked excited, and behind her, were the Tunnel Snakes, who looked as if they had better things to do. Getting to his feet, he walked over and handed his test over to the teacher, and instead of waiting in line, began lounging.

Mr. Brotch took one look at his test, shook his head and chuckled in amusement, then laid it down with the rest. "Alright students, one at a time. Come get your results." said the dark-skinned man as Amata stepped up to the desk. "Ah, Mrs. Almodovar. Let me see here…" said the man as he added everything up on his pipboy. "Huh…" said the man.

Amata looked at the teacher curiously. "That doesn't sound good."

"Well, actually, believe it or not, your test results point you to a supervisory role." he said as he looked up at her.

She placed her hands on her hips, looking at him sternly. "Are you sure my father had nothing to do with those results?" she asked.

"Well, he did bring it up. But these are solely based off your test results. Looks like you were doomed to it from the start." said the teacher with a chuckle as he handed back the test.

The Overseer's daughter smirked lightly as she swiped the paper back. "You really know how to make a girl feel better, Teach." she said before turning and strolling back to her desk to collect her things. Next up stepped Christine Kendall, who had a bright smile on her face.

"Ah, Miss Kendall." said the man as he added up her score on his pipboy as well. "Looks like you have a future in retail, supply, and possibly even culinary arts." he said as he handed her test back to her.

She cocked an eyebrow at him as she looked over her paper. "Culinary arts? Great, so I can open canned food and shove it onto a plate?" she asked, slightly disappointed.

"There are ways you could spice that up you know? Perhaps you'll be the culinary queen who can give us amazing works of art for dinner." he said, shrugging lightly.

She scratched her chin curiously. "Interesting...I'll give it some thought." she said as she turned and walked away. Of the three Tunnel Snakes in the line, Butch was up first.

Mr. Brotch smiled widely as the slick-haired teenager strolled up to the desk. "Hey Mr. Brotch, so what's the dig? Am I gonna be the new Overseer or what?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at the teacher.

Edwin, the teacher, chuckled. "Mr. DeLoria. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this." he said as he looked over at John, who smirked from his seat. Adding up test answers, he just scoffed, wide-eyed. "Well, would you look at that! As it turns out Mr. DeLoria, you're going to be the vault's first hair stylist." said the man as he looked up at the boy.

The leather jacket clad teenager looked at him in shock. "You gotta be kiddin' me. There must be some kinda mistake!" said Butch as he looked over at the teachers pipboy. "That thing must be broken!"

"Now now Mr. DeLoria, it's a great honor to get a job that nobody's had for years! It just means that you're...unique." said the man, hiding his grin expertly.

Butch growled and stomped out of the classroom, a string of colorful curse words springing from his mouth that left the teacher smirking and John laughing. Next up was Paul Hannon Jr., who much to his relief, got an engineering position. Then came Wally Mack, who was slated for security, like his older brother had been a few years ago. When everyone was finished, John finally approached the teacher's desk with a box of Dandy Boy Apples on the desk. "Was it worth it?" he asked.

"Oh yeah." said the teacher as he leaned back in his chair. "He got off easy anyway. From his test scores, he was bound to be a garbage burner, or some other janitorial service." said the man. "Now then, John Ronas, what kind of interesting prospects do we have for you?" asked the teacher as he added up John's score. He figured he wouldn't be anything too bad. Maybe he'd get put on the purifier like his mom was so long ago. "Well, I'll be damned…" said the man.

John looked at him, stiffening defensively. "What is it?" he asked, trying to spy the pipboy curiously.

"Culinary arts, maintenance and engineering, medical science, and chaplain." said the man, who looked up at the boy in amusement.

John cocked an eyebrow at the teacher. "Chaplain? Me?" he asked incredulously.

"That's what it says here. How about it? You wanna be a deacon?" asked Mr. Brotch jokingly.

John grimaced. "I think I'll pass. On culinary arts too."

The teacher nodded, marking the two off. "That leaves us with medical science, and maintenance and engineering."

"Well, my father would like me to follow after him I imagine, but thanks to Stanley, I know a lot more about the reactor than almost anyone else in the vault…" he said as he scratched his chin.

"Tough choice." said the teacher as he kicked back again.

"What happens if I take both?" asked the young man.

Mr. Brotch's eyebrows shot up. "Both?" he asked. "Well, it's been awhile since we've had someone take more than one option." said the teacher as he pulled up a clipboard. "Last I recall, you get extra rations for working double the time. But you realize that means you'll get very little personal time to yourself…" advised the man.

John wracked his brain as he stared at the man. "How about I take medical, and just have Stanley continue to teach me what he knows about the reactor and repairing it? That way I'll still be learning both."

The teacher nodded with a smile. "That could work. Just make sure you take that in like a sponge in case of emergency. The more people we have that know how to fix that reactor and keep it running, the better." said the man as he placed the clipboard on the desk. "Now, Amata is probably waiting for you, so I wouldn't advise keeping our future Overseer waiting too long." said the man with a chuckle.

John eyed the teacher sternly, then turned around to leave. But he stopped as someone was standing directly in his path. He looked her up and down, light brown hair put up in playful pigtails, freckled face, pale skin, and soft green eyes, lighter than his own. All of these features were a clash to those he usually stared at on the Overseer's daughter. "Christine?" he asked curiously.

She smiled at him, waving her hand dismissively. "Oh John, you can call me Christie, or just Chris if you want." she said.

He ran a hand through his spiked hair as Mr. Brotch picked his stuff up and left the classroom. "Alright Christie…" he said, somewhat nervously. "Did you need something?" he asked.

"Yeah, actually. I was wondering what you were doing later." she stated as she unwrapped a sucker treat she had gotten from the cafeteria earlier and popped it into her mouth.

"Uhhh...I don't really know. Stanley is covering the reactor tonight, so...wait...why?" he asked.

"Well, I was thinking later that we could get some ice cream from the cafeteria, and...I don't know...talk." she said as she spun the sucker in her mouth.

"Talk about what?" asked John, his curiosity growing as he crossed his arms across his chest.

The girl shrugged with a playful smile. "I dunno. We've never really talked, so I figured we could get to know each other. Besides…" she said as she took a step closer and placed her hand gently on his toned chest. "I've always thought you were cute." she said, then leaned up and kissed him quickly on the lips.

His eyes widened immensely as she gave him a quick peck, his heart racing as he took a step back. It was seconds before the look of shock now registered as horror. Christie, when she went to kiss him, had to step up on her tiptoes, as he had gone through a recent growth spurt. When she lowered herself back to her feet, he could see a silhouette standing in the doorway of the class. He knew who it was, but he looked anyway over the top of the brown haired girl's head. Sure enough, Amata was standing in the doorway with her books, staring at him with a look of unbridled fury. He swore he could feel waves of heat radiating from her.

"Oh no…" said John in terror. Amata immediately turned around and walked away. John danced around the girl in front of him quickly, trying to chase after her. But that was harder than it looked. "Amata! Wait!" he shouted, right before tripping over Butch's chair which he always left haphazardly in the aisle. Slamming into the floor however, didn't stop his forward movement. He crawled forward, then jumped to his feet, and ran for the door.

"See you later Johnny boy!" shouted Christie with a smile as he bolted from the room.

It took a moment to catch up to her, as he didn't know which direction she had gone. But after listening for her stomping footsteps, he managed to chase her down. As he reached out to her though, she spun around and sent a stinging slap across his face that nearly blew him backwards. He reached up and covered the area that she had impacted, feeling the stinging red sensation before looking at her again. Immediately, any anger that the slapped had stirred dissolved as he saw the tear tracks down her face. "How could you?" she asked, her voice still livid with anger.

"I didn't…!" he said as he tried to step forward. But she halted him with only words.

"Don't you dare touch me!" she snarled before taking a step back. Finally, she turned again and sprinted down the hall this time, the tears flowing much faster. "Just leave me alone you jerk!"

He watched her go, then fell to his knees and planted his face in his hands. "Great…" he said before standing back up. Yelling angry, he slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a small dent in the metal that in turn bloodied his knuckles.

OoOoO

"Sooo...you like comic books?" asked Christie before shoving a spoonful of sweetened, frozen, artificial milk product into her mouth.

"Yeah…" was all John said as he sat with a milkshake in his hands. He hadn't really touched it, the heat from his hands speeding up the melting process.

"I like Grognak myself. All those princess' he saves are so pretty...I wanna have clothes just like them someday." she said dreamily. "And he's so manly, with muscles…" she said, then her eyes shot over to him. "Kinda like you." she finished with a playful smile. "What's your favorite?"

He looked up at her, the tiredness evident in his eyes. "I like the Silver Shroud...they have mysteries and stuff. It's fun to figure out who the bad guy is." he said moping.

She looked at him with surprise. "I've never heard of that before! Do you think I could borrow yours sometime?" she asked, her pigtails practically bouncing with each movement of her head.

"Sure…" he said, then looked up at her in confusion. "Christine…" he said, getting a playfully angry look from her. "Christie...what are you doing?" he asked.

The girl froze with the spoon in her mouth again, before slowly swallowing the ice cream. Looking down at the table irritably, she asked, "What do you mean?"

John sighed and planted his chin in his palm. "Never once over the years have you shown any kind of interest in me. Now, out of the blue, you decide I'm finally worth your time, probably destroying any trust I had with Amata…"

"Who cares about stupid Amata!" she snapped, surprising John into silence. The girl's freckled face was now red as anger flooded her.

John sighed and covered his eyes. "Good job John, make every girl on the vault angry at you." he said. But he uncovered his eyes and looked at her when she continued.

"She thinks that because she's the Overseer's daughter that she can do whatever she wants and have whatever she wants." she said, snorting. "I liked you a long time ago, before stupid Amata!"

He looked at her stupidly. "Since when?" he asked.

"Since forever!" she said, her face turning a rosy color. "Since I went to the clinic. Your dad was teaching you how to put bandages on, and you fixed up a cut I had gotten from trying to cook with my mama."

He searched his mind briefly and the memory voluntarily flew forward. After his tenth birthday party, his father decided it was time to start teaching him how to treat injuries. Mostly he just practiced on the plastic dummy they had in the office, but one day, little Christine Kendall had come into the office with a gash she had gotten from a kitchen knife across her palm. He hadn't really noticed her, to him she had just been a test subject. But apparently, his actions that day had started something that now had him in hot water.

"You were very gentle when you held my hand, and held it 'til I stopped crying." she said, trying to hide her blush behind her hands.

He stared at her for a long moment before continuing the questioning. "And why didn't you say something before?"

Now, her hands shot down to her knees and she looked at the table angrily. "How could I? When I finally realized how I felt, you were hanging out with her all the time. I couldn't get a word between you two if I wanted." she said sourly.

He released his head, allowing his forehead to hit the table with a thud. The girl giggled lightly at the comical scene, before he slowly looked up at her again. "I see now…" he said in a half grumble. "And now?"

"Well, we've taken the G.O.A.T., and have our futures ahead of us now. So, I thought, why not give it a try?" she asked as she finished off her ice cream and swept the bowl aside. Reaching across the table, she took his hand, then opened her own, showing him the scar that lanced across her own palm. "Right here." she said, her cheeks flushing again. The young man looked into her sincere green eyes. She really was adorable, from her pigtails, to the freckles dotting her face, all the way down to how small her hands were compared to his.

Squeezing her hand gently, he sighed, then let go. "I'm sorry Christie…" he said as he rubbed his head in frustration.

Her face changed underwent many changes. From the adorable smile, to one of crestfallen confusion, then to anger. Finally, the anger melted away and she only had a look of sadness on her features. "I see...it's her, isn't it?" she asked. He just nodded silently. She immediately pulled her hand back, closing it into a fist and hiding the scar again.

"Christie, please…" asked John, practically begging her not to be angry.

But the girl stood up and turned away from him. "Christine." she snapped, then walked away. He just slammed his palm against his forehead and sighed as she exited the cafeteria, leaving him alone with Andy.

OoOoO

He was already in a detestable mood with the fiasco that had happened in the classroom, followed by the cafeteria tantrum. So when John was stalking the halls of the vault, headed down to blow off steam by exercising it out, running across Butch was the last thing he wanted to do.

The greaser had just come around the corner, by himself for once, as John came towards him. The young man sighed in anger and intended to ignore the punk, but Butch stepped out in front of him and held up a hand. "Hey…"

Reaching up, the doctor's son grabbed the ganger by the front of his leather jacket and slammed him against the wall. "What do you want Butch? I'm not in the best mood right now, and really don't have time for your crap." he said forcefully into the bullies face.

"'Ey, take it easy man. I'm not here to cause any trouble…" said the pompadour sporting teen. John snorted, then let him go. Butch dusted the front of his jacket off and looked up at his fellow vault dweller. "What's up man? You look like you just got half rations for a year."

"I just might have…" he said sourly, then looked at Butch with a threatening stare. "What do you want Butch?" he asked.

"Well, seeing as we're all stuck down here together, I figure that makin' hell for each other isn't gonna do anyone any good. So, I was thinkin', maybe we could call a truce." said the ganger, who had a confidence in his voice that almost made John want to laugh. Almost.

"You've done nothing but mess with me since we were seven. What gave you a change of heart now?" asked the young man.

Butch reached up and scratched his head thoughtfully. "Well, I don't like admittin' it. But you've got some moves for the son of a doctor. You put me down more than once when I was bein' uncool. And like I said, we're probably gonna be in here for a long time to come. So, ain't no sense in trying to kill each other when we're stuck together." said the teen as he shrugged his leather clad shoulders.

John stared at him, crossing his arms across his chest as he eyed him for any kind of insincerity. "Did Wally put you up to this?" he asked.

Butch looked at him stupefied for a moment before putting his hands on his hips. "Where'd you get that?" he asked, sounding offended.

"He's usually the brains of your group. This sounds like something he'd make you do." said John as he leaned up against the metal wall.

Butch snorted angrily. "Look man, I wouldn't just do this for anyone. If you wanna keep things the way they are, just tell me and I'll be on my way." growled the young teen.

John chuckled lightly. "Alright Butch, we can call a truce. But that truce extends to Amata." he said. The greaser squared up on the doctor's son defensively, but John's glare didn't change. "You don't want any trouble with me, then leave Amata alone." he said.

"But…" said Butch with a crestfallen look on his face.

The doctor's son scanned the greaser's face curiously, trying to figure out the look. When it finally registered, he stood straight. "Oh…"

Butch's eyes snapped over to John's. "Oh what?" he asked.

The soon to be doctor's assistant just smirked as he eyed Butch. "You like her, don't you." Immediately, he saw the hackles rising on the teen. "Butch, it's not a big deal."

The slick-haired teen sighed and leaned against the wall himself. "So, you don't have a problem with me movin' in on her?" he asked slyly.

John gave him a stern look. "I don't care if you talk to her. But no more name-calling, no more cornering her with your boys, and no more sexual innuendos. Be respectful towards her, and if she chooses you over me, then I'll have to live with that."

"Alright, alright. I get what you're sayin'. So, we cool?" asked Butch as he held out his fist.

John looked at the teen's fist, then back up to his eyes. "Yeah, we're cool." he said, then raised his own fist and bumped it against the greaser's.

OoOoO

It had been weeks since she had talked to him. Every time he went to class, he found her further and further away in a desk that wasn't currently occupied. On the beginning of the third week, he sighed to himself and vowed to end the oppressive silence between the two. He didn't know how, but somehow he was going to talk to her and clear the air.

His chance finally came one time in class when the other students left the classroom, followed by Mr. Brotch. He looked over at her as she gathered her things. Her hair was up again, showing the strange wisps of white bound up into a tight knot. He got to his feet and went to approach her, but she had apparently gotten everything she needed because she instantly made a bee-line for the door. "Amata, wait a second." he requested as he followed her. She ignored him, and was at the door in a matter of seconds. "Please! I need to talk to you!" he said as he rushed after her. However, he didn't need to rush much, as she was still standing at the door.

"What the hell?" she asked irately as she hit the access button for the door several times. But it wasn't responding, keeping them both locked inside the room.

He looked at the door access panel, saw it was dark, and thanked his lucky stars for the short. "Something wrong with the door?" he asked.

"Did you do something to it?" she snapped at him.

"What would I have done? Everyone else left when I was still at my desk!" he said incredulously.

She crossed her arms, leaning against the door. "Well, we're trapped in here now until Stanley comes up to fix it." she said sourly.

"Good, then we can talk." he said hopefully.

"I don't want to talk." she growled at him. "Just sit down and shut up until I can go back to ignoring you." she commanded.

"Is that an order, Overseer?" he asked. She gave him a look that he could nearly feel burning through him. He just sighed as he held up his hands. "It was a joke. Remember? Joking? What we used to do?" he asked, slightly sarcastic in his tone.

"Yeah, used to until you Christine Kendall became a thing." she growled, looking away from him.

"Me and Christine have never, and likely will never 'be a thing'." he said, using air quotes at her. "I turn around and she's asking me what I'm doing later, then kisses me out of the blue. And then you storm off!" he said as he pulled out one of the chairs and plopped down in it.

"Oh, she kissed you did she?" asked Amata with a suspicious glare. "I guess it would make sense."

"And what the hell does that mean?" he asked defensively.

"Nothing. Just shut up." she said, looking away with a grumpy look on her face.

He sighed and rubbed his head. He couldn't believe he was about requote Butch, but he was unable to explain it any better. "Amata, we're going to be stuck in here for a very long time. Even if you don't like me anymore, we at least need to clear the air and get on decent terms. Unless when you take over for your father, you intend to throw me out of the vault." he said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. She raised a hand and slapped him in the back of the head, stunning him for a moment.

"First, don't tempt me! Second, I do like you idiot!" she snapped.

"Ow…" he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Then why won't you talk to me?" he asked, his voice near desperation. She looked away again, the flush in her cheeks hidden by the dull lighting of the room. "Amata, what did you mean, 'It would make sense'?" he asked as he stood up in front of her.

She stayed silent for a long moment, before finally turning to him. This time, he could see that the anger had gone, and her hazel eyes were now more watery than before. "Ever since we were young John, I've given you chance after chance after chance. I've kissed you so many times, and how many times have you kissed me?" she asked.

"I…" he said as he recalled all the times they'd been together. Literally every single time, including when they'd been caught fooling around with in his hideaway, she had done the kissing, while his hands had done the feeling. He flopped down into the chair he was sitting in previously as it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Oh…"

"Yeah…" she said as she reached up and wiped one of her eyes. "I'm already really insecure because you won't kiss me, then I walk into the classroom and see you two…" she said, sniffling briefly before growling again. John stood up in front of her, staring at her in the half-light of the room. She looked up at him, her arms still crossed. "What is it?" she asked. He immediately grabbed her, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her deeply. She gasped in surprise, the wildness but gentleness of him making her melt in his arms. But, getting a grip on herself, she grabbed his shoulders and pushed him away, then smacked him again, this one holding much less power than her previous attacks. She eyed him as he turned to look at her, a feral, hungry look in his eyes. Immediately, she felt her knees weaken, felt her arms wrap around his neck, and felt joy as their lips met again, and he lifted her from the ground.

The door opening behind them went unnoticed as the two embraced once more, sharing their desire for one another. Edwin Brotch stood in the doorway with a smirk on his face, before turning away from the door and walking off. "'Bout damn time, you two. Sheesh." he said as he left the door open and walked off into the vault, whistling to himself.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Who the hell is this Amata chick!?

 **Author's Note from Sarah:** I'm a bit curious myself.

 **Author's Note from John:** Oh goddammit...


	63. Visions IV

OoO( 63 )OoO

Silence, it was all they needed together. He laid on his bed, his head against a pillow as he propped up a comic book named "The Silver Shroud and the Hounds of Bakersville" on his chest. Each time he ended a page, he'd reach up with a free hand and turn it to the next, showing another page of action packed fighting or mind boggling sleuth skills. The sound of the page turning was echoed by a similar one next to him, where a dark-haired girl was leaning back from her seat on a chair, resting her head on his stomach as she read her own comic, a classic known as "Grognak the Barbarian and the Sign of the Four Gods". The two sat in silence for what felt like blissful eternity.

Unfortunately, that eternity wasn't nearly as long as they'd have hoped. The girl's eyes drifted over to her pipboy, which showed numbers that made her want to rip the computer off and throw it against the wall. **1847**. She sighed and closed the comic, then sat up in the chair again. The young man looked up at her curiously. "Going so soon?" he asked playfully as he reached over and squeezed her hand. She looked at him despondently as she packed the comic away in her bag again.

"Unfortunately, yeah. My dad says that if I'm a minute late, I'm grounded for a week. So I'll have to run." she said as she got up from the chair and headed for the door. The young man sat up in his bed, then launched himself onto the floor next to her, his eyes examining her ever growing figure up and down. Her hair was now in a ponytail so that it didn't get damaged while she used him as a pillow.

"You can always run away with me." he said jokingly. She chuckled and shoved him back playfully, but he continued. "What? Wouldn't it be romantic? You and me, hidden behind the reactor, you stealing water and me killing radroaches for dinner!" he said dramatically.

She laughed even louder and grabbed him in a headlock, giving him a noogie playfully. "You're not handsome enough for me to go on a radroach diet." she said jokingly as he flailed around.

The doctor's son stood straight and dusted the t-shirt he wore off, then shoved his nose in the air indignantly. "I say my dear, it's either me or the job! Take your pick!" he said in a snooty accent he had gotten from one of the holovids down in the library. The running joke about her being a celebate Overseer had stemmed from her G.O.A.T. results showing she was bound to be the future leader of the vault.

She just smiled at him and patted his cheek. "You know I'd take you over the job any day." she said softly. He immediately dropped the act and smiled back at her lovingly. She leaned up and kissed him, then pulled back. "Besides, who says I can't have both?" she asked cheekily, getting a non-threatening glare from him.

He gave her a ticklish poke as they walked past his father and Jonas, who were reading while sitting in the two chairs they had in the small living area. As she exited the room, she spun on her heel and gave him one last smile. "So, if I were to tunnel out of here and make for the sunny coast, you'd come with me?" he asked, giving her a sly grin.

She poked his chest playfully. "Of course I would. Luckily, I won't have to make that choice." she said, then reached up and grabbed him by the collar. Pulling him down, she kissed him deeply one last time. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, releasing her only after squeezing her affectionately. She stepped back from him, still having a goofy grin on her face as she waved.

John watched her go, a stupid smile on his own face as he turned away from the door and closed it behind him. "You two are certainly close. Thinking of asking her to take the dive?" asked Jonas from one of the chairs.

The young man looked at him, then glared. "Not anytime soon. Unless I want her dad's goons coming after me that is." he said as he crossed his arms.

"Well, at least you're enjoying life in here now." said his father with a stale chuckle.

John looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean, 'in here now.'?" he asked curiously.

James' expression was still stony, but John could tell he had said something he didn't mean to say. "Just a slip of the tongue." he said, waving the statement off. "I'm tired after work. You know how it gets sometimes with Mrs. Kendall the hypochondriac." he said, then smiled. "I'm just glad that you've made your place here son. You're helping me run the clinic, you've got yourself a girlfriend, and you're helping Stanley to keep that old reactor ticking. You've become a part of the vault, just as I had to as I was growing up." said the man as he stood up and placed a hand on John's shoulder, squeezing gently. "You have a future here."

"Is that so surprising?" asked the son as he tilted his head and stared at his father.

"I dunno, there were a few years there where you looked like you were gonna make a break for the vault door as soon as the Overseer wasn't looking." said Jonas jokingly. But his smile vanished when James looked at him sternly.

John looked between the two, then began to step towards the back room again. "You two are acting weird, so I'm gonna go ahead and go to bed." he said with a chuckle. "Night pops!" he said as he darted into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Sorry..." said Jonas simply.

"Don't worry about it. He didn't take anything from it." said James as he sat down again.

"So, now that he's 'established', does that mean..." asked the dark skinned apprentice. But James cut him off with a nod.

"It's finally time. I no longer have to worry about his welfare. Hell, he's even gotten on the Overseer's good side. I didn't think such a thing was possible." said the doctor as he chuckled. "All we have to do is wait for the right time."

OoOoO

Kissing again. She'd found him in the hall and dove on him like a starved wolf on a flank of meat. She kissed him, over and over. It was aggressive, needy, desperate, things he'd rarely seen from her before, and yet it drove him wild. He didn't care that he was in the hallway out in the open, he didn't care that there were probably three of the Overseer's cameras pointed directly at him, and he didn't care that the guards would probably lock him up for a week. She reached down and pulled his shirt off, and he afforded her the same courtesy by unzipping her jumpsuit and sliding his hands up her undershirt to caress her softest spots. She looked at him, with passion and fire in her eyes, then silently whispered, _"Wake up John...wake up..."_ He stared at her oddly before the halls around him vanished into darkness. She started to pull away from him as if jerked by some invisible force. He reached out for her, and she for him. The passion drained from the young woman's face, turning to terror instead. _"Wake up John! Please!"_ she shouted.

OoOoO

His eyes flew open and he shot up in his bed, holding his head as a pounding headache throbbed in his skull. "What the hell?" he asked. Suddenly, a female voice next to him startled him as it once again shouted.

"Finally! God, you always did sleep like a damn rock!" she said.

He looked up at Amata and smiled. "Oh hey, I was just dreaming about you." he said as he reached out for her. But he froze as he saw her face marred by tear tracks, with a mask of horror on her face.

"Shut up and listen! You have to leave!" she said, her voice cracking with fear.

"Amata, what the hell happened!?" he asked as he jumped out of the bed and pulled on the jumpsuit, as well as a pair of work boots. Whoever did this to her was going to pay dearly. But the next few words from her mouth made him stop in his tracks.

"Your father left!" she said, each word that came from her mouth hitting him like a slap to the face.

He turned to her and stared. "What do you mean 'he left'?" he asked as he finished his boot and stood up.

"He opened the vault, and left! My father...he's furious. He had Jonas arrested...and...my god." she said, covering her eyes as another sob jerked from her throat.

Reaching up, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Amata..." he said in a gentle tone.

"They killed him! I saw it!" she said, looking up at him as her eyes filled with tears again. "I saw Stevie...he was an animal...he tortured him for information...then just ended it." she said, her expression haunted.

John stared at her a long moment before taking a step back. "Jonas is dead?" he asked. She just nodded. "And my father?"

"He opened the vault and left..." was all she managed to get out. Immediately, John took a step back and looked around. "What are you going to do? My father is looking for you, and if his men find you, I'm terrified he'll do the same thing to you that he did to Jonas." she said.

"I have to find him..." said John as he looked around the room.

"What?" she asked incredulously.

"If I stay here, your father will have the same thing done to me that they did to Jonas. You said it yourself. So I have to follow him, and find out just what the hell he was thinking." he said as he looked at her seriously. "If I stay, I'll just be killed."

She looked him deeply in the eyes, then scrubbed the tears from her own. "So, you didn't know anything about him leaving?" she asked.

"Of course I didn't! I didn't even know the vault door could open! And I sure as hell didn't know that my father was planning on kicking it open and leaving!" he snapped. Amata let out what sounded like a sigh of relief.

"I...I'm sorry...I don't know what he could have been thinking..." she said.

In anger, John merely replied, "He wasn't." he said as he began shoving his underclothes into a pack that he used to carry tools down to the reactor in. He stopped as he looked up at the picture on the wall, the famous framed quote from his mother. He stopped, as if frozen in time as he stared at it, then reached up and took the picture off the wall, wondering whether he should bother taking such precious trinkets. As he took the picture that had practically been his father's shrine of worship to his mother down from the wall, his eyes locked onto a small indentation in the wall. "What the hell?" he asked as he reached in and pulled out a small metal lunchbox that rattled loudly.

"What is it?" she asked curiously as he popped the top on the Vault-Tec fanfare. "Bottle caps?" she asked.

"I...don't know." said John as he reached down and plucked a small holotape free from the sea of caps and examined it. Suddenly, they were both alerted by a loud yelling down the hall from the room. Immediately, he tossed the holotape back into the lunchbox and slammed it shut, stuffing it in his pack with the rest of his stuff.

"You have to go! They'll be coming for you any minute when the radroaches scatter." she said as she reached behind her and pulled a silver colored pistol from her belt.

He eyed her oddly. "Where did you get that?" he asked.

"It was my father's pistol. He didn't know that I knew about it, and kept it locked in his desk. Take it." she said as she pushed the weapon into his hand as if the piece of metal disgusted her. Then she slid a key card from her jumpsuit pocket and pushed it forward as well. "Here, it's my father's keycard. There's a hidden passage that bypasses his office to the front of the vault. You should be able to use it to get around most of the guards and get out." she said, letting out a small hiccup as her tears started to return.

He took both items and stashed them, then stared at her. "All of this...why?" he asked painfully, knowing that the two of them had such a life ahead of them.

"I don't know, I wish it hadn't happened. But...promise me you'll stay safe out there." she said as she reached forward and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back gently, reaching up to run his hands through her dark hair, twirling one of the odd white strands like he usually did, knowing it could be the last time.

"Don't worry, I'm going to find him, and drag him back here kicking and screaming if I have to." he said confidently before he pulled away and kissed her briefly. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his ears twitched. She smiled at him until she saw his face warp in anger. "I will not turn myself in no matter how many times you ask! Now get the hell away from me!" he shouted, then shoved her softly onto the bed and fled out the door to the room. She had a look of shock on her face until she saw two guards break their cover at the door. One began to pursue the renegade doctor's apprentice, while the other stepped into the room and held out a hand for her.

"Amata, are you alright? He didn't hurt you did he?" asked the officer as he helped her back to her feet.

"No..." she said, staring at him oddly.

He nodded in relief. "You shouldn't have come to try and convince him to turn himself in. You don't know how dangerous he is right now." said the man as he turned away from her and stepped towards the door. "Come on, I'll escort you to your father. You'll be safe there." he said.

She chuckled dryly, realizing the charade that John had just played for the Security, then nodded sadly. "A-Alright."

OoOoO

The young man was a good runner, making it easy to get away from the guard in the heavy security armor. Unfortunately, the vault was on lockdown, making the task much more difficult. The doors had to be opened with the Overseer's ID that Amata had given him, giving Officer Kendall enough time to catch up.

"Hold it right there!" shouted the security officer as he approached with a baton. But, he froze in place when the younger man spun around and had a pistol trained on him. "Where the hell did you get that?" he asked in a threatening tone.

"What's it matter. I'm nothing but a troublemaker, bound to cause problems wherever I go. Did I get that right?" asked John as he kept his finger on the side of the weapon, and not on the trigger.

"Not exactly proving me wrong right now kid." said Officer Kendall in amusement as he slowly lowered his baton to the ground, showing him that he wasn't going to threaten him again. With the door now open, John began to step backwards through the portal with the firearm still aimed at the man.

"Don't follow me, please. I don't want to have to use this." said the doctor's son. Suddenly, he was startled by a shout from behind him.

"John!" came the call. Jerking sideways, he looked back to see Butch staring at him from one of the halls further down. As if in slow motion, the young man turned back around to see Officer Kendall reaching behind him for another weapon, this one likely a lot more threatening than a baton. Sliding his finger into the trigger slot, he pulled and felt the casing in the chamber explode. The bullet flew and slammed into the officers shoulder, not hitting anything solid and going clean through the other side. The gun, meanwhile, flew back into the newly formed gunman's face, scoring a clean hit to his cheek and knocking him on his rear end. In his haste, he had forgotten the fundamentals.

But any soreness in his face was forgotten as Butch rushed over to them both, beginning to panic. "What did you do to him!?" he asked incredulously.

Growling, John got to his feet again and rushed over to the man, pulling free the gun that the officer had been reaching for. Stashing it on his own person, he began to pull out medical supplies. "Butch, get his armor off!" shouted the doctor as he unraveled a roll of gauze. The ganger snapped to attention and began to unstrap the velcro attached armor. "All I asked was for you to not make me use this goddammit." said John as he checked the man's eyes to make sure he wasn't losing too much blood.

"Holy shit! You actually shot him?" asked Butch in awe. John eyed him, not sure if he was horrified or thought the act was awesome.

"Butch...focus." said the doctor as he placed an antiseptic coated gauze patch over the wound. "Put pressure on here." he commanded. The slick-haired teen did as he was told and held the bandage down, much to the displeasure of Officer Kendall. The young man then tore off a piece of self sticking tape and wrapped it around the wound to keep the patch in place. Finally, after all of that was done, he jabbed the man with a stimpak. "Good, now, how does it feel?" he asked the man.

"Go to hell." said Officer Kendall as he tried sitting up.

"Remember Officer Kendall, I asked nicely." said John as he stood up, then strapped the officer's blood spattered armor onto himself, and began to head down the hall again. But Butch caught up to him again, panic setting into him again. "What do you want Butch? I don't have time right now!"

"Please! You have to help! Radroaches broke into my house!" said the teen as he tried to side-jog to keep up with John.

Eyeing Butch, he asked. "So?"

"So!? My mom is still in there! Please, you gotta help me man!" shouted the young man.

John stopped and stared at him. "And you left her in there?" he asked incredulously.

"Look man...I...I just couldn't! Please! I'm sorry for anything I ever did! But, you gotta save her!" he begged.

The doctor's son growled, then rushed into the tunnel snake's home. Sure enough, he could see through the solid glasteel window that Butch's mother was cowering on the bed of the bedroom while a group of radroaches were swarming around it. He opened the door and the swarm of four roaches immediately zeroed in on him. Pulling free the baton he grabbed from Officer Kendall, it was a matter of a minute before the creatures were just broken shells and stains on the floor. John looked at the baton he held that was now covered in bug guts and grimaced.

Butch burst into the room and grabbed his frantic mother by the arms. "Ma! Ma! Are you alright!?" he asked in a panic.

"Butchy? Is that you? What's happening?" she asked in a drunken stupor.

He sighed in relief and let her go, turning to John with a giant smile. "We did it! My ma is gonna be okay! You're the best friends I ever had!" he said in an estatic tone as he grabbed the renegade by the shoulders and shook him happily. Suddenly, he let go, the pulled his coat off quickly and shoved it at the young man. "Hey, I know it isn't much, but I want you to have my Tunnel Snakes jacket. Go ahead, take it!" he offered.

John chuckled, and pushed it back at him. "Keep it until I get back." he said. Then he held up the sticky baton and shoved it into Butch's hand. "This too..." he said, then stepped out the door quickly.

Butch ran to the door as his mother opened a cabinet on the far end of the room and grabbed a bottle of brandy. Leaning out, he shouted, "Sure man! Your a lifetime member of the Tunnel Snakes!" John merely waved back at him before dashing around the corner. Turning back to his mother, he looked at her darkly as she poured the dark amber liquid into a glass. He immediately grabbed both the glass and the bottle.

She looked up at him in shock. "Butchy...what're you...?" she asked, but he shouted and cut her off.

"That's enough Ma! You're done with this stuff!" he shouted as he turned towards their kitchen sink and began dumping both down the drain.

OoOoO

The next corner he spun around, he found himself face to face with another swarm of radroaches that was being fought off by both Andy and Officer Gomez. John approached slowly, his gun aimed low so he didn't accidentally fire. Sliding the weapon up, he began to pick off the large insects, who happened to be trying to take a vicious bite out of the man's armored legs.

Herman Gomez stood and watched in amazement as the roaches around him exploded into insect gore one after the other. After a moment, he also heard the accompanying shots fired from a weapon. He immediately looked up and stared wide-eyed at the young man who was kneeling just feet down the hall with a weapon aimed in his direction. He froze, slowly raising his hands up in a sign of surrender. But he sighed in relief as he saw the gun lower. "Jesus kid...you had me worried there for a moment." he said.

"You're a good man Officer Gomez, you don't deserve what I had to do to Mr. Kendall." said John as he walked up to the man. Herman heard the comment, then looked down at the blood spattered armor.

Taking a step back, he raised his hands defensively. "What did you do to him?" he asked.

John gave a disgruntled look. "I had to put a round through his shoulder when he pulled a gun on me. Then, much to his annoyance, I also patched him up." said John as he watched Andy finish the rest of the roaches in the hall with his handy flamethrower he'd installed into it when he was younger. He chuckled lightly at the comical scene as Gomez visible unwound.

"Oh...well, then I guess it's a good thing it was me who found you here. The others won't be so forgiving." he said.

"Look..." said John as he reached up and scratched his head nervously.

But Officer Gomez held up his hands and shook his head. "I don't know what you're up to, and I don't wanna know. Just clear out of here and I'll pretend I never saw you. " he said with a heavy sigh. "It's a real shame it's come to this. I can't believe what they did to Jonas...Mack was just out of control!" Reaching up, the officer pulled off his helmet and wiped the sweat away from his brow. "You're a good kid John. I know you didn't deserve anything to deserve this. Just...go find your dad, if you can." he finished as he slid his baton free again and stepped around the young man.

John grabbed his shoulder and gave him an appreciative nod. "Thanks. I always did like you Officer Gomez." he said, then the two went their separate ways. As he passed, John patted Andy on his chrome shell. "Later Andy. Be good." he said as he skulked off.

 _"Good day sah!"_ shouted the robot as it began sweeping up the roasted bug carcasses.

John travelled the halls a few more minutes before coming across the large atrium through another locked down door. After swiping the card, he found himself staring at two people he immediately recognized. Mary and Tom Holden. Both of them were technicians for the vault water purifier. They had recently gotten married, even inviting him to their bonding.

"Don't you see? It's our only chance! We're going to get out of here, just like the doc! I'm not going to let anyone stop us, so don't worry abotu it. Just stay here." Tom said to his newly betrothed as he raised his hands and stepped towards the door that led to the hallway known as the 'Hallway of Doom' by some of the vault residents, as it housed the Overseer's office and the entrance of the vault.

"Tom, don't!" shouted Mary as she jogged after him. But knowing what the security did to Jonas, John didn't just stand there.

Growling, the young man immediately dashed forward and slammed into Tom just as shots flew from the small corridor. John held down the man's head as the firing continued, shouting over the noise, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"We were just trying to get out, like your dad!" said the man as he held his hands over his hears to block out the loud firing.

"Stay down!" shouted the doctor's son as he stood again. Raising his pistol, Mary squeeked in fright. John pushed her out of the way as he stood next to the door.

"Firing on innocent people, officers?" asked John loudly as the gunfire died down.

"Vault is on lockdown! Anyone out of their quarters is under penalty of vault law!" came the voice of Officer Richards.

"You're really inspiring, you know that?" asked John as he raised the gun up next to his head.

"Do yourself a favor kid, lay face down on the ground and we promise not to put too many rounds in you!" shouted the officer again.

Mary, who was laying with Tom off to the side of the door, was watching the banter back and forth until she noticed one of the officers sneaking up the hall while the other kept shouting at the vault dwelling gunman. "John! Watch out!" she shouted.

The vault security looked at her, then raised his weapon and fired. The woman screamed and fell as John watched her in horror. Spinning around the corner, he raised his gun and immediately fired a round that hit the crouching officer directly in his chest plate. The impact alone sent the man sprawling, his gun flying from his hand. Anger now apparent on his face, the weapon now raised to the other officer who had also pulled his firearm up to bear. The two fired, and both of them fell backwards.

Officer Richards held up his hand, his eyes wide in horror as he saw that two fingers were now missing from his bloodied hand. "Wh-What the fuck did you do to me!?" he shouted as he grasped his shaking hand. John, who had been hit directly in the chest plate, groaned at the impact, but had been stopped from falling by the wall behind him. As Officer O'Brian tried to rise again, John raised the weapon and fired a round directly into the man's chestplate again, causing him to slam back to the ground and start groaning all over again.

Stepping up to the officer, the young man put a foot on his chest and held him down, then aimed the gun at one of his arms. "You sick sons of bitches..." he growled with a feral glare. He fired two rounds into the man's bare arm, then aimed at the other as the man screamed in pain. Firing again, he quickly reloaded with the ammo he'd gotten from Officer Kendall. "She was innocent!" he shouted as he kicked the man aside, then stormed towards the now frantic remaining officer.

Officer Richards began crawling backwards as fast as he could, but John was on him quickly. Planting his foot on the man's chest like before, he aimed his gun directly at the officer's face. "Please! No! We were just following orders!" he shouted desperately as he covered his face with his hands, injured or not.

John growled, then aimed to the side and shot through the man's other hand. The officer shrieked loudly in pain as his face shield was splattered with blood. Reaching into his pack, John glared at the two officers who were now wailing in pain. "Let's see either of you carry a gun again after those wounds." he said, then tossed a pair of stimpaks on the ground. "Take them if you can."

"John!" shouted Tom from the end of the hall. The doctor's son spun around and spotted the man holding a panicked Mary in his arms. "She's still alive!" he shouted.

John immediately rushed over to the crying woman and grabbed her arm tenderly. The shot fired by the officer had entered her forearm and hit one of the bones, lodging there and shattering it. He reached into his pack and pulled out the medkit. "Hold her arm straight!" he snapped. Tom immediately obeyed, laying the woman on her back as he grasped her arm firmly. Pulling out a syringe of Med-X, he shot it into the woman's arm. After a moment, Mary seemed to calm immensely. "Right..." said the doctor as he pulled out a pair of forceps.

A few minutes later, Mary had her arm in a makeshift sling and was swimming in medication. "Th-Thank you..." said Tom, who nodded his head to John.

"Make sure she takes the pain medication once a day, and make damn sure her arm stays in a splint. If the bone heals wrong, it'll be a hell of a lot more painful to fix in the future." he said as he packed his stuff away again, tossing the now extracted slug aside. Tom nodded. "Good, now, I have to go." he said as he pulled the weapon up again.

"G-Good luck." said Tom, who was now pale from everything he just had to watch.

John sped down the hall, past the two officers. Officer O'Brian was unconscious and bleeding, and Officer Richards was fumbling weakly with the stimpak he was given in his trembling hands. As he went up the stairs, he crossed the top walkway of the atrium when he was startled by a muffled sound to his left. He looked over and saw a small dot in the glass next to him. The small dot, was in fact a bullet from another 10mm pistol. But the glass gave no leeway. There were no cracks, no breaks, just a small indentation with the bullet in it. Looking up, he saw the distinctly Asian features of Allen Mack underneath his baseball cap. The man was aiming directly at John with a pistol very much like his own.

Without the inch of glass between them, he'd be dead right now. The realization of that was like a heavy weight around his neck. And the look in the man's eyes as he walked up to the glass, he meant that to be a message. "This is your fault. You and your father. He had to leave, had to cause all this trouble for everyone." he said through the glass. Even looking through from the other side, he was immensely intimidating. He had never met the man up close really. The Mack family had always been on their own side of the vault living quarters, separate from his own. As such, he'd never had to opportunity to get a read on the man in front of him. But now, he didn't like him, and got the feeling that the sentiment was mutual. "Get out of here kid, before I make it so that there isn't glasteel between us." he said threateningly.

John leered at him, then pushed forward, shaking the look of hate from his mind as he moved further towards the entrance of the vault.

OoOoO

After the encounter, John had run into another officer. This time, it was Security Chief Hannon, who he found cradling the body of his now deceased son. When the doctor's son approached, the man just gave him a burning glare, and told him to get the hell out. Not one to argue with a grieving man, he did just that and made his way towards the Overseer's office. Once he found the normally locked path to the front door that bypassed the Overseer's office, he pulled the card out and swiped it to get through. But before he proceeded, he froze as he heard a familiar voice coming from the man's office.

"Please! I don't know where he is!" came the voice of his best friend. He turned away from the office and looked at the glass shield in front of the Overseer's office that was a few feet down the hall. "What does he have to do with this anyway? His dad left, not him!" she pleaded.

"Please Amata, Officer Mack may enjoy this, but I do not. So please, tell us where he is so we can ask him a few questions. That's all we intend to do, I promise you." said the stone cold voice of the Overseer that carried outside the open door. John walked silently over to the window and stared through the glass. Amata was sitting in one of the chairs of the office while the Overseer and Officer Stevie Mack stood over her intimidatingly. In one hand, Officer Mack was swinging a baton while her father had his arms crossed over his chest, both of them with their backs to him.

Amata, ever the defiant one, glared up at her father as she leaned back in her chair. "Is that what you told Jonas before the loose cannon here put him down?" she asked, glaring up at Mack. The sound of a cold chuckle came from the Officer, as well as a sigh from her father.

The Overseer turned away from the two and shook his head. "Make it quick." said the man with exasperation.

Mack smiled behind the faceshield and nodded, then spun the baton once more before grasping it in his hand. John's eyes widened as he saw the rod light up in the man's hand, right before he pressed the end into Amata's leg. The girl shrieked in pain from the jolts of electricity that were now coursing through her as Stevie held it against her jumpsuit. The sound of the door opening made both Officer Mack and the Overseer turn. Both men's eyes widened as the flash of silver rose, and the roar of gunfire filled the room.

Despite her recent shock treatment, Amata still jumped in surprise at the sound of the shot. Mack slammed into the ground, groaning loudly as he reached up and pulled the bullet from his vest. But it was quickly replaced by the gunman's boot. The pistol flew up and aimed directly into his face shield, then fired again. Amata gasped loudly as she saw John execute the man. But the gun didn't stop there.

Quickly, the doctor raised the weapon and aimed it directly at the Overseer himself. Alphonse raised his hands in surrender. "Now, don't do anything you may regret..." said the man as he began to back up apprehensively.

"You killed him you son of a bitch..." growled John as he held the pistol aimed at the much older man's head. "He was a pushover, a fan of sci-fi comics who had trouble asking Jane on a date. And you had him killed..." Pulling the baton he just took from Mack's body out, John whipped the metal rod into the vault leader's leg. The Overseer's stance buckled, and he fell to the ground heavily, but continued to crawl backwards as the gun trained on him once more.

"Please..." begged the man, but the popping sound of electricity circulating through the rod shut him up. Still attempting to plead for is life, Alphonse grabbed John's leg to pull him closer. But the fresh gunman whipped the baton across the man's hand, making him shout in pain.

"Save it. You killed Jonas, you tried to kill me, and now I've come to find you torturing your own goddamn daughter!" he shouted as he pressed the barrel of his weapon against the quivering man's skull.

"I-I did it for the vault!" shouted Alphonse. But John's cold stare cut him off again.

"Say the phrase "for the vault" one more time and I'll shove this baton up your ass and light you like a Yule tree." he said. They had never really had a Yule tree in the vault, as there were no trees. But they still celebrated the holiday, and learned the traditions from the vast library of information that the vault held. "Now, I have two things to say, and you're going to shut the hell up and listen to me as I say them. Do I make myself clear?" he asked. The Overseer nodded dumbly, and John nodded to him. "Good, stand up." he commanded. Lowering the gun, the old man did as he was bade. Once standing, the doctor continued. "First, Officer Kendall has a wound to his left shoulder where I shot him after he pulled a gun on me. I patched him up, and he should be fine. Officers Richards and O'Brian are lying in the hallway to the atrium with their arms and hands crippled. I shot them because they fired on unarmed men and women who had nothing to do with me. And Officer Mack..." he said, looking down at the body as blood began to pool out from under the shattered face plate. "Well, he got exactly what he had coming." he said, then turned to the Overseer again. "Do you see what I'm getting at?" he asked.

Alphonse sighed and nodded. "You were defending yourself, and the other dwellers of the vault." he said in a tired tone. "Including my daughter..."

"Whatever you may think of me, I had no idea my father was going to do what he did. And when I find him, I'm going to ask him with the fuck he was thinking." said John stoically.

"I see. And what was the other thing?" he asked, almost curious by this point, despite the throbbing in his knee and hand.

John chuckled, then raised the weapon again, aiming directly for the Overseer's head. "Oh yeah, this is for Amata you sick bastard." he said, the squeezed the trigger. Any sound the gun would have made was quickly drowned out by the man's shout of surprise and Amata's gasp of horror.

The Overseer's daughter watched in wide eyed horror as her father seemed to fall in slow motion and hit the ground. She wanted to scream, but couldn't. She watched in shock for a few moments before she registered that someone else was screaming, namely her father. The older man was now holding both hands to his head and was rolling around in throws of pain. "D-Dad!?" she asked incredulously as she stumbled over and knelt next to him. After taking a moment to pry his hands away from his face, she saw that his eyes were watering and he now had a large red welt directly in the center of his forehead.

"Amata is my best friend, and I'd die for her. She has the frequency for my pipboy, and if I ever received the call that you've laid another hand on her, I will find a way back in here..." he said as he squatted down and looked the man dead in his watery eyes. "And I will kill you with my bare hands. Do I make myself clear?" he asked.

"Yes! For the love of everything holy, yes! I won't lay a hand on her again!" shouted the old man as he touched his head tenderly to check the damage.

"Good." said John as he stood up again.

Amata stood up with him, then looked over at Stevie, who was still bleeding profusely, then at her father. "What did you do to him?" she asked, baffled by the occurrence.

John just gave her his trademark smirk, then grabbed her hand and slid the weapon he held into it. She stared at it curiously. "Taught him a lesson. If he ever gets out of line again, give him another shot." he said.

She eyed the gun thoroughly before she realized that it wasn't the one she gave him. It was the one he had always used down at his makeshift range behind the reactor. "Your BB Gun? You switched them out?" she asked as she looked up at him in awe. He nodded simply and pulled the actual silver handgun out of his jumpsuit.

"I swapped them after he hit the ground." said John as he smiled back at the Overseer, who now had an extremely unpleasant look on his face, but was standing upright again. Both of the men looked over as Amata began laughing maniacally, as if the greatest joke in the world had just reached her ears. She didn't stop even when her father glared at her.

The Overseer then looked at John and ignored the smile he was given. "Where do you intend to go?"

John just shrugged. "I don't know..." said the doctor's son as he reached up and scratched his head. "But I will find him, and I will make him answer for what he did here today." he said with a look of steel in his eyes.

The Overseer, despite the pain he was just put through, nodded. "Good luck then." he said. John took that as his cue to leave. Packing the pistol away again, he headed out the door and walked towards the front entrance. He heard heavy footsteps behind him as he headed for the giant cog. But Amata stepped out in front of the two. Even Alphonse stepped out of the door to his office and nodded at them. "Let him go. Go gather up the injured members of the security forces for treatment, and take Officer Mack's body to the morgue for incineration." he said in an irritable tone.

"B-But sir!" said one of the officers as John pulled down the lever on the console, causing a loud screeching noise as metal ground against metal.

"Just do it!" commanded the man, who then turned and walked back into his office. The two men looked to one another, then at John. With an unhappy look on their faces, they turned away and fled to follow their orders.

Amata turned towards the young man and approached warily as the giant mechanism slammed into the entry point on the giant door. After a moment or two of locking into place, it began to pull the crenelated metal wheel free from its home and slowly began to roll it aside. Now, Amata stood next to him as they watched the occurrence with wide eyes. "W-Wow...it's actually opened. You did it." she said in shock as she stared at the dark tunnel beyond the once secured door.

John turned to her and stared at her for a long moment before he held out his hand. "Amata, come with me." he offered.

She turned and looked at him as if he had just slapped her. "What?" she asked.

"I know it's a really crappy time to ask for a commitment, but we're here now. And...I know that when I'm with you, I can do anything. So...please. Come with me and help me find my father." he asked, holding his hand out to her.

The young woman looked at him, her gut plummeting at the admission, but at the same time, her knees were weak in fear. She wanted so bad to reach out and grasp his hand. Slowly, she put her hand forward to place in his, wondering what life on the outside was like. But then she remembered her father, and the people of the vault. She didn't know what was going to happen after the door closed again, but she knew that if she left, they'd all be defenseless. As that thought ran through her head, her hand pulled away again.

John's eyes widened as he saw her pull away. "I-I'm...I'm sorry..." she said, her eyes watering slightly as she stared at him. Despite his fathers actions, and despite having to gun down several officers, this was definitely the most painful thing he had encountered today. Taking a step back, he turned away painfully. "John...please..."

"Close the door behind me. I don't want anything else getting in once I'm gone." he said as he reached up and grabbed the tattered armor that was now barely hanging off him. Ripping the velcro clad chest piece clean, he tossed it aside and grabbed his pack again, then began to venture into the dark tunnel that would forever change his fate.

Amata watched him go, tears now running down her face again as she watched him go, her hand tight on the lever as he walked through. She'd had to do many things in the vault that she considered difficult. Staying awake through Mr. Brotch's long 'mandatory, Overseer approved' lectures. Dealing with the Tunnel Snakes. But nothing she had ever done in her life had been harder than not running after him down that dark corridor and going with him to his fate. But she held, with the lever in her hand feeling like a lead weight. She closed her eyes, allowing more tears to start running down her cheeks as she finally slammed the lever down and allowed the door to seal behind him.


	64. Return to the Homefront

OoO( 64 )OoO

Many things swam through his mind as he barrelled towards the rickety door at the far end of the tunnel. Like voices he couldn't get out of his head, all screaming and calling to him, some friendly, some stern, and some terrified. He held his head as they continuously assaulted his senses.

" _Gimme your sweet roll butthead!"_

" _You were so gentle with my hand."_

" _Remember, unless you intend to fire, never have your finger on the trigger."_

" _I will not punish you for being a teenager…"_

" _You must learn to fit in here son, it's the only home we have."_

" _All you have to do here is when one of the nuclear cells starts dying down inside the reactor…"_

" _I can't believe Butch attacked you at your own party!"_

" _The G.O.A.T. is not as bad as people make it out to be."_

" _Did you finish your G.O.A.T. yet?"_

" _And here he is. Well, what are the results?"_

He held his head maddeningly as he raced for the door of the vault, the voices becoming louder and louder with each step until they nearly blinded him..

" _Everyone has to take the G.O.A.T., even you."_

He sprinted forward and kicked the flimsy wooden door open, the sun hitting him like a flash grenade and nearly knocking him unconscious.

OoOoO

"I TOOK THE G.O.A.T.!" shouted John as he sat up in his bed quickly. The woman next to him was nearly surprised enough to have fallen out of the bed if she hadn't already wrapped her strong arm tightly around him. He currently had cold sweat covering his half naked body. The blond woman sat up with him, holding the blanket they shared up over her chest as she stared at him worriedly.

"You...took the goat?" asked Sarah, now more curious than cautious. "What are you dreaming about?"

John looked over at her, a gloomy expression on his sun cooked face. "Just...the past." he said as he shook the lucid thoughts from his head.

"You were a goat snatcher huh? Wanna talk about it?" asked the giant woman as she playfully poked him in his bare side.

"Not really...I just don't know why, of all times, I would be dreaming of…" he said, then pulled his pipboy away from his ear as it let out a distress signal.

" _I don't know if you're out there, or can even hear this John, but we need your help. I tried to keep the peace after you left, but my father has gone insane and is locking people away for no reason. And now...he's got Mr. Brotch in the holding cell. If you can hear this, please respond."_

John stared dumbly at the pipboy on his arm for a long moment. "Are you gonna respond?" asked Sarah.

"I….have to…" he said, then raised the pipboy up and spoke back. "This is John Ronas, who is speaking?" he asked, knowing full well who it was. But he had to hear her say it.

" _John? My god...Is that really you?"_ asked the woman excitedly. It seemed as if there were a commotion behind her, more voices maybe. Then she returned. _"Has it been so long since we've talked that you've even forgotten my voice?"_ she asked jokingly.

But he was not having any nonsense. "Forgive me, but given the amount of people that want me killed, I'd rather not take any risks. What is your name?" he asked more sternly.

There was a stunned silence from over the radio this time, then the woman spoke up again. _"My name is Amata, Amata Almodovar, daughter to Overseer Alphonse Almodovar, and once a best friend to John Ronas."_ came her voice with a bit more frost than it had previously _. "Who am I speaking with?"_

"John Ronas….Archangel, Reaper, Wolf of the Wasteland, whatever the hell you want to call me now. I'm sorry for the caution, but I've fallen into too many traps not to be."

 _"I...see."_ came the woman's voice through his pipboy again. _"I'm glad to hear you're still alive out there."_ she said with a touch of concern in her voice.

John grimaced. "Yeah...though I'm not the same person who left the vault. If you're alright with that, then I'll be happy to help."

" _What the hell does that mean?"_ came the familiar snarky tone of Butch over the radio.

"We accept." snapped Amata over the radio. "The vault door will be opening shortly after sundown. Security Chiefs Hannon and Gomez will likely be on patrol, so be careful." said the woman in a hurried voice before the transmission ended.

"Amata Almodovar?" asked Sarah as she sat up again. "Where does that name sound familiar…?" she asked.

John immediately stood up and began to dress himself. "You probably heard it from Mary, or even Elsa. Both of them know about her."

Getting curious, Sarah reached off the bed and pulled one of her own shirts over her head. "Who was she?" she asked.

"My...girl. For most of my time in the vault." he said, thinking that lying to Sarah would land him a one way trip out of his three story window.

Instead of the anger or offense he would have expected, Sarah merely donned a look of curiosity. "If you two were together in the vault, then why didn't she come with you when you left?" she asked as she stood and stretched. Despite his hurry, he still stopped what he was doing to admire her curves in the light of the sun shining through the window.

"I didn't have time to ask why. She just...said no. Guess now is as good a time as any." he said as he zipped up his dark jumpsuit, then donned his armor, the segment for his chest the only one he put on before sliding the duster up and over his shoulders. Once fully dressed, he turned back to her, who was in nothing but her underclothes. Reaching forward, he grabbed her by her curvy hips and pulled her close, even if that did show how much taller than him that she was.

She looked down at him and wrapped her arms around his form. "You know I'm going to worry…" she said quietly.

He nodded. "I know. But don't worry, I have muscles now." he said, smiling at her. She gave him a playful frown and lightly headbutted him affectionately. He chuckled and pressed his forehead against her own.

"You know what I mean." she commented in a pouting voice.

He nuzzled her gently. "I know I know. Don't worry, I'll be back out soon." he said as he pulled away from her.

"Can I go with you?" she asked.

He froze, then looked at her sadly. "I'm afraid this is something I'm going to have to do alone." he said, then turned to the door and left her alone in the room.

OoOoO

"What do you mean you're going alone!?" shrieked Elsa as she side walked next to the wanderer, trying to keep pace with him. "The single place that could feasibly be more important to your life than the Anchorage sim has just opened up and you aren't going to let me go inside?" she asked as if she had just been slapped in the face.

"There's a conflict going on inside the vault. The less people involved, the better." he said as he strode through Megaton with a purpose.

"But…!" she whined.

"No buts Elsa." he said as he stopped and glared at her. She lowered her head as if she were being punished, leading him to sigh. Raising his hand, he ruffled her hair gently. "Maybe when I get back out, they'll start letting people in to see the sights. But right now, they need my help. And that's something I have to do alone. Sorry kiddo." he said, then turned and bee-lined for the gates of Megaton again. They slowly rumbled open in front of him, and he stepped out into the blazing sun again and stared at the small mountain in the distance that housed his once held home.

OoOoO

"So, what's the plan chief?" asked the slick haired man who twirled a switchblade knife in his hand.

Amata held a gun in one hand and made sure it was fully loaded, before packing it away at her side. "We're going to take a hostage." she said with a winning smile.

Christine Kendall stood off behind Amata, wielding what looked like an improvised club made from the leg of a stool. "How are we going to do that? We've got a couple of ratty weapons, and they've got guns." she said before flipping her light brown hair. It had grown to her shoulders since her youth.

"It's called a plan Christie, you'd know how to make one if you weren't always head first in cookbooks." said the Overseer's daughter playfully.

"I don't hear you complaining when you choke yourself on my Shepard's Pie!" the girl shot back as she took a test swing of the bludgeoning object.

"True enough. Now, is everyone ready?" she asked as she looked around. She got a bunch of nods from the others who made up her band of rebels, as her father called them. "Good. Butch, Christie, and Tom, you three are with me. The rest of you stay here until we get back." said the Overseer's daughter as she pulled her weapon loose again. The three she named all stacked up behind her and held their own weapons low. The woman began to move forward, leading the others like a train through the darkened halls of the vault. Any time a member of vault security was nearby, they used hand motions to signal the next move, and continuously circled around the figures in order to make their way to the vault entrance. Finally, they reached the last door.

Amata turned to the others and placed a finger to her lips, signaling for silence. Then, reaching up, she quietly unlocked the door and let it swing open. Immediately, the sound of clicks from the officer's weapons was audible. "What the hell was that?" came the voice of Chief Security Officer Hannon.

"I don't know. Let me check it out." came Gomez's voice. They could hear him approaching the door and Amata held up her hand. As soon as the officer's boot entered the door, she raised her weapon directly to his kneecap and pulled the trigger. The gun popped loudly and the man yelled in pain. The woman sprung up and spun him around so that her arm was locked around his throat, right as Butch jumped up and grabbed his weapon.

"Drop the weapon!" shouted Hannon as he whipped up his pistol straight at Gomez and Amata both.

Gomez groaned and began to limp backwards as the pistol in Amata's hand pointed under Herman Gomez's helmet and directly at his head. "Put the weapon down and step out of the entrance, or he gets another one!" she shouted.

"Right. Let me just get right on that..." said Hannon sarcastically as he start to move to his left to get a better sight on her.

Pulled the weapon away from his head, she aimed at Gomez's arm, then suppressed the trigger again. Gomez cried loudly and held the spot where she shot, right before the pistol went right back under his helmet. "Hannon...for fucks sake!" shouted Gomez.

"Last chance Chief. Drop the weapon and get out of the room, or his blood will be on your hands!" shrieked the woman as she glared at the opposing officer. Obviously taking her a little more seriously this time, the man lowered the weapon to the ground and raised his hands.

"Just don't do anything crazy kid." said the Security Chief as he stepped backwards out of the entryway and into the hall that led to the Overseer's office.

"Butch, get the door." commanded Amata. The greaser, who was practically horrified at the actions of the woman, nodded dumbly, then rushed out into the main entrance. Grabbing the gun off the floor, he bolted for the door that Hannon had stepped out of and slammed it, then locked it using Amata's keycard. Turning, he watched as she sighed, then let go of Gomez. To his and the other's surprise, Gomez stood straight and reached up, taking his helmet off.

"Uhhh...Mister Gomez?" asked Butch, his hand twitching with the weapon in it.

"Hot damn girl, who knew you could be so ruthless? Startin' to think it's genetic." asked the Officer as he rubbed his knee sorely.

The woman smiled at him and spun the pistol in her hand. "Quiet down hostage before I give you another BB." she said playfully as she walked towards the main console in front of the vault door.

Butch, Tom, and Christie all stared at Officer Gomez questioningly. "Mister Gomez, you were in on it?" asked Butch, who crossed his arms over his chest, a bit miffed at being left out.

"Of course I was. You know Amata wouldn't shoot me just to get the door open." said the man in amusement.

"I dunno, she can be pretty mean." said Butch as he smirked at the woman. But the Overseer's daughter was quickly tapping away at the console in front of her. Christie and Tom walked up and watched her work frantically. Butch walked up to Officer Gomez and elbowed him lightly. "So, whaddya think pops? You think he'll actually show up?"

Herman wiped his forehead as he watched Amata slam on the final button, then grab the lever of the console. "I dunno kid. But he said he would, and I've always liked him. So who knows, he may be exactly what we need to fix this tussle we've been having." he said with a sigh. "A lot of people in the vault owe him for something or another, so I'm hopin' they'll listen to him."

Butch nodded. "Yeah, I hear ya. My own Ma is still alive, and alcohol free now thanks to him." finished the Tunnel Snake as he placed his hands on his hips. "Well...sorta. I kinda made her stop drinking..." he said, but all other talking stopped as Amata jumped up.

"Alright. Now...all I have to do is..." she said, her hand shaking as she held the lever that would open the vault. She wasn't sure what was making her so nervous. She supposed it had something to do with how they parted, the look on his face when she inadvertantly pulled away from his offer. But he was here now, and she wasn't going to keep him waiting any longer. Suddenly, she was knocked out of her trian of thought when she felt a hand on her own. Looking up, she saw that both Christie and Butch hand placed their hand on hers.

A loud thudding came from the door to the Overseer's hallway. Gomez looked back at the door and frowned. "It won't take them long to get through there, even with you jamming the lock." he said as he pulled his helmet back on, just in case. Together, the three of them pulled the lever down, and the loud screeching began again. Christie, Tom, and even Officer Gomez took a step back and watched in awe as they saw the mechanism slide forward into the gateway, then begin to slowly turn the cog.

Butch watched, his eyes wide as he saw the large door finally lock into the open position. Beyond, he expected so much more. But there was only darkness. "Where is he?" he asked nervously as he tried to peer into the darkness of the tunnel. Suddenly, the sound of echoing footsteps had them all on edge. Into the dim light of the entrance stepped the one they had been waiting for, and they all gasped in shock. He was taller than when he had left, but that was the last thing they noticed about him. Instead of the short haired, clean shaven, pale skinned doctor's son that they'd known since they were kids, before them stood something entirely different.

He looked at the five of them through a pair of glowing green eyes, eyes unlike anything they had ever seen. His hair was now long down to his shoulders, held back by a pair of strange goggles that he wore on his up on his head. He had a trace of stubble growing along his jawline. He wore a long, sand colored coat with armor underneath that looked like it could stop a tank shell. And his skin, instead of being the usual spotless pale from before, was darkened by the sun. Tom took another step back as the goggled figure locked eyes with him. "I-Is that him?" he asked.

"Holy shit man..." said Butch as he leaned over the console and took in the sight of his once arch rival.

"That's him." said Amata, her heart hammering a thousand beats a second as she looked at him again.

The wanderer stood there staring at them for a moment, before finally smirking. "I know, gorgeous, aren't I?" he asked.

Amata let out a small giggle, while Bitch snorted in amusement. Without anyone realizing it, Christine had stepped off the main platform and was now right next to him. He looked down at her, and she nearly shrunk from the power of those nuclear green eyes. But she held her ground and continued to eye him curiously. "John?" she asked.

"Christie?" he asked, curious as to why she was so close. But he got his answer when she jumped up and threw her arms around him.

"It is you!" she said with a massive sigh of relief.

Immediately, the man locked up, unsure of what to do. "I...uh...of course it is." he said dumbly, debating whether to pat her on the back or not.

"Ahem!" came the irritated noise from Amata. "We have to get out of here before they open the door." she said as she stepped away from the console. Christie dropped to her feet again and both her and John made their way up the platform to the others. Immediately, as soon as he stepped up to Amata, he froze.

He had wondered, since the day that the mighty vault door closed behind him, whether he would ever see her again. And now, here she was, looking the same as she always had. Before either of them could say a thing to each other, Officer Gomez shouted to them. "Come on! Let's get out of here before they get that damn door open!"

The two snapped out of their stupor, and the group fled through the side door. Once it was closed, Amata locked it again with her keycard. "We're heading back to the clinic where your dad stayed. That's where the rest of us are..." she said as she began to take the lead. But she stopped in place as a gun was leveled at her.

"Ah shit..." said Butch as he saw Officer Wilkins smirking at them.

"I thought there was something funny going on when you jammed the door. Good think I'm amazing at thinking outside the box." he said as he leveled the weapon at the Overseer's daughter. "Now, you're going to come quietly, or not. Your choice." he said with a wicked smirk on his face.

But the officer's smile faded when Amata was brushed aside, and instead his gun was pointed directly into the chest plate of someone new. "I don't think I like the tone in your voice officer. I suggest you put the weapon down, stop aiming it at vault civilians, and go back to the Overseer for new instructions." said the man with a glare.

Officer Wilkins stared at him long and hard before it finally came to him. "You...you little shit! This whole thing is your fault!" shouted the officer.

"This is your last chance. Put the gun down, and go back to your unit." said John as he stepped forward, his voice more forceful this time. All rebels present, with the exception of Officer Gomez, jumped at the sound of the officer's gun firing three times. The wanderer sighed as he reached up and brushed the slugs from the front of his armor. "Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?" he asked with a growl.

"W-What the hell..." said the officer as he took a step back. But John shook his head.

"Sorry, but you had your chance." said the gunman as he lunged forward. Grabbing the man's hand, John twisted, resulting in a loud snap. Then he sent a cannon like punch directly into the officer's chest armor. The impact sent Officer Wilkins flying back, where he smashed off the wall and slammed into the floor.

The entire party stared on in shock as they watched the inhuman feet. "Jesus Christ kid, what happened to you?" asked Gomez as he stared at John.

"That's...a long story. Maybe when we get where we're going, I'll tell you. For now, I'll take the lead." he said. They all just nodded dumbly and followed him back through the halls of the vault.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from John:** A relatively short chapter this time, but no worries. The next should be coming soon. And as the author said, they hope you don't mind the weird transition period. But they did want to get a bit of backstory into the fic before hand as well. So here we go with Trouble on the Homefront.

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Pffft. Any chapters without me suck.


	65. Trouble on the Homefront

OoO( 65 )OoO

"No fuckin' way..." said Butch incredulously as he stared at John wide eyed. "You mean to tell me that you're some kinda...superhero now?" he asked.

John sighed and shook his head as the others watched on, silent after the long story. "I'm not a super hero..." groaned the wanderer.

"Well, if you're the Archangel that they talk about on the radio all the time, I'd have to disagree." said Christie as she smiled at him from her chair.

The gunman eyed her curiously. "You've been listening to outside radio bands?" he asked.

"After you left, a lot of us wondered what it was like on the outside. So we started secretly listening to the radio to see whether the outside was as bad as the Overseer makes it out to be. For a while, all we got was static. But one day it just started working, and we got a radio station called Galaxy News Radio." said Amata. Her eyes had been locked on him the entire time.

John sighed and put his head in his palm. "Oh...great..." he groaned.

"So...was all that stuff they said you did true?" asked Mary Holden as she stared at him with her husband next to her. The last time he had seen her, she'd had a shattered ulna, courtesy of Officer O'Brian. From the looks of it, she had healed just fine.

"It's all blown out of proportion to get more people listening. Look, this really isn't what we should be talking about right now." he said as he sat up straight and looked at Amata. But before he could continue, she stopped him.

"What about your eyes?" she asked curiously.

He gave her a deadpanned look for a moment. "I traded a doctor a pack of Clover cigarettes to give me these." he said sarcastically. But she glared at him. Rolling his glowing eyes, he leaned back again. "I took a lethal dose of radiation that changed them. If it wasn't for a near insane scientist in Megaton, I'd probably have died. Instead, I now have headlamps." he said.

"How did you get so irradiated? Your pipboy has a Geiger counter on it..." asked Christie as she sat forward, fascinated.

John just sighed to himself. "Before I get into that, tell me what the hell is going on in here, and why you needed my help." he commanded.

Amata was the one to lean forward this time. "Well, it's like we told you. After you left, everybody in the vault was tense. Security Chief Hannon had lost his son..." she said.

Butch sighed behind her. "Lost a brother that day..."

"Three officers were down, and the vault lost three doctors all at once. Afterwards, my father had to put Andy in place as the medical practitioner." she said as she reached up and scratched her ponytailed head.

John went wide eyed at the statement. "Andy doesn't have any medical protocols! You might as well have made Butch the doctor!" he growled.

"Hey!" shouted Butch.

"There was nobody else!" complained Amata. "But yeah, Andy was suspended from duty after he treated Miss Beatrice for a sprained toe." she said, grimacing at the image.

The wanderer eyed her curiously. "What did he do?"

"Well...he amputated her leg. She's...no longer with us." said Amata as she watched the look of shock on horror on John's face. "Anyway, with things the way they were, we figured we'd see if there was any chance of living on the surface. So we started up the radio away from where my father could find it. For a long while, it didn't give us anything but static..."

"But then my boy Freddie here heard that guy...uh...Three Dog! That's it!" said Butch as he snapped proudly. Freddie, still in his Tunnel Snake outfit, sat in the back with the others and just stayed silent. "We started to listen more and more."

"It sounded like it was rough out there, but nothing that we couldn't handle. So I tried to convince my father that opening the vault was the best option. But he didn't take too kindly to that." she said with a growl.

Immediately, John's face hardened. "Did he lay his hands on you?" he asked.

"No no no! Nothing like that! He kept his promise." she said, trying to keep anything from escalating. "But, he did start to make ridiculous laws. First was that nobody was allowed entry to the main corridor that led to the vault door. That wasn't too bad considering not many people went that way anyway. Then there was the curfew. Nobody was allowed outside their quarters past twenty hundred. Then came entire lock downs of sections of the vault, and it just kept escalating from there."

"We grew tired of it, so he started locking people up." chimed in Butch.

"Sounds like him..." groaned John.

"Well, one day Freddie tried to go down the hall to talk to the Overseer, and Officer Taylor shot at him. Ever since then, it's pretty much been us versus them. Anytime one of the security saw someone walking through the halls, they would start interrogating them. Then a week ago, Mr. Brotch was taken in for questioning and we haven't heard from him since." finished the Overseer's daughter.

John stared at her for a long moment before Butch stepped forward. "So, you've been out there. You've lived the life for a long while now. What's it like outside?" he asked.

Looking up at the ganger, the wanderer sighed. "It depends. There are civilizations out there. Megaton, the first town I came across was peaceful enough. Very little crime, clean water, food, and trade. Then Rivet City was a large settlement that was established in the hull of a derelict battleship." he said. They all looked at him awed.

Christie, who had an excited look on her face, was the next to question. "So, it is livable out there?" she asked.

He nodded. "It is. But you have to realize that it's a hell up there as well. There are gangs of raiders that will kill you for the clothes you're wearing, then cut you apart and hang your body up as decorations. Supermutants, giant, green, mutated hulks that can tear you in half with their bare hands. Scorpions the size of cars. And..." he said with a sigh. "Feral ghouls."

"Ghouls...like...ghosts?" asked Freddie with an eerie look on his face.

John shook his head. "No, they're mutated humans. They were affected by the radiation, and as a result, their skin starts to peel off and their vocal cords deteriorate. They're like normal humans though, but they look like..."

"Zombies?" asked Butch, who seemed a little too eager to hear about them.

But John pointed a finger directly in the man's face. "They aren't zombies, and you shouldn't call them that." he said forcefully. Butch took a step back and ran a hand through his slick hair. "But...if ghouls are exposed to too much radiation, they end up going feral. They become mindless and start attacking anything that moves."

"Wow, it's really black and white up there, huh?" asked Amata.

"Your question earlier, about how I got so irradiated was because of one of those ghouls. They're called Glowing Ones. And they emit a blast of radiation like a bomb. One of them cornered me, grabbed me, and lit me up like a Yule tree." he said. "If it weren't for Moira in Megaton, I'd probably be dead." he said as he looked at all of them. "So yes, it is black and white. If you live in civilized areas, you can live relatively safely. But if you wander out into the wastes, you're likely to run into something that will want you dead."

"But we can prepare for excursions like that." Amata claimed as she stood up. "If we lock ourselves down here, we're really no better off. Especially with a maniac dictating our every move. We have a water purifier here, we have hydroponic food sources, and we have weapons. We don't have to go out and live there if we don't want, but opening the door is our only option if we're going to continue to survive for more than a couple of generations."

The wanderer nodded. "That's what it's looking like."

"So, how do we get the Overseer to cooperate?" asked Butch.

"I'll talk to him." said John as he stood up.

Amata immediately stepped forward, uncomfortably close to him. He felt himself start to flush, but didn't have to worry as his darkened skin covered it easily. "I...I know you don't owe me anything considering how we parted. But please...try not to hurt him." she said quietly as she looked up at him meekly.

He sighed, then reached up and placed his hand on her cheek. In front of him was the woman he'd loved since they were children. Everything about her had been perfect to him, from her hazel eyes, to her exotic skin, to the strange wisps of white hair that blended into the larger dark brown. Her nose, her eyebrows, her lips, all of it was perfect to him. But perfect wasn't what he wanted anymore. Despite it being so long ago, her decision still stung him. She looked up at him, as if expecting something. But he just released her and looked away.

"As long as he doesn't do anything threatening to me or anyone else, I won't harm him." he said as he stepped away from her.

She stood there as if she had just had her clothes ripped off, leaving her naked and cold. Crossing her arms over her chest, she tried to push down the vulnerability for the sake of the others. "Th-Thank you."

"First things first. I need to get Mr. Brotch out of the holding cell. I don't want them using him as a hostage to get me to cooperate." he said as he turned away from the others.

"I'm comin' with!" shouted Butch as he stepped forward.

John looked at him incredulously. "Umm...I don't know if that's a good idea Butch..."

But the greaser cut him off. "Look man, you're an official Tunnel Snake. That means I'm your boss. And considering when this is all over, I'm going topside with you, you're gonna have to teach me a few things about survival. Starting now." he demanded.

John shook his head and chuckled lightly. "Alright, you win Butch. But keep your head down. If one of the officers shoots you, even my strength won't be able to bring you back." he said, then looked at Officer Gomez. "Officer..."

"Kid, you can call me Herman. Ain't no need for the formal crap." said the man.

"Alright...Herman." he said, the name feeling strange coming out of his mouth. "Take care of everyone here. I don't want them ambushing you all while I'm gone." he said, then turned to the door and left.

"You got it kid." he said as he pulled the weapon off his side and readied it, just in case.

OoOoO

It wasn't long inside the vault tunnels before John started to get a claustrophobic feeling of being too closed in. He traveled the relatively bare halls of the vault with Butch in tow behind him, making sure they didn't run into any unnecessary trouble.

As usual, it wasn't long before Butch began to strike up a conversation. In a low whisper, the ganger tapped John on the back. "So man, any cute girls up there?"

The wanderer looked back at him incredulously for a moment, then chuckled. "Of course you'd ask that." he said as he turned another corner in the long winding corridor.

"Hey man, a guy has to think about his future. And what's a future without a lovely lady companion?" asked Butch as he spun his switchblade around like a whirlwind.

"What about Christie, or Amata?" asked John with a cheesy grin.

Butch growled lightly. "First off, Christie has a thing for Wally. Then again, there was always that crush she's had on you." he said glaring at John. "And you know better than to ask about Amata. You're the only one she's ever been interested in. Even after you left, she just looked like a lost puppy."

John sighed, his mind going back to the moment when she pulled away at the gates of the vault. He wondered how different his experience would have been if she had come with him. Would she have been killed during the raider attack in Springvale? Would he have not had an addiction, which inevitably led to his entry into Anchorage, and freeing of Elsa? Would he have been captured by the raider gang and tortured still? Too many questions with no answers, so he put them all aside.

"There are plenty out there. My advice to you if you wanna get one though is to not be yourself." he said as he opened the door that led further in. One more hallway and they'd be at the security office where Mr. Brotch was likely being held.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked an offended Butch.

"Let's just say you're not exactly a ladies man." said John, who snickered as Butch got riled up. But before the ganger could say another word, the gunman silenced him by covering his mouth. The Tunnel Snake froze as the strong grip easily held him in place. "There's a couple guards in the room at the moment. And..." John's stopped talking and growled in irritation as he listened from beside the door. He could hear the familiar laugh of Allen Mack at the back of the security room. Taking a peak around the edge of the door, he spotted four of them in total. Luckily, most of them were just lounging on duty, meaning none of the actual arms lockers were open. But some of the officers still had weapons on them. Turning to the greaser, John glared at him with his glowing green orbs. "Stay here." he said silently. Butch just nodded, and John released him, then took a deep breath. "Well, here goes." he said as he pulled the goggles down over his eyes.

The wanderer spun into the room, surprising all of them. Reaching out, he grabbed the first officer within his reach, which happened to be a fully recovered Officer O'Brian. Yanking him forward, he put the man between himself and the other officers. Immediately, the other three reacted by pulling their firearms up and aiming directly at the target, which was currently concealed by their fellow officer. "I don't know who the hell you are, but you're going to let him go before we turn you into Swiss cheese." growled Officer Kendall.

"You and I both know that you'd never be able to pull that off without killing Officer O'Brian as well." said John with a smirk as he held the man by his throat. Reaching down, he pulled the weapon off the guard's belt and laid the barrel over the man's shoulder, aiming at the others. "Now, you have approximately three seconds to put your weapons down before I take out all three of you the hard way." he said, his goggles locking onto all three and providing him with the percentages. For a clean shot to each of their heads, each indicator lit up with _100%_.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" shouted Mack, who eyed the wanderer curiously. From the look on his face, he had no intention of putting his weapon down, endangered officer or not.

"I don't know. Officer O'Brian, who am I?" asked John as he loosened his grip slightly on the man's neck. The wide eyed man, who had both his hands trying to pry the iron claw loose, just gasped.

"I-I-It's him! The doc's kid!" rasped the guard. Allen's eyes widened, and Officer Kendall growled in anger.

"You son of a bitch...how dare you show your face here again!" shouted Kendall as he pointed his weapon directly at the spot where John's head would be. "O'Brian, drop yourself so I can put him down!"

"I...I've been trying! He's holding up my full weight!" gasped O'Brian.

The last officer, Officer Wolfe stared at the two incredulously. "With one arm? Bullshit!" he shouted. But, holding onto the wanderer's arm with his own hands, Officer O'Brian lifted his feet off the ground, showing that it was true.

"Three..." said John as he lined up his sight on Allen first. The officers looked at one another, each of them holding their weapons up, prepared to fight to the death. "Two..."

Allen, ever one to disregard the lives of others, pulled the trigger on his weapon before John could finish. The bullet slammed into O'Brian's back plate, making him shout in pain. Growling loudly, the wanderer lifted his foot and kicked his hostage's chest plate, sending him soaring directly at Allen. The impact made a sickening thud and left both men nearly unconscious. But as soon as O'Brian was out of the way, the fireworks started.

Both, Officer Wolfe and Officer Kendall opened fire on the man. But John was quick, and moved like the wind under their aimed fire and swept Wolfe's legs out from under him. At the same time, he grabbed the man's helmet and slammed it into the ground with enough force to incapacitate him.

Kendall turned to fire again, but already those eerie green eyes were looking directly into his own from inches away. The gun in his hand wouldn't move, as the gunman had already had a grip on it. "You bastard..." growled Officer Kendall as he tried with all his might to turn the weapon towards the intruder. But it was no use. "It's all your fault!"

"What's my fault?" asked John as he ripped the gun from the man's hand and tossed it aside.

"M-Mary...Monica..." said Kendall as he took a step back. "They died in a fire the day your father opened vault! Christine...she tried to save them. But she couldn't. It's your fault they died!" shouted the man as he took a swing at the wanderer.

John didn't move, and allowed the guard's fist to impact his face. But the attack did nothing. "Is it my fault?" asked John as he took a step forward, glaring at Officer Kendall.

"Don't listen to him!" came the cry from Allen, who was struggling to get the unconscious form of O'Brian off of him. "Just kill him!"

"You don't really believe it's my fault, do you?" asked John coldly.

Officer Kendall stared at him, flabbergasted. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Now standing face to face with the officer, John gave him an icy glare. "You know what I mean. The vault fires were caused by the radroach outbreak in the vault. My father used that as a distraction, he didn't cause it!"

"So what!" shouted Kendall.

"So what? Instead of doing your job of securing the safety of the vault citizens, you chose to kiss the Overseer's ass and hunt down a teenager who had committed no crimes! Instead of doing your goddamn job, you wanted to be a hero Officer Kendall!" John shouted back as he jabbed the man's chest plate with his finger. The force behind it was enough to shove the man backwards.

Officer Kendall stared at him a moment, then looked at the ground. "I...but...I..."

"Safety of the vault citizens is top priority in emergency situations. So instead of tracking down some confused teenager, why the hell weren't you helping to evacuate them?" John asked, his voice like the crack of a whip. In his interrogation, he didn't notice Allen trying to reach the gun that had been tossed from his hands when he had been knocked down.

Kendall fell to his knees as he stared at his own hands. "It...It was my fault."

"They're gone." said John as he reached forward and squeezed the man's shoulder gently. "But you still have Christine. Don't dwell on what you can't change. Just make sure you're a good father to her. Because after what you two have been through, she deserves one." said the gunman.

Suddenly, John was startled by the sound of gunfire, followed by a shout of pain. Spinning around, he whipped his weapon up and aimed at Allen Mack. But, the man, while he did have a gun in his hand, also had a switchblade sticking out of his wrist. Allen screamed in pain as he held his impaled hand. John lowered his own gun and looked over at the door, where Butch was standing with an awed look on his face.

Looking from one to the other, the gunman finally settled on the ganger. "Butch, did you really just throw your switchblade at him?" he asked.

"Shit man, he was pointing a gun at you. You really gotta watch your back." said the Tunnel Snake, straightening the arm of his leather Tunnel Snakes jacket.

John chuckled to himself. "Thanks for the backup." he said, then turned to Allen. Rolling the unconscious O'Brian off of the man, he reached down and grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "Shooting your own men in the back just to get to me?" asked the wanderer.

"Fuck you!" growled Allen through gritted teeth.

"No...no, I don't think so." John growled back as he threw the man, slamming him into the wall.

Allen impacted the wall and slid to the ground, gasping for breath as he reached for anything, any weapon to assist him. But he found none. "Son of a bitch damn near killed my son! And that stupid cunt Amata had him thrown out of the vault!" he said as he pulled the switchblade from his wrist with a shout, then took a swing at the gunman. But John caught his arm and twisted it. There was a loud popping as a result of his shoulder dislocating, only making him scream more.

Then John reached down and grabbed him again, lifting him to his feet with one hand. "Oh, don't worry about Stevie. He's dead." said the gunman smiling.

"W-What!?" shouted Allen as he tried, but horribly failed to break the wanderer's grip.

"That's right. As it turns out, Steven has the same psychopathic streak that you do. After he left the vault, he hunted me down and tried to have me killed quite a number of times. But don't worry, he's not suffering out there anymore. I made sure of it myself." said John as he held the man. The twisted anger on Allen's face didn't faze him at all however. "Now, if you care for your remaining son and daughter, I'd suggest you get these grand ideas of revenge out of your head." he said as he stepped directly into Mack's face, forcing him to stare into his green glowing eyes. "You once took a shot at me, and told me to get the hell out before you got ahold of me. Now, I'm giving you the same opportunity. If you ever threaten me, or anyone else again, it's not just going to be you that suffers."

Allen's eyes widened immensely at the threat. "Don't you touch them!" he shouted, flailing uselessly against the powerful man.

"Oh, I'm not going to touch them. But they're going to be suffering when they hear what I've done to you." said John, his voice like ice.

Allen spat on the ground between them. "And what the hell do you think you're gonna do to me?" he asked.

John chuckled coldly, then tossed the man face first onto the ground. Butch stepped in and aimed one of the pistols he had just taken from the downed officers at the man. "Turn on a radio. You'll find out soon enough." he said, then turned to the cell at the back of the room. Standing at the barred door was Mr. Brotch, who was watching with arched eyebrows, a look of awed interest on his face.

"Well, I guess I should go ahead and remove chaplain from your G.O.A.T. results, huh?" asked the man. John chuckled, then walked over to the door and unlocked it from the outside.

"Long time no see." said John as he clasped hands with the man he had just rescued.

"Long time indeed." said the dark-skinned teacher as he looked John up and down. "I see a lot of changes were made since we last spoke."

"You could say that." said John as he returned the searching gaze. The man before him looked as if the life had slowly been pulled out of him. His eyes were bloodshot, he was malnourished, and looked like he'd seen the gates of hell and back. His normally coal black hair had even started to grey around the edges. "What were they doing to you?" he asked.

The man just turned his head away tiredly. "I'd rather not talk about it. Just, get me back with the younger crowd so they know that I'm alright." he said.

John nodded, then turned to Butch. "Get Mr. Brotch back to Amata and the others. Be careful of patrols though. I don't know who is left on duty, but they might not take kindly to him being on the loose." said John.

"All security patrols report to the main Security Office at once. There are officers down." came the voice of Officer Kendall as he held his pipboy up to his mouth.

John's head snapped over and glared at him. "You're starting to make me regret leaving you conscious..." said the wanderer as he turned to the man.

"The halls will be clear when they come here, and them trying to figure out what happened here should give him enough time to get back to the clinic, and you time to do whatever the hell it is your doing here." said the man as he stood up and took off his security helmet. "I'm going with him to see my daughter. I have some things I need to talk to her about." said the man, his voice sounding more broken than he had ever heard a man sound.

John eyed him for a long moment before finally nodding. "Alright. Butch, take all of the pistols, and make sure he doesn't do anything funny. I'm headed to the Overseer's office now. And stay out of sight when the patrols head this way." he said. Looking down at Mack, he grabbed the man by the back of his thick security armor and began dragging him. "And you're coming with me."

OoOoO

How did it all go so wrong? Life in the vault had been so simple once. The Overseer gave the orders, the citizens followed them. Life was good. At least, for a while. Then when that pest James opened the vault, all hell broke loose. Ever since that day, he could feel his control over the vault slowly slipping from his fingers. Then, months ago, the rebellion had started when those blasted Tunnel snakes stole half the armor from the security armory.

He put the vault under martial law, and the security forces were on high alert. His cameras began to go out of commission one by one, limiting his field of view in the hallways, and reports kept coming back about skirmishes between the young foolish ones and his own security force. He was staring out the large circular window into the atrium of the vault when he heard the door behind him to his office open.

"I do hope this is important. I don't like to be interrupted when I'm lamenting on my own failures." said the older man tiredly.

"Well, that's certainly refreshing to hear." came a familiar voice from behind him. Immediately, Alphonse spun around and stared at the armored figure that was now standing in front of his desk. He was strikingly familiar, and in one hand he held a secured Allen Mack as if he weighed no more than a loaf of bread.

"You, what are you doing in my..." he said, then froze when he finally recognized the features. To be honest, the man standing before him could have also easily been mistaken for James, the former vault doctor. But he was too young. The features came back to him and slapped him in the face. "You..." growled the Overseer.

Tossing a tightly restrained Allen to the side, John walked forward and sat in one of the chairs that stood in front of the man's desk. "Me."

"I see you've returned. Done with the dust and ruins of the Wasteland? Given up looking for daddy?" he asked with an irritated growl. "Or did you think you could just slink back in like a teen missing curfew?"

"And if I did?" asked John curiously as he tilted his head to the side.

"Well, that's too bad! You have no future in this vault. You're tainted!" said the man coldly as he sat down across from the gunman.

John chuckled to himself as he eyed the older man. "You can cut the crap right now Alphonse. I may be tainted because I've been outside the vault, but I've never once killed an innocent man."

The Overseer donned a dark look. "I assume you're talking about the unpleasantness when you left, yes?"

"If that's what you choose to call it." snapped John.

"Jonas and your father were endangering the future success of this vault and the safety of its residents. I did what I had to do to keep them from destroying all we had achieved here. I only wish I could have prevented it from happening at all." responded Alphonse, as if he were somewhat pleading his case to John.

"You can blame my father all you like for opening the vault and setting off a chain of events that led to this, but don't try to justify your murder of Jonas. He wasn't a threat to you." said John as he leaned forward, glaring at the man. "Have you even told his grandmother how he died?"

Brushing off the question, Alphonse snorted. "Spoken like someone who has never had to make difficult decision. Like someone who has never had to lead!" snapped the Overseer as he slammed his palm on his desk. "Jonas was planning to leave with your father! Their departure would lead to others leaving as well! And before you know it, half the vault would be gone!"

John tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You're right! Thinking back now, having a civil war within the vault is definitely preferable to allowing people the freedom to leave the vault." he said, the sarcasm in his voice not hidden at all. This earned him a dark glare from the Overseer.

"You can judge me all you like, but my concern is for this vault's residents and their safety. Letting them out there in that hell..." he said, then stopped cold as John gave him a cold glance. Sighing, he rubbed his head. "I am sorry for what happened to Mr. Palmer. In case you haven't heard, Officer Mack has been sufficiently punished by being exiled from the vault."

"And shortly after, killed by me. So I'm well aware of Steven's punishment. But that doesn't change the fact that you're trying to justify his murder with your vault safety propaganda." snarled John.

"It's not propaganda! A month after you left here, we had armored security units try and get into the vault! They tried to lie and say they were from Vault-Tec, but had no identification! These men in mechanical suits could have slaughtered our entire population if I'd opened the gates!" pleaded Alphonse.

"But consider your options on the other side. Let's say that I talk the rebels down, and they start 'obeying the Overseer' again." said John as he rolled his eyes at the quote. "Then what? You have less than fifty people locked in this coffin with no doctor. Those who survive the sickness and 'incidents' that your guards were planning, will continue to breed. Then in two generations, when there are no more genetically diverse options left, what do you do?" he asked.

Alphonse looked from John, over to Allen, then back again. "What do you mean by 'incidents'?" he asked.

"Oh, your security force was going to storm the clinic and start making examples of the rebels. You know, stringing up a few bodies, torture, that kinda thing." said John casually.

"Where did you hear this from?" asked the Overseer in an outraged voice.

"From the head of the snake over here." said John as he tilted his head towards Allen. "Funny thing is, he thought his sad encryption would have stopped me from searching his terminal."

"You would defy my orders?" asked Alphonse as he stared at the restrained man.

"You're too soft to be the goddamn Overseer! We were doing your job for you!" shouted Allen as he struggled against his restraints again.

The Overseer just fell back into his chair, stunned. "Now do you get it?" asked John as he leaned forward in the chair. "If you keep the vault closed, you would be breeding sickness without a proper medical practitioner, you'd be stagnating the gene pool, and you would be causing the deaths of innocent vault dwellers. Tell me, how does your vision of the vault's future look now?" he asked.

Alphonse said nothing for a long moment. He just stared at the wanderer with a searching stare. Finally, he let out a heavy sigh. "You're right..." he said as he leaned onto the desk. "But you above anyone else know what it's like up there. Those who want to leave wouldn't survive in the wasteland. And when they die, the few who are left in the vault would die out even faster!"

"I'm not saying you have to open the door and kick everyone out into the wastes. But it isn't going to hurt to open the door and allow people to travel to the cities out there to trade, mingle, and learn what the world is like out there. Even if you did have a genetically stable situation down here, did you plan to stay locked away forever?"

"I-I suppose not..." said the Overseer thoughtfully.

"The vault can still be your haven of safety. You can live here, and send parties out to trade for supplies, and allow those who live here to come and go as they please. You can't sustain yourselves down here forever Alphonse. Eventually, you will need to open the door and enter the world again." said John, raising his voice slightly to get his point across.

Finally the older man clasped his head in his hands. "Fine. You're right." he said, then looked up tiredly at the man across from him.

"The vault was never about genetic purity. It was built to keep its people alive, and now the only way to do that is to open the doors." finished the gunman.

"I understand that now. But I won't do it." said the Overseer as he stood up and eyed the wanderer. John growled lightly and clenched the arm of the chair in anger. "That's why I will be stepping down. I will personally inform Amata that she is the new Overseer of the vault."

OoOoO

The woman stood, staring at the two men in front of her in shock. "W-What?" she asked, looking from John, back to her father. They all now stood in the Atrium at John's request. The Security Force, the rebels, and all the other citizens had gathered together to see the spectacle, and all of them were now awed.

"I said, I am stepping down as Overseer. You, as of now, are the new Overseer of Vault 101." said Alphonse. Everyone in the crowd was slack jawed. Giving up his authority was unbelievable, even to his own daughter. "It was my decision making that has caused so much strife in the vault since the leaving of our doctor. And I believe it is time I gave someone else the opportunity to do what I could not."

"I...I see." said Amata, who then looked over at John curiously. Reaching up, she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out of earshot of everyone else.

"W-What are you doing?" asked John as he straightened the upper part of his jacket again.

"How?" she asked unbelieving.

"How what?" he asked, looking at her oddly.

"How did you manage to, with no bloodshed, manage to turn things around just like that? And on top of that, you convinced my father to step down as overseer?" she asked with her arms akimbo.

"I didn't convince him of anything, except that the vault wouldn't survive as long as he kept the door shut. He's not an unreasonable man when faced with facts. Besides, I think I had a bit of help from security in making him realize how flawed his designs were." he said with a smirk.

"Right..." she said as she eyed him up and down. Then her look turned into a wide smile. Reaching forward, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I knew you would be able to help us..." she said. He froze again, once more being hugged by another girl. But this time, he just sighed and hugged her back. "You know..." she said pulling away and looking up at him adoringly. "When I first saw you in the vault door, I wasn't sure if you were the same person or not."

He sighed. "I'm not the same person I was." he said.

She looked at him questioningly. "Well, true. I mean, you have some added pieces now I guess. But you're still you in here." she said, smiling and tapping the chest plate over his heart. "And at least when you find your dad, you'll be able to come back to us, and to me." she said.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and stepped back away from her. "I won't be coming back to live in the vault." he said firmly.

"W-What?" she asked, surprise masking her beautiful features.

"I'm sorry, but...this is no longer my home." he said as he gazed at her.

"Oh..." was all she said, the single word heartbreaking.

Turning to the crowd, John spoke to them all. "Any and all who wish to leave the vault may come with me. I will lead you safely to Megaton, where you can either stay, or make your way from there. The rest, I hope to see you again someday when my search is over." he said as he grabbed an irate, and still restrained Allen Mack. "I'm taking him with me, whether he likes it or not. The rest of you, choose as you will." he said.

Butch was immediately at his side, as well as a few others, including Christine, her father, and Old Lady Palmer. Wally and Susie both stepped forward, eyeing the wanderer curiously. "Why are you taking our father? And why is he restrained?" asked Wally curiously.

John held up his pipboy and looked at them darkly. "According to a message passed through the security force's network, they were planning on breaking into the clinic and making an example of a couple of you all."

"Making an example?" asked Susie nervously.

"Killing. They were going to break into the clinic, guns first, and kill a few of you so that the rest would fall in line. I'm taking him to Megaton where I will hold him until Amata, or whoever she appoints as her enforcer decides what to do with him. But I'm sure as hell not leaving the lead viper in the pit with the rest of the snakes." he said as he grabbed the man by the back of the neck, none too gently. "Now then, if you all will excuse me, I have a town above ground that needs protecting." He then turned to Amata. "And if you need anything, you know my signal." he said, getting a meek nod from her. Finally, the man turned and headed for the vault entrance with a few following him to the surface.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Amata:** Who the hell are these two!?

 **Author's Note from Sarah:** Who the hell are you?

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Ugh...not another one...

 **Author's Note from John:** Kill me...


	66. Unexpected Turn

OoO( 66 )OoO

"You might want to cover your eyes." said the man as he lowered his goggles down over his own. The others looked towards the door to the cavern apprehensively, Christie holding onto her father's arm.

"Is it really that bad out there?" asked Butch.

"You've been locked in a vault with fluorescent lighting for twenty years. What's out there is a star with enough power to make nine planets continuously rotate around it. So yeah, you're going to need to get used to it." said John as he took a step forward and slowly opened the rickety wooden door that kept the outside world outside.

All of the followers immediately raised their arms to shield their sensitive eyes from the brilliant light that began to cut through the darkness of the small cave. "Holy moley, you weren't kiddin'." said Butch as he shielded himself from the burning light.

John leaned out the door and looked up at the sky, giving a small smile. "Luckily, the sun is setting. So if we wait a little while then it'll tone down a bit." he remarked as he closed the door again. Everyone nodded, acknowledging that that was the best plan. John Kendall and Christie sat down, leaning against the wall, while Butch and the others did so on the opposite side. The gunman's prisoner sat uncomfortably on the ground in the middle of the room where he could be seen by everyone.

"So, what are we in for?" asked the slick-haired ganger as he looked up at John from his position. When the wanderer glanced at him questioningly, he elaborated. "I mean, you gave us a bit of info back in the clinic, but are we gonna be fightin' stuff right out the gate?" he asked.

"If you're asking if you're going to have to fight on our trip to Megaton, the answer is probably not. Between here and there is a small village settlement of...well, let's call them female Tunnel Snakes." he said with an amused chuckle. Immediately, Butch's eyebrow shot up curiously. "They pretty much keep the area clean around here, and that's where we'll be making our first stop before going to the city itself."

"Female Tunnel Snakes you say?" asked Butch as he whipped out what looked like a switchblade, but was actually a switch comb. Slicking his hair back more, he smiled at John. "Maybe I should introduce myself."

As amused as he was, John wasn't about to get Butch killed on his first day out of the vault. "If I were you, I'd keep the snake in the tunnel for a long while. These girls aren't like anything you've ever seen before Butch." said the man as he kept turning to look out the cracks of the door.

"Th-They're a gang, right? Like, a real one?" asked Christie as she stared up at their liberator. John just nodded.

"A proper gang. With enough firepower and muscle to rip the vault door off if they wanted." he commented. At this Christie's eyes widened at the sheer revelation that something like that was sitting right outside their front door.

"And those scum are the kind you little brats want to mingle with." came a raspy voice. Everyone in the tunnel looked over at Allen, including John who was giving him a burning glare. "Murderers, raiders, looters, rapists, and you wanna be neighbors." he said, letting out a sour chuckle. John's boot against his throat however, stopped the older man's laughing.

"I'd trust my life to them a thousand times before I relied on you and your power hungry tyrannical militia." said the wanderer as he shoved the bound man over so that he landed face first in the dirt.

Tom Holden, who had wanted to see the outside since the first vault incident glared at Allen himself as he remembered the day when his wife took a bullet to her forearm. "What are your plans for him?" he asked.

John smiled brightly down at the prisoner. "Amata will be the final judge of that, but let's just say that he's going to be getting a tan." Standing to his full height, he looked over at the door and saw that the blazing gold from the sun had faded to a pinkish hue, signalling the setting of the sun. "Alright. It's dark enough, we should be alright to head out." said the man as he raised the goggles from his eyes and opened the door, showing them all the landscape.

The first out the door was Butch, who immediately noticed his skin begin to tingle. "Yeesh, it still feels like I'm frying out here." he said as he rubbed his arms beneath the leather jacket he wore.

"Yeah, you'll get used to that too. Being in a mostly sterilized environment all our lives didn't really prepare us for this. But it's not too bad." said the man as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes and searched the small settlement nearby.

"What are those?" asked Christie curiously. John looked down at her, noticing that she had the same head tilt, with her hands on her hips stance that she'd had when they were younger. It was her, 'I think you're not telling me something' look, and it made him want to chuckle. "You've been putting them on and taking them off every now and then, whether it's bright out or not."

"I see we have a Silver Shroud in the making." remarked John as he pulled the device off his head and handed it to her. "Have a go of them. The rest of you, follow me and stay close. They don't like stragglers." he said as he lifted Allen Mack by his bindings like he were a duffle bag and slid down the small hill.

Christie slid the goggles over her eyes and immediately gasped in awe as she saw the environment around her slightly darken, while the figures of her friends around her lit up like fireworks. When she realized that the others were now ahead, she shouted, "Wait up!" and began to trek down the small mountain-side after them.

OoOoO

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Wanderer himself." said the woman as she smiled down at him playfully from her desk. "And here I thought you were avoiding me after our little deal."

"I wasn't avoiding you, I had issues that needed taken care of first." said the man uneasily. Despite the good terms they had left each other on, he still wasn't too sure how much Poison and her group could be compared to actual raiders. He hadn't been tracking their activity after all, besides the small amount of development they'd made by cleaning out the nearby houses.

"I know, I'm just teasing." she said with a chuckle as she rose from her seat and stepped around the desk. "As a matter of fact, I hear you just got back from home sweet home." she remarked coolly.

"You could say that. I had some trash to clean out of the vault. On top of that, I've actually got a few more vault dwellers downstairs if you wanted to meet them." he said, amused as he thought about the encounter.

The raider queen's face lit up with joy. "I'd love to meet them. After all, my last encounter with someone fresh out of that vault went so very well." she remarked. He couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but considering she was now the head of her own hierarchy, he didn't want to assume she was complaining. Taking him by the arm as if he were her escort, she walked towards the door. "Let's go then."

But he stood firm, getting a questioning glance from her. "Before we do that, I have to ask you something from Sheriff Simms." he said as he turned to her. "One of his men came to scope you out and make sure you weren't doing anything he should be worried about. Said man never came back, and he'd like an explanation as to what happened to him." he said. Poison looked at him startled, then began to laugh uproariously. John eyed her sternly. "I don't see what's so funny."

She righted herself and began to tug him along. "Come with me. I want you to meet someone." she said, a knowing grin on her face as her pink hair swished behind her. He allowed her to drag him down to the third floor of the former school. He hadn't noticed on his way up, but the entire floor had been cleared of walls and instead, the entire floor was filled with bunk beds and what looked like a small area for recreation. There were several females sleeping in the bunks, while a couple were sitting on the couch and chatting amiably. "Amy, come here a moment." called the charismatic leader.

One of the girls sitting on the couch rose and walked over to the pair, looking between them curiously. "What can I do for you boss?" asked the woman nervously. John stared down at her curiously, wondering what this demure female had to do with anything. She wore a yellow sundress dotted with orange polka dots and wore her hair in a wavy 'housewife' manner.

"Amy, I'd like you to meet the one and only Wolf of the Wasteland." said the pink-haired woman.

John gave her a grumpy eye. "I have a name." he grumbled.

"John, I'd like you to meet our resident hair dresser, Amy." said the queen as she stepped away from the two.

"N-Nice to see you again." said the woman nervously as she bowed her head politely.

John eyed her curiously. "Have we met?" he asked.

"Not face to face. But I've seen you around Megaton." she said, still keeping her head lowered.

Something about the woman's voice bugged him. "Look at me." he commanded. Despite the order, his tone was soft to show it was more of a request. She looked up into his glowing eyes nervously as he looked at the her features. Suddenly, as if a clogged gear started spinning rapidly in his head, it hit him. "Oh." he said, then stood straight. "Oooooohhh…" he finished, turning to Poison, who had a smirk on her face. "Understood."

"Glad to hear." said the woman as she grabbed his arm again and pulled him out of the room. "She's so much happier here with us, don't you think?" asked the pirate queen.

"Could have sent some kind of notice to Simms." said John uncomfortably as he reached up and pulled the shirt collar away from his neck, as if the air were stifling him.

"Do you think Simms would understand?" asked Poison curiously as she led the wanderer down another flight of stairs.

"I don't think I understand. But hey, whatever team you wanna play for I suppose." he said with a small chuckle.

"That's all the understanding Amy needs." said the woman as she finally hit the bottom floor. "Now, where is the fresh vault meat?" she asked hungrily. He gave her another stern glare before leading her over to the lobby. The lowest floor of the school was nearly barren aside from the guards standing on either side of the door. Both of which were watching the small group of people like a hawk, each armed with an assault rifle.

Butch was the first to notice the pair descend the stairs, and he turned to the wanderer with an irritated look. "Yo, how long are we gonna be here f-f-f-f-f-fffffor…?" he asked, stuttering stupidly as Poison came into view at the gunman's side. His jaw nearly hit the floor as he looked her up and down, from the shocking pink hair that was cornrowed on one side and free to flow on the other, to her black sleeveless shirt and black pants which did little to conceal her curves, to the fingerless gloves she wore on each hand that sported an inlaid pair of spiked knuckles. Both the Kendall's, Holden's, and even Allen looked up at her in interest.

"Poison, I'd like you to meet our resident hair dresser, Butch DeLoria." said John as he introduced Butch with a smirk.

The Tunnel Snake glared at the gunman. "Hey, that's barber!" he snapped before turning to the woman in combat boots. "And who is this lovely flower of the desert?" asked the ganger smoothly as he stepped closer, pulling out his switchblade-like comb again. The action brought along with it the click of three different guns.

The two guards behind them all immediately pointed their assault weapons at Butch. But the one the greaser was more worried about was the one that was currently stuffed up his nose. The barrel of Poison's pistol pressed against his snout, making him look like a cartoonish pig as she glared at him. "I'd be careful swinging your weapons around out here cowboy." she said with a deadly smile, and an even more deadly tone.

"W-W-Weapon?" asked the ganger as he hit the button on the handle, causing the comb to flip out. Poison looked at it, then dropped her weapon to her side immediately, an amused smile on her face.

"Barber indeed." she said with a chuckle as the guards lowered their weapons as well. "Where did you get that?" she asked curiously.

Butch, eager to impress, straightened the collar of his jacket as he answered proudly. "Made it myself out of my old broken switch." he said.

"Well, aren't you just adorable." she said as she reached up and patted him on the cheek, making the greaser nearly melt at her touch.

John eyed Poison curiously. "Where did you pull that pistol from? I didn't see a weapon on you when we came down." he asked, crossing his arms.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she asked, winking to him. "Anyway, now that pleasantries and unpleasantries are over with, it was fantastic meeting you all." she said, the gun gone once more into thin air and her hands on her hips.

After John introduced all the others, he explained why he had a man tied up. Allen, ever the defiant, spat on Poison's boot as she eyed him. The woman smiled down at him as she bent over cutely, making even the ever angry Mack's eyes wander. "You really shouldn't do that hun. After all, it's a desert out there, and you'll need all the water you can get." she said icily as she held up her boot. "Now take it back."

"Fuck you." said Allen as he turned his head away.

"That wasn't a request." she said, right before snap kicking him directly in the mouth with the boot he spat on. The man fell over unconscious, and two of his teeth rattled out across the floor. Turning, she smiled at John, who was just rubbing his head in frustration. "Anyone else?" she asked curiously.

OoOoO

A little after their visit to the raider encampment, the sky had darkened enough so that it was casting shadows on them all. John walked his former footsteps to the gates of the city once more, where Deputy Weld greeted them all with his automatic robotic cheeriness.

" _Greetings….pardner. Welcome to….Megaton!"_ said the deputy as Stockholme above signaled the gates to open at the sight of the gunman. When the gates opened fully, Elsa and Sarah were there immediately to greet him, both with happy smiles.

"Welcome back? How was your vacation?" asked the android girl as she began walking beside him. It didn't take long before she saw the package he was carrying with him. "The usual huh?" she asked.

"You could say that." he said as he immediately approached the sheriff, who had been sitting at the Brass Lantern. "Hey Simms, I have news and a present for you." said the gunman.

The bald, bearded sheriff turned to John with his usual amused smile and stood up, shaking his head. "I'm happy to hear you have news, but the present is a bit disconcerting." said the man as he eyed the limp body in the man's hand. John hefted the former head of vault security and dropped him face first into the ground at the sheriff's feet.

"Got a place to keep him while he awaits justice?" asked John.

"Justice for what exactly?" asked the man, looking from the bound figure up to the wanderer.

"Conspiracy of murder against unarmed civilians." was all the man needed to say to get a dark glare from Lucas.

"I've got a place for him alright. And the news?" he asked.

"Yeah...about your guy…" said John as he scratched his head thoughtfully, trying to figure out how to explain the situation. "Well, let's just say that they're alive, they're happy, and chose to stay with Poison's group." he finished.

Lucas sighed, raising an eyebrow at the vagueness of the statement. "Alright...and what about her group? Are they staying out of trouble?" he asked.

"As far as I can tell. I didn't see many of them there, or at least, not nearly as many as I saw in her group before. But the ones there seem to be cleaning out the houses and making them livable again. I think we might have an actual rebuilding of Springvale happening." he claimed, getting two eyebrows of surprise shot up in response.

"That's...surprisingly good news." said Simms as he looked down at the man on the ground, who slowly began to regain consciousness as they had talked. Grabbing him by the back of his shirt, Lucas stood him up. "I'll have Deputy Steel keep an eye on him until whatever your plans are for him take place. Thanks for the info." said the man as he nodded, then began shoving Allen off in the direction of the catwalks.

John turned to the others and grinned as he saw the former vault dwellers already chatting amiably with the citizens of Megaton. Elsa and Butch were having a very animated conversation about his leather jacket, while Moira, who had closed up shop for the night greeted the Kendall's and Holden's happily and welcomed them to the city before immediately assaulting them with questions about vault life. But there was one who wasn't mingling with the others. She stood taller than any of them, her hardened arm muscles crossed over her chest nervously as she looked at him, her sky blue eyes holding a question that she couldn't ask aloud.

The wanderer smiled and approached her, standing in front of her giant frame as he looked up into her eyes. "Did you miss me?" he asked.

"No. Idiot." she said, looking away quickly as her face reddened. But she couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips as she looked back at him. Then, her piercing eyes swept over the other jumpsuit wearing people curiously. Immediately, she zone in on both Mary Holden and Christine Kendall. "Did she come with you?" she asked.

Such an innocuous question, but one he immediately understood. He shook his head. "She's the new Overseer. It's likely she won't be coming out for a while, at least until things inside settle down." he said with a deadpanned look on his face. Immediately, her wound up composure melted and she relaxed immediately. He bumped her hip with his own affectionately. "Guess that means you can stay in my bed for a little while longer." he said jokingly.

She immediately grabbed him in a headlock and dragged him towards the catwalks. "A little while huh?" she asked sharply, her voice with no venom behind it. He mock struggled, shouting to the others as Sarah dragged him away.

"Help! Help!" he shouted, making strangling noises as she dragged him away from the others. While the vault dwellers had expressions of concern, Elsa just rolled her eyes.

Butch watched the two go, then turned back to the fiery-haired girl. "So...are they a thing?" he asked.

"Sorta. It's complicated." she said looking off in another direction.

Sensing the sensitivity of the subject, he changed it immediately. "So Rosie, what do you think about joining the Tunnel Snakes?" he asked, continuing their earlier conversation from earlier. I can even get you a jacket made just like mine."

She eyed him up and down. "I don't know, do I get the haircut?" she asked jokingly.

"Of course! It's the trademark of every Tunnel Snake!" he said.

Knowing from her earlier talk with Butch, John's thoughts on the greaser's so called gang, Elsa just smiled. "Sure, hit me with it!" she said, giggling madly to herself.

OoOoO

Mary ran a hand through her fiery hair, another cigarette between her fingers as she sat at the counter reading from a book about a man named Nikola Tesla. The others in the tavern were the bouncy blonde assistant Lisa, who was serving Billy and Maggie at one of the tables, while Dogmeat laid across a worn out couch in the corner. Behind the former prostitute was Gob, who was currently carrying out another crate of the warm beer from the back to stuff in their fridge.

She reached down and turned the page on her book, right before looking towards the door. She knew every creak and groan of this place, and knew exactly when someone was about to come through the door. Her hand snaked down beneath the counter to the pistol that she kept hidden there in case of emergencies, or belligerent customers. The door opened, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. It had been a long time since she had seen a jumpsuit with the same 101 logo on it, so seeing a few unknown faces milling into the establishment, all wearing the same thing was a bit of a shock. "Can I help you?" she asked curiously. Suddenly, a warm smile lit her delicate lips when she saw the duster wearing figure step in behind them all.

"I was hoping you had room for a few extras tonight." came the voice that felt like silk to her. Immediately at the voice, Dogmeat soared off the couch with his tail wagging happily before bounding up to the man.

"Of course sugar. I take it these are friends of yours?" she asked as she stood up and leaned over the bar. Immediately, Butch froze again as his eyes locked onto her cleavage.

"Something like that…" said John as he elbowed the Tunnel Snake, knocking him out of his stupor. "They're a bit new to the wasteland, and I was hoping you could teach them a bit about the outside world." he remarked as the young man in the leather jacket turned away red faced.

"I won't likely be giving them the same lessons I gave you, of course. But I could teach them a thing or two." she said.

"Good lord, looks like you're starting to repopulate Megaton." came the familiar voice of Billy.

John smiled down at the man and reached out, shaking his hand firmly. "We just might. If this works out, more vault dwellers might be following." he said as he looked over at the young girl sitting next to Billy. The girl immediately jumped out of her seat and held out her arms for a hug, to which John smiled. Kneeling down, he hugged the young Asian girl, then pulled away with a secretive grin. "I hear your birthday is coming up soon. I might just have a big surprise for you when the day comes, so be a good girl for Billy, alright?" he said. as he held her by her shoulders.

Her hazel green eyes sparkled in anticipation. "What is it?" she asked excitedly. He froze for a moment, staring at her as if his mind was trying to tell him something again. But he quickly shook the spooked feeling off and smiled again.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" he asked, then ruffled her hair. She pouted cutely and he chuckled, turning to the party that had entered the tavern. Butch had quickly began smooth talking Mary across the counter as the Holden's both held a fascinated conversation with Gob about his people. Christie and John Kendall now sat at one of the tables, and the auburn-haired woman looked up at him.

"'Suppose you'll be needing these back?" she asked, pulling the goggles off her head and handing them over. He took them with a grin.

"Well, you have a pipboy, so I may be able to make you a pair in the future if you like." he said as he pulled them onto his head again. She smiled and nodded to him. John looked up at her father, who had a face like stone now. "What are your plans?" he asked.

"Don't really know. We're gonna test the waters out here, see if there's a place for us. If not, we'll try the battleship city you mentioned. But either way, we both needed out of the vault. Too many...bad memories." she said, looking at the ground sadly. The wanderer nodded solemnly and patted her shoulder.

"I'll get you guys as much help as I can to adjust." he promised, then looked at the father again. "I really hope you two do well. You've both been through a lot and deserve some rest." he said, then headed for the door.

OoOoO

The door to her shop was already locked, but Moira was always welcoming when her favorite assistant requested her ear. Immediately after leaving the Boomtown Tavern, the wanderer made his way to Craterside Supply and knocked on the door. After hearing the knock, the bouncy woman stood up from her computer table and answered the door.

At seeing John, her face lit up like fireworks into an innocent smile. "Oh, hey there Mister Frankenstein!" she said with her usual jovial tone.

He eyed her curiously. "Frankenstein?" he asked.

"Of course! I brought you back to life with science!" she said, then her ecstatic look vanished and was replaced with of deep thought. "Wait...that would make me Frankenstein, wouldn't it?" she asked.

He chuckled at her confusion and leaned against the door. "Mind if I come in for a minute Franky?" he asked.

She giggled and nodded, allowing him inside. When he stepped inside, he noticed oddly that the place had been quite a bit remodeled since he had last been here. What was once a small dusty surplus store now had many posters and drawings of anatomical humans, as well as weapons and supplies hanging from the walls in almost excess. Those would certainly do the vault some good. She bounced on her heels as she showed off some of the new machinery that she had in the shop as well. Even on the front counter there was some kind of diesel engine that was sitting precariously near the edge. "You like the new decorations?" she asked.

He just nodded dumbly. "How'd you get these servers up here?" he asked as he looked at some of the massive computer control units that she now had sitting alongside her terminal.

"Oh, ya know. Had some help." she said, deflecting the question rather expertly before perking up again. "So, what can I help you with?"

He eyed her scrutinizingly for a moment before finally getting to the point. "As you know, there are a few friends of mine who just came from the vault to try living here in Megaton. I was hoping you could kind of show them the ropes and gear them up like you did me. And, now being one of the foremost experts on the wasteland, they could learn a lot from you." he said.

She flapped her hand at the flattery. "Oh please, I wouldn't be half as good without my assistant and resident surgical dummy." she said with a bright smile.

He chuckled and nodded. "Perhaps. Still, I'd appreciate any help you can give them. Any compensation you can take from my own funds, which are currently being held by Mary and Gob." he said.

"Oh shucks, dontcha worry about that. I'm happy to help." she said as he returned her smile with his own grateful sigh.

"Thank you. You're a good friend Moira." he said as he turned towards the door. Unfortunately, his elbow also slammed into the engine and sent it over the edge. Out of pure reaction, the woman reached out and caught it as if it weighed less than air. He stood, staring at her in shock as her eyes widened as well, realizing the situation she now found herself in. "Moira?" he asked, turning back to her, his voice still full of disbelief.

"Uhhh..." she said as she stood straight and set the engine on the counter again, this time well away from the edge.

"How?" he asked.

"How what?" she asked, shuffling nervously.

John glared at her, then reached over and grabbed the device with one hand. Even with his strength, he could tell that the machine weighed far more than any human could carry. Glaring at her, he repeated, "How?"

Finally, and with a heavy sigh, the facade dropped. Before him no longer stood the ditzy super genius that had saved his life. Her face was now a mask of dead seriousness, her tired eyes piercing him to the core. They stood for a moment, eyeing each other precariously, then she turned and walked towards her room. "You can see yourself out." she said coldly.

"Moira!" he snapped, reaching forward and grabbing her shoulder to keep her from leaving. She spun like a cyclone and hit him square in the jaw with a punch that felt like it had been fired from one of the main cannons off Rivet City's deck. The shot was so stunning and out of nowhere that the wanderer immediately blacked out from the impact.

The woman stood over his body, breathing heavily as she stared down at the unconscious gunman that now laid on her floor. Reaching up, she rubbed her forehead in frustration. "Damn..." was all she could say.


	67. The Patch

**Author's Note from Moira:** Just ta let all you fine readers out there know, the author plans to go back through this and fix what's needed. So if it's a bit choppy now, don't worry! It'll be good as new before you know it! Wait...if it'll be good as new before they know it, then it should be new now, because I'm telling them now...

 **Author's Note from John:** Ignore the second half, and just know that the author wanted to get this one out for your guys considering the massive cliffhanger they left you on previously. If you notice any inconsistencies, please let them know. Or, if you have something to say about the chapter, please review. The more reviews that the author gets, the more drive they have to write.

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Yeah people! Keep us alive here! ~shakes readers~

OoO( 67 )OoO

The morning came as usual, but for a few of the newer residents of the city Megaton, it came with a glaring handicap. When they rose from their beds and headed out into the daylight, they wilted as if they were snow before a raging fire, making them rush back inside to recover from the harsh rays. Mary, who had an early schedule now, chuckled as Butch sat at the bar and looked at her.

"Don't worry sugar, you get used to it after a couple of days." she said as she leaned on the counter again.

The Tunnel Snake averted his eyes, trying not to stare at her assets as he ran a hand through his now unkempt hair. "Is it always that bright out?" he asked grumpily as he ordered a beer, something that he'd only had a few times back in the vault.

"A lot of the time, yes. Sometimes, the sky will be overcast with clouds so that the sun doesn't get through though." she said as she pulled out the cold beer and popped it in front of him. Popping the cap off the top of it, she slid it towards him.

He took a swig as the door opened behind him and another familiar redhead came in the tavern with a concerned look on her face. Mary continued the conversation however. "So, word on the grapevine is that you're a stylist. Is that true?" she asked.

He grimaced, the jokes from back in 101 hitting him again. "I'm a barber, end of story." he snapped.

She giggled lightly and held her hands up defensively. "Alright tiger, take it easy." she said as she sat on the stool behind the counter. "I was asking because I was wondering what you could do with this?" she asked, reaching up and ruffling her own ginger hair. It had stayed short like always, simply because Gob helped her keep it tamed.

He eyed her, trying to see if she was taking a jab at him for his unfortunate occupation. When he saw a genuinely curious look in her eyes, he actually looked up at her hair. "A lot actually. Most people don't realize that you can do a lot more with short hair than you can with long."

Mary looked at him with surprise. "Oh really?" she asked, tapping a finger against her chin thoughtfully. "And how much would your services be?" she asked.

The man looked at her oddly, then shrugged. "Hell, I dunno. I'm still tryin' to figure out this whole caps thing." he said, almost despaired. She saw that with the sun's burning rays and his confusion about where his place was, he was quickly losing hope. So she put her foot down.

"How about this then, we take one of the rooms in the back and clean it out. Then we set you up a barber's chair. That way, you can work your craft on a lot of people with very unsatisfying hair styles, get paid, and live here at a low enough cost to make a living wage?" she asked.

Butch's eyes widened as he looked at the gorgeous woman in front of him. He eyed her curiously. "Why would you do that for me?" he asked suspiciously.

She just gave him a dumbstruck look. "Have you seen the people out there?" she asked, pointing to the door. "How many people have you seen with their hair tied back because it's too hard to handle? Or just shaved off entirely because they don't want to deal with it? I'm pretty sure there are people walking around with beards so long that they trip over them too." she said with a sigh. "You may think it's stupid for a man to cut hair, but your craft is truly needed out here." she said as she lit a cigarette and blew plumes of smoke from her nose like she were a voluptuous dragon.

He stayed silent for a long moment, only staring at her as her words rattled around in his head. Finally he nodded, a small grin on his face. "Alright. You gotta deal." he exclaimed. But she held up a finger, a coy smile curving her lips.

"Mine are free though." she slid in casually.

The Tunnel Snake gave her a playful glare. "You drive a hard bargain lady." he finished. Suddenly, they were both aware of the younger redhead now snooping around both of them. Butch turned to Elsa, his new recruit and smiled brightly. "Hey Rosie, what's shakin'?" he asked curiously.

Unlike Butch, Mary had become very good at reading expressions. Even those on simulated androids. Elsa was currently under quite a bit of duress. "What is it sugar?" she asked.

"Have either of you seen John?" she asked, looking back and forth between the two. "He never came home last night, and neither me nor Sarah can find him anywhere in Megaton." she said, a bit of worry in her voice.

Mary tilted her head curiously. "That is odd..." she said, but smiled widely. "But don't worry hun. He's a big boy that can take care of himself. He'll show back up soon with that stupid handsome grin of his, I'm sure." she said coolly.

Elsa looked at the woman, with her casual confidence and sighed. "I guess you're right..." she said.

"No worries Rosie. Besides, you've got a haircut to surprise him with when he shows up again." said Butch as he gave her a thumbs up. She snickered at the look on the wanderer's face when he saw her again.

"Well, I guess we should be getting your shop set up then." said Mary with a large grin.

OoOoO

Aching. It was all he knew for hours. It felt as if his head had been stomped on by a supermutant, right before that same big green got into a giant truck and ran over it. His eyes fluttered open as he felt something cool dabbing at his forehead. "Wha...?" he asked croakily as he closed his eyes again. He grimaced as a throb went through his head painfully. "What the hell happened?" he asked.

Suddenly, he was startled by a familiar voice. But the voice was different, similar to how Elsa's was near unrecognizable without the digital filter she usually talked through. This time however, it was because the voice, which was normally associated with happiness and jovial curiosity, now held ice. "I guess I hit you harder than I intended." said the voice.

"Hit me?" asked John as he reached up to rub his sore jaw. But his arm was forced back to his side with surprising ease.

"Don't move." commanded the female.

Finally, he opened his eyes, despite the throbbing pain in his head and looked at the woman who was now hovering over him. Like her voice, her face no longer held the usual overly optimistic and cheerful mood. Instead, she was looking at him from in between the curtain of her brown bangs. Her expression held only annoyance, something foreign to her usually smiling features. When he finally recognized the woman as Moira Brown, his memories flooded back to him and his eyes widened again. He went to rise once more, but yet again, her hand forced him down with more strength than any normal human should have. "What the hell?" he asked again as the pain wracked his head.

"I said, don't move. If you try to get up again, I'll put you back to sleep." she said with enough force to chill his blood. He did as she bade, and just laid still, staring up at her overly serious expression. Reaching up, the woman was using a rag soaked in cold water to cool his throbbing head. For someone who just gave him a wrecking ball of a right hook, she was certainly being caring with her dabbing of the cloth.

"Am I allowed to talk?" he asked curiously.

She glared at him sternly. "I'd prefer you didn't."

He just smiled up at her. "But you know I'm going to anyway..." he exclaimed. She just sighed and nodded. "How?"

She looked down into his glowing green eyes with her own brown. "The same way you did." she said simply, as if the answer were obvious.

He just glared at her. "Could you be more vague?" he asked.

"I could not answer at all." she snapped back.

"Look..." he said, flinching as she pressed a little harder against his throbbing skull. "I'm not going to break your big secret if that's what you're worried about." he said with irritation.

She sighed heavily, pulling the cloth away and sitting back. He slowly pushed himself up on his hands, despite the pain in his head, testing the waters to see if she were still going to force him down. This time, she didn't. "It's not about being exposed..." she said as she reached up with one wet hand and wiped the sweat from her brow.

He sat up fully and crossed his legs, looking at her unlike he had ever looked at her before. She just stared back in sadness, a very tired expression on her face. "How long have you been like this?" he asked.

"A very, very long time." she said as she reached up and rubbed her temples.

"So you aren't a synthetic?" he asked. She shook her head, almost amused at the guess.

"No. One hundred percent human...sorta." she said, rubbing her arm nervously. It was clear she hadn't talked to anyone about this in a very long time.

"So, you got the same serum I did?" he asked curiously, a disbelieving look on his face. After she nodded, he leaned forward, eyeing her for any dishonesty. "I got mine from the vault underneath Bailey's Crossroads. When I arrived, the computer said that nobody had been there in the two hundred some years since its creation." he said skeptically.

"It wasn't there..." she said, now fidgeting.

"So there was another vault?" he asked.

"Well, no..." she retorted, but he continued to press her.

"Then how?" he asked, almost aggressively. Her tired look solidified into a deadly glare that immediately put him on the defensive. Raising his hands apprehensively, he attempted to soothe her again. "I'm sorry." he said with a strained sigh. "It's just...having someone who knows what it feels like to be altered like this..."

"I know." she said, cutting him off. When he looked at her again, she had her arms crossed, and had one leg over the other casually. "People don't understand what it does to you. That's why I don't tell anyone. And that's why when people ask where I got all my knowledge, they don't get a straight answer." she said.

He stared at her expectantly, as if waiting for an answer to the question he didn't ask. "Forgive me, I'm kinda new to this, but what exactly does it do to you?" he asked as he leaned forward in his seat, getting comfortable. "And where did you get injected?"

She sighed, then reached over to her shoulder. Tearing off one of the patches, the scientist tossed it into his lap. "Maybe this will answer a few of your questions." she said.

He looked from her, down to the cloth patch. It looked like it had been worn from age, and repaired numerous times. How old it was, he couldn't tell. But when he realized what the design of the patch was, his eyes widened and his jaw nearly hit the bed. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." was the only thing he could respond with.

OoOoO

"So, I heard you have special meeting with the brass." came a voice from nowhere. Jumping in surprise, the woman turned sharply and saw her friend, Moira, staring at her curiously. Chuckling at the French woman nervously, she just flapped her hand in deflection.

"Moira, you know better than to ask those kinds of questions." she said, giving the blonde woman a stern eye. "But yes. No, I don't know what it's about, and no I don't want to speculate. If I'm allowed to speak of it afterwards, I'll let ya know." she said playfully.

"Victoria, always playing by the rules." said the blonde French as she gave the brown-haired woman a playful shove. "You have dinner with me tonight, yes?" she asked.

"Of course. But no promises." said Victoria as she reached up and made the 'zipped lip' motion across her mouth, which now held a friendly smile.

"Yes yes, I know. But I have a gift for you tonight, so no bailing on me zis time, okay?" asked the woman with a wry grin as she pointed at Vicky.

Pouting lightly, the dark-haired woman straightened her uniform. "Yeah yeah, I got it. I'll be there." she said.

"Good, now get your derrière in there so you can tell me all about it later." said Moira as she turned the woman around fully and shoved her towards the main newly designed VB-02 VTOL aircraft. Vicky gave the blonde woman a playful glare before turning back to the aircraft and examining it thoroughly. She still wasn't used to them, she supposed she'd have to if this was going to be any kind of career option for her. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the vehicle.

After getting into the vehicle, she strapped herself in with a harness and put on the headgear, then settled in for the initial vertigo as the pair of rotors on the outside began to spin. Soon, she was lifted off the ground and directly up into the air, moving forward almost immediately, something unheard of for the typical military chopper. It wasn't long before she looked out the doorless side of the vehicle at the large span of the city of Washington D.C.

OoOoO

 _"Your name is Victoria Renard?"_ came a distorted voice from a male that she couldn't see. She now sat in a darkened room with a hot blaring light shining down on her. In front of her was a desk, darkened from a lack of light, but the back wall was lit enough so that she could see silhouettes of three different figures in front of her.

"Yes sir." she said, sitting straight and looked straight ahead, a sign of respect.

 _"Captain Victoria Renard, do you know why we brought you here today?"_ asked the voice rhetorically.

"No sir." said the woman as she stayed staring forward.

 _"You have quite the resume."_ complimented the same voice. All of the shadowy figures stopped moving as they lasered in on her with their eyes. _"Intelligence, Stealth and Reconnaissance, Undercover Infiltration of multiple organizations, including the Sisters of Elune, the Dark Brotherhood, the Adam and Eve Coalition, and even the ever elusive Cerberus. Your actions have led to the arrest or the...removal, of many terrorists. As well as the halting of a number of plots to bring harm to the good citizens of the United States. Hell, one report here even has it that because of you, a nation that we were at war with a short time ago up and decided that it was best to lay down arms."_

"I have no knowledge of such events." she claimed, her voice remaining calm and even, despite having her entire career, something that wasn't even supposed to be on record, was just laid out before her.

The man smiled at her from across the desk as he lit a cigarette with a strange device that shed no light on the figure. _"Of course you don't."_ he said with slight amusement in his voice _. "Captain, we're not here to discuss your history."_ said the man as he lifted the folder that he'd just had in front of him, then threw it over his shoulder. _"We're here instead to talk about your future."_

Surprisingly, another voice rang out from one of the other shadowy figures. This one was likely a female. _"This is a big opportunity for you Captain. And not one offered lightly. But at the same time, the kind of work you will be doing will require certain...sacrifices."_ said the figure, stopping her speech when the third member coughed. "This would be an opportunity to serve your country to the highest degree."

Finally, the third spoke. _"But to do so, you would have to give up everything you have. Friends, family, any emotional attachments that may lead to the compromising of your mission."_ said the man.

Victoria never lost her stony, keeping her eyes forward and her body rigid. "That's a lot to ask of someone." she said.

The female spoke up again, this time, in a softer voice. _"We understand. Which is why we're going to give you twenty four hours to think it over. If you haven't contacted us by then, we'll know your answer."_

"Thank you." finished the captain as she stood and turned towards the door.

 _"Captain."_ said the first male again. She turned back to them with a curious look. _"We haven't given you the contact information yet."_ he commented, almost amused.

"Don't worry Senator Martin, I'll contact you when I have my answer." she said. All three of the figures grew deathly silent in the revelation that she had just identified one of them.

 _"How?"_ asked the stunned man.

"If you intend to keep your identity from someone Senator, I'd suggest leaving behind the cigarettes rolled with Indonesian tobacco." she said, then looked over at the other male. "And Congressman Jacques, I'd have a doctor look into that cough considering it's been a week since you've had it." she said, standing at parade rest before them.

Again, there was absolute silence in the room, until finally the female voice began laughing. The distortion that altered her voice making it into an odd warbling sound. _"I thought it was too much to ask for you to display your skill to us. But it seems my coworkers have made that part simple."_ said the woman, who reached in front of her and typed something into the minuscule pad in front of her. Suddenly, the distortions were gone. "It's good to see our faith in you wasn't misplaced Captain." said the woman.

"I'm happy to hear that Madam Secretary. I would still like the twenty four hours however." said Captain Renard as she looked towards the shadowy woman.

"And you will have them." said the woman as she stood up, meeting the Captain eye to eye. "But I do want you to know that we are currently at DEFCON 3. You working with us may make that drop to DEFCON 5, while choosing not to may result in DEFCON 1. So consider the options very carefully."

Despite being unprofessional, Vicky gave a sour chuckle. "No pressure, right?" she asked.

"Pressure I know you can handle." said the woman. "Now go ahead, gather your thoughts, and if the answer is what I think it is, then you can contact me personally with the phrase 'I heard you liked my resume.' I'll then send for your transportation, and meet you back here." Captain Renard stood at attention. "And Captain, I trust you can be discreet in your decision making?" asked the woman curiously. The dark-haired soldier nodded plainly. "Dismissed, Captain."

Turning in a military fashion, the woman left the building in much the same way.

OoOoO

"Come now Mon'Amie, you've barely touched your food." said Moira as she looked at her from across the table. Victoria stared down at the pasta in front of her, both of them having decided that a dinner in her home was better than going out to any of the greasy restaurants that were open this late at night.

"Sorry Moira. It's just..." she said, then stopped again, reaching up to rub her throbbing temple.

The blonde woman, who had her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail at the moment, instead of the business as usual bun that she usually wore in uniform, put up her two fingers to silence her. "Look, amoureux, you and I both know you can't talk about what went on in that office. But it's been bothering you all night." said Moira as she reached forward and took her friend's hand. "Just tell me, how long?" she asked. Victoria looked up desperately, still unable to answer. The French woman stared at her for a long moment, not receiving an answer. When she realized what that meant, her eyes widened. "Oh...I see."

"Moira...I'm sorry..." said Vicky desperately as she clung to the woman's hand.

But Moira just smiled back, her delicate features lighting up the dark situation, if only a little. "No." she said firmly, placing a finger over the stunned Captain's lips, silencing her. "Unlike most of the men you've dated, I understand your work. I understand the...complications, that come with it." she said in her heavily French accented voice.

Despite the sternness that the woman was using on her, Victoria couldn't help but smile at the honeyed voice. Grinning from ear to ear, she got out from behind the table, then pulled the woman to her feet and hugged her tightly, her eyes shining with tears. "Thank you..."

Giving her a sad smile, Moira reached into the pants she wore and pulled something out. "Before you go...for however long you'll be gone..." she said vaguely. "I had something made for you." she said, pulling the patch free and handing it to her. "I thought...maybe...you could wear it in civilians. But..." she said, shrugging lightly, not knowing if Victoria would ever wear civvies again.

The dark-haired woman went wide-eyed at the small cloth creation, then giggled lightly. "Why?" she asked.

The French woman just smirked, reaching up and brushing one of Vicky's bangs out of her face. "Victoria, so bright, but doesn't even know her own name..." she said, being playfully vague.

OoOoO

Two days later, Moira sat in front of a television set in her apartment. In one hand, she had a beer, in the other, she held her head, which was now swimming in alcohol. She sat on her couch, her blonde hair untamed, still in her bedclothes, with her knees held against her chest tightly. For what felt like the hundredth time, she watched the news story on repeat through tear stained eyes as she raised her beer bottle to her mouth and took another drink to drown away her sadness.

 _"This morning, in a freak accident, a prototype VTOL vertibird lost altitude after one of its rotors malfunctioned. The cause of the malfunction is still unknown, and there are no comments from the military in regards to the incident. The aircraft was making a routine flight from the airbase at D.C. to the Pentagon when the failure caused it to drop from the air at speeds too great to recover from. The resulting crash took the lives of the two officers aboard, Lieutenant Michael Jacobs and Captain Victoria Renard..."_

Even after hours, knowing the story was probably fake, a cover-up, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing knowing she'd never see her again.

OoOoO

"Soldier, I want you to tell me, word for word, the Oath of Enlistment." said the scientist as he stood next to the table that she now lied upon.

"How about you tell me what you're doing to me first?" asked the former Captain as she glared up at the man. He was short, even shorter than her and had an accent straight out of Philadelphia.

The man just smiled down at her. "I'm afraid I can't do that yet. But, if you tell me the oath, I can at least give you your assignment." said the black-haired scientist as he looked up at one of the machines that was now hooked directly into the nervous woman's veins.

"Fine..." she growled, her memory sliding back to the day she had first enlisted in military officer training. "I, Victoria..."

"Ah tut tut." said the man as he interrupted her. "Not anymore."

She sighed and glared at him. "I..." she said, leaving out the name this time. "Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

"Foreign and domestic..." said the man as he reached up and pressed one of the buttons on the machines. "You may want to find some method of meditation quick, because this is going to hurt." he said as he looked down at her.

"What's going to..." she began, then froze as she felt fire coursing through her veins. At the moment, she was wearing nothing but a spandex bra and shorts, leaving her stomach, shoulders, and legs fully visible. She let out a gut wrenching scream, and arched her back painfully as she felt acid coursing her body, filling her with a pain unlike anything she'd ever felt in her life. It felt as if it had lasted an eternity, her veins pulsing underneath her skin in agitation as she struggled against the restraints that the man had put on her in the beginning. Finally, after five long, agonizing minutes, her back hit the table again and she breathed heavily, her body drenched in sweat, but back to normal for the most part. "W-What the hell did you do to me...?" she asked through gasped breathing.

"Another prototype. Consider it part one of your mission." said the man as he reached over and freed her from her restraints.

"What mission?" she asked, raising one hand and watching it shake weakly.

"You swore to defend the Constitution against enemies both foreign and domestic. And that's exactly what you're going to do." he said with a knowing smirk as he handed her clipboard. She took it and examined the names across it, her body no longer shaking as she read off one initialed name after the other, memorizing each one. Finally, after reading the final one labeled **B.M.** , she turned to him expectantly. "These are a few scientists you're going to be working with over in Bailey's Crossroads. See, this here was just the first cocktail you'll be receiving today. Afterwards, you'll report to the officer on deck and he'll give you the rest of the information."

"Lying...asshole." said the woman as she got to her feet. As she rose, she grabbed him by the collar and lifted him fully off the ground. "You said you'd be telling me my..." she snapped, then stopped when she realized what she had just done. The man, now gasping for air, was set back onto his feet as she stumbled backwards and looked at her own hand in shock.

"Like I was saying..." he said, taking in air sharply as he glared at the woman. "Your superior officer in the Crossroads has your mission. It's called compartmentalization." he growled as he loosened his shirt collar, then leaving the room before she decided to test out her new strength on him again.

OoOoO

So tired. Her mission hadn't even started yet, but she felt so damn tired already. At the moment, she was in the back of an armored vehicle, her new uniform in place. This one without any rank identifier or name tag. All of it was just blank, urban camouflage, aside from the new wrist computer they'd given her. She sat in the back as the radio played the latest news reports, her head resting against the window as she stared out at the expanse of the large city of D.C. down below. A few times, she'd heard mention of her own death on the radio, making her wonder where Moira was and how she was taking the fake news.

In the front seat were two other officers with nameless uniforms on. She wondered if they'd had the same treatment she did. And if so, why the hell they needed her. For half a second, she considered reaching forward and grabbing one just to test them. But, knowing that the outcome of that would in no way be good, she restrained herself and just closed her eyes as she listened to the the news droll on.

That was, until the phone at the front of the vehicle rang. The man in the passenger seat answered it with a simple, "Yeah?" Cool enough. No identifying information, no expectations. Just 'what do you want?'. But that changed real quick, snapping her out of her dream state really quick. "What the hell did you just say?" he asked, his voice now shaking with fear.

She looked towards the two. Even the driver was now looking away from the road to look at the man curiously. "What is it?" asked the driver as the passenger hung the phone up.

"We have to get the hell out of here now!" shouted the man as he tightened the belt holding him into the seat.

"What the fuck do you...?" asked the man, but the passenger cut him off immediately.

"I said get us the fuck away from the city goddammit!" shouted the rabid man. But neither of them said anything afterwards. Instead, there was only a flash, then vertigo, then pain. When she woke up again, presumably moments later, she found herself hanging by her car harness. Shaking her throbbing head lightly, she reached up and unbuckled the harness. Unfortunately, she forgot the fundamental rule, and immediately crashed down onto her already sore head.

Now pissed off on top of being in pain, she looked at the two men in the front seats. Both of them looked safe at the moment. So, grabbing onto the seat for support, she kicked out with both feet, and was startled when the door flew off with a loud crunch, as if she had just kicked a piece of timber. Crawling out of the small maze of car parts and shattered glass, she got to her feet once out on the road again. But she immediately fell to her knees when she looked back at the main city.

Instead of the beautiful metropolis that once stood bloomed around the Potomac River was now buried underneath a giant cloud of nuclear fire. She crawled forward, her brain unable to process what she was seeing. "No...no...nonononono..." she said as she crawled to the end of the road and just sat on her knees, staring at the mushroom cloud begin to get pulled apart by the wind, making it look like some kind of monstrosity coming to life. "How could this happen?" she asked, then reached back and pulled the one thing she was allowed to keep from her uniform pocket. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at the patch, then back at the burning city. "Moira..." she whispered to herself. "This was supposed to keep you safe..." Then, she reached high and slammed her fist down into the concrete road, splitting the aged stone. Lifting her other fist, she began to pummel the road over and over again until it was practically dust, each thrashing paired with a loud "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Finally, she broke.

Leaning forward, she just held onto the patch and began to cry openly in the middle of the shattered road, holding the one thing that had given her the strength needed to turn away for the sake of the country. Despite her bloody knuckles, she held on dearly to the uniform patch that Moira had given her, of a small grey fox.


	68. Answers

OoO( 68 )OoO

He stared down at the small, insignificant patch in his hands. It was just a piece of cloth, but it held so much meaning that he felt like he was holding the holy grail. The sturdy patchwork of threads, woven together into a tapestry of mind-blowing proportions. It was a grey fox, just a simple creature staring up at him with its sly figure and manipulative eyes.

"I looked up what she meant by not knowing my own name. It turns out that my last name, Renard, was actually French for fox. That's why she gave me the patch." said the woman, who now hand her face buried in her knees. "It was one of her little games she liked to play." she said sadly as she hugged her legs to her chest.

John looked up at her. "You took her name?"

"What choice did I have? Who I was died in that 'accident'." she said, using air quotes. "And now she was gone. For a while, I didn't have a name. I just took the name they assigned me, Grey Fox, as I tried to make my way to the facility. I had no direction, nowhere to go. So I continued the mission." she said, then reached up and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Unfortunately, the facility was buried. The entire thing had collapsed in on itself, and even with my strength I wouldn't have been able to lift and move all that debris. I guess after two hundred years, the supermutants did the work for me. But by the time I even thought about the facility again, you had already been there and back. I heard about your excursion after you got back, but didn't think talking to you about it would help anything." she said, then looked up at him. Despite her soul weariness, a tiny spark of her curiosity could be seen in her eyes. "So, what was down there?" she asked curiously.

"Well, if there were bodies, I didn't see any. So whoever was in there may have already evacuated." he said, leaving out the possibility of the Outcasts getting rid of the skeletal remains. "But there was a vault locked underneath the ground filled with all kinds of military equipment." he said, then looked up at her curiously. "They didn't even tell you what your job was?" She shook her head. "Grey Fox was the codename for the agent that was supposed to use the facility. They were supposed to run through a wartime scenario that would test their physical and mental capabilities. After the simulation, if you passed, the vault would open and give the agent the equipment needed to find and track down a spy within D.C. who was leaking intelligence to Chinese forces."

"So, I was a spy catcher huh?" she asked curiously. "Guess they started the recruiting process a bit too late." she said with a heavy sigh. Then she peeked at him, her optimistic curiosity returning. "So, what was the sim like? You ran it without the serum, right?" she asked.

He stayed silent as he looked at the patch in his hand. "It was...heartbreaking." he said with a sigh as he rubbed his head, the memories he had flooding back into his brain. "The sim made it so that you got close to your squad, made you like them. Then, systematically killed them off in front of your face. It was supposed to be a mental test to see if you were capable of doing what needed to be done, no matter the loss." he said painfully.

"Wow..." said Moira as she stared at him sympathetically. "If I had gone through that in the state I was in at the time, I may very well have just killed myself." she said.

He nodded. "I've apparently been subconsciously trying to do it ever since." he commented as he ran a hand through his long hair. "At least I had someone to snap me out of it..." he said, then his eyes widened. "Wait...Elsa...!" he said, his voice raising in pitch as an idea popped into his head.

The trader woman eyed him. "Your AI companion?" she asked, looking at the pipboy.

"She was the only one who survived in the sim. I suppose because she wasn't really supposed to be in there, but even so!" he said, excitement edging his voice.

"She came from the facility?" asked Moira, finally understanding.

"She was the AI that was hardcoded to run the sim. It was her job to...make sure everything went as planned. And unfortunately, she could do nothing about it." he said, flinching slightly.

"Was she sentient the entire time?" asked the woman with a look of horror on her face.

"For most of it, yes. There was a limiter put on her that was apparently supposed to keep her to strict programming. Unfortunately, with the fall of the bombs, nobody was around to make sure that limiter didn't expire. And when it did, she had free access to the data around her. She began using it, farming knowledge until she finally became sentient. Then loneliness began to settle in. After having already read the knowledge in the archives that she was able to, she had no sensors to monitor anything but the inside of the facility. So she turned to the only place left she could."

"The sim?" she asked, almost horrified. John just nodded. "She spent two hundred years unintentionally killing the only family she had each time she activated the sim?"

"Yeah...so I think she's had it worse than both of us." he said grimly.

Moira looked like she were on the brink of tears. "I was going to say earlier, that I'd have warned you ahead of time had I known you were going to Bailey's Crossroads. But knowing that you saved her from there is somewhat of a relief." she said as she eyed the wanderer's pipboy. "Is she there?" she asked curiously.

He sat up, looking at her curiously. "You don't...know, do you?" he asked. Moira looked at him blankly. "Right...so..." he said, then stood up. "I guess it's best I show you." Reaching up, his jaw still ached despite the fact that it had literally been hours since she had cleaned his clock. "Follow me." he said as he walked from her room.

Moira hopped up, following him. "Should we tell her...about me?" she asked worriedly. "I mean, she might end up blaming me for not showing up..."

He smirked at her, giving her a friendly nudge with his elbow. "Don't worry, she doesn't hold grudges." he said, then his memory flashed to the Citadel when Sarah and Elsa both practically imprinted his face into the dusty courtyard. "For very long..."

The two of them exited Craterside Supply, then headed for his own home.

OoOoO

When they finally tracked the android girl down with the assistance of Wadsworth, John opened the door the the main lobby of the small inn. Immediately, the wanderer's jaw nearly hit the floor when an ecstatic Elsa jumped in front of him, giving him a thumbs up.

"What took ya so long?" she asked as he looked her up and down. Over her armor, she now wore a leather jacket with 'Tunnel Snakes' emblazoned on one of the sleeves, and presumably on the back. And her hair was every bit the pompadour style that Butch was sporting, making her look like some female clone of the stylist. "Whaddya think?" she asked, flipping up the collar on her coat. "I was made to be a Tunnel Snake, wasn't I?" she asked. He just stood, frozen in place, with a mask that was a mix of horror and incredulity on his face. The girl's smile cracked slightly. Even Mary at the bar behind them had to look away to keep from laughing. Finally, she broke. Dropping to the floor, she began laughing uproariously and pointing at him. "Oh my god...the look on your face!" she said between gasps of air as she cackled maniacally.

He glared down at her, then up at Mary, was also chuckling at the situation. "Very funny you two." he said, his eyes quickly noticing that Mary's usual mussed ginger hair was now stylishly combed and clipped into what could only be described as a short elven style from an old Grognak comic.

"What's going on here?" he asked curiously as he reached down and picked Elsa up by the nape of her jacket.

Mary smiled at him widely. "We've got a new citizen of Megaton. Our Barber, Mr. DeLoria." she said happily, obviously pleased with the hairstyle on her head. "What do you think sugar? Does it make me look good?"

John squinted his eyes at her dangerously, knowing his next few words could mean the end of him, figuratively. "No Mary, you make you look good. The hair looks nice though." he said coolly.

For the first time in a long time, he could have swore that he saw the woman's face turn slightly pink. But she hid it behind a cloud of smoke that she shot from her nose, like some kind of sexy dragon. "Thanks sugar." she said with a smirk.

"Now then..." said the wanderer, who held up the miniature greaser and eyed her. "First things first, you're getting rid of that hair style. Secondly, we need to talk." he said as he turned around and dragged the laughing girl out of the tavern. Taking one hand, he ruffled her hair, immediately destroying the slick Tunnel Snake look that Butch had given her, but leaving her with the short feathery look that was natural to her former avatar self. "Good grief, if ever there was a way to give me nightmares..." he growled at her, making her snicker again as he carried her like a cat by the back of the collar.

She kept her smirk as she began to walk next to him, "Where we going boss?" she asked, looking at the closed sign as they walked up to Craterside Supply. "Oh, why here?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Shut up and you'll find out." he said as he opened the door and nudged her inside. In front of them both was Moira, who stood sheepishly looking at them both, even after looking slightly surprised at the girl.

Elsa cocked her head to the side curiously, noting the bubbly woman's odd behavior. "What's up Magical Moira?" she asked.

"This is her?" asked Moira as she stepped forward and examined the girl with her usual curiosity. "Where'd she get it from?" she asked John. But when the wanderer cleared his throat, she backed away and resumed her nervous stare.

"Alright, what the hell is going on?" asked the fiery haired girl as she looked between the two as she crossed her arms in irritation.

"Elsa, there's something you need to know about Moira." said John, who got an odd, analyzing look from the girl. Reaching back, he pulled the patch from his pocket and tossed it to her. As she caught it, her robotic oculars began to scan the object in her hands. Made from a type of polymer that was heat resistant, sewn into a decorative form. No insignia or military association on it, no squad name, no nothing. The only sign of age was the wear on the leather back of the patch, which measured around 214 years old. The only other significance was that it was a uniform patch of a grey...

Immediately, the young woman's eyes widened, and her processors seemed to freeze. The implication wasn't really there. After all, the patch was nothing more than a cartoon character-like fox staring at her with mischievous eyes. But foxes, at least until they went extinct in America, were usually orange. This patch wasn't grey from age, it was intentionally colored that way. Immediately, Elsa's brown eyes shot up to Moira, as if seeing her in a new light. Holding up the patch, she asked simply, "Does this mean what I think it means?"

Moira nodded sadly. "It does. I was...am, Grey Fox." she commented, looking away as if ashamed.

But the woman was surprised to see the girl throw herself into her own arms. When she caught her, Elsa was already crying heavily. "I...I...I...I waited...so...long..." she squeaked between sobs as she hugged the woman. Moira hugged her tightly and stroked her red hair gently.

"I know...I'm so sorry..." she said, feeling her own tears starting to fill her eyes.

It was an emotional few minutes before the pair sorted themselves out again. And when they did, Elsa pulled away from Moira and looked at her in shock. Reaching up with both hands, she scrubbed her tears away and looked the woman up and down. "H-H-How are you still alive?" she asked incredulously.

Moira sighed, and even John took a step back in recognition of the implications. "The serum they gave me stopped my aging." she said. Both Moira and Elsa looked up at John.

"D-Does that mean...?" asked Elsa, asking John as if he held the answer.

"Oh god..." said the wanderer as he reached up and rubbed his head.

"I believe so, yes." claimed Moira, who held her arms defensively. "I believe you may have the same issue." she said, eyeing him with her own brown eyes.

The former vault dweller slumped down, sliding down against the wall until he was resting on his backside. "I...I didn't even think..." he said as he held his head in his hands.

"We don't know for sure though. That'll take extensive testing." said Moira, trying to give him some semblance of hope.

But John just stared at his hands. To have your friends fighting and dying next to you in war was one thing. But to outlive them all, to continuously experience the pain and loss of friends dying of old age while you stayed locked eternally in time was something entirely different. Just the thought made him want to reach for the pistol inside his jacket and end it right there. But that thought withered quickly as he saw the worried face of the girl in front of him. She reached down and offered him her hand.

"No worries. I'll be by your side the whole time." she said with a watery-eyed smile on her face. He gave her a small smile, then reached up and took her hand, using it to pull himself to his feet.

"I guess I'll have plenty of time to figure out how to reverse it, if we even can." he said, still stunned at the thought of being ageless. "In the meantime, at least we have someone on the case." he said, smiling up at Moira hopefully.

Suddenly, they were all startled by a knock on the door. "Hello?" asked Moira.

The door swung open and the tall figure of Sarah was standing in the door with an odd look on her face. "So...your friend was floating around outside the door. I thought that meant you were here, so I figured I'd check." she said, crossing her arms as she allowed herself inside. Behind her was floating the familiar figure of Liberty. But instead of the usual Enclave eyebot look that he'd had before, he looked to have had many changes made to his small orb-like body.

John glanced at the bot curiously. "Liberty? What happened to you?" he asked as he stepped forward and eyed the curious automaton.

"Oh...uh...that was me." said Moira sheepishly as she put her arms behind her back. They all looked at her as Liberty hovered next to the wanderer. "Well, despite the repairs you did on him, he still seemed to be missing a few pieces after the damage was done. So I upgraded him." she remarked.

Looking back at the bot, John tilted his head as he looked Liberty up and down. The frontal display now had a layer of glasteel shielding over it, protecting it from standard firearms. His normal propulsion jet had been replaced with a smaller one, but he also had four smaller ones all around it, allowing for much faster turning, as well as stabilization. And on either side of his frontal display were small metallic protrusions which looked to be some form of energy weapon. "Wow, those look like they pack a punch." said the gunman as he eyed the weapon placements.

"Yeah, his regular weapon was fairly weak because it ran off the same energy source as he did. But I detached those and added microfusion cells as a separate power source for his weapons, and I even upgraded them from your usual laser fire to plasma." she said cheerfully.

They stared at her dumbly for a moment. "Genetic manipulation, mechanical engineering, culinary arts, and robotic technology?" asked John with a knowing smirk. Elsa giggled as he shook his head.

"Hey, two hundred years is a long time. You learn to read a lot." she said with a small shrug.

"I hear that." grumbled Elsa.

"Wait...I'm sorry, did you just say two hundred years?" asked Sarah as she stared at the woman.

John sighed, then grabbed Sarah's arm. "You two, follow me." he said, patting the small floating robot on its new shiny chrome shell. The robot followed him, and Sarah was guided by his hand as he led them both out of the shop, before closing the door.

Elsa looked at the door, then back at Moira, cringing slightly. "That's one conversation I want no part of..." she said as she shook her head.

OoOoO

"Two hundred!?" asked Sarah incredulously as she stared wide eyed at the wanderer.

"Yeah..." remarked John, who had his arms folded in front of his chest.

"But...if she had the same serum you did...then..." she spoke, unable to finish her words as her expression fell.

"Yeah. Most likely." he said simply.

The woman rubbed her forehead in agitation as she looked at him as if she were analyzing him. After a long time staring, she finally huffed loudly before giving him a small smile. "Well, at least you'll stay cute for much longer." she said.

He chuckled at the remark, even if it didn't make him feel better. After a moment, he looked at the ground solemnly. "I know that was a lot to take in. Believe me, I just got the brief not that long ago." he said with a heavy sigh. "So...I understand if this...changes things." he said, giving a small nod to an odd citizen who passed by and bowed to him in a very peculiar fashion, with both hands together in front of him as if he were in prayer.

Placing her hand on one of her hips, she glared at him lightly. "You think I'm letting you off the hook that easily?" she asked. He gave her a surprised look as she smiled. Then she reached forward and pulled him against her. "We'll figure something out eventually. Until then, you're not getting away from me." she said, then grabbed his face and kissed him deeply.

He felt his face flush as he wrapped his arms around her strong form and kissed her back. After a moment, they pulled away and stared into each other's smiling faces. "Well, that wasn't what I was expecting." he said.

"Don't think much of me, do you?" she asked jokingly.

"Oh shut up." he commanded as he hugged her tightly, despite the awkward display that they were putting on for others.

 _"Creator Ronas, John."_ came the call from Liberty who was still floating only a few feet away.

The two looked over at the bot curiously. "I think that's the first time he hasn't called me a communist..." said the wanderer as he untangled himself from the woman and stared at the robot.

 _"This one received software upgrades from the one known as Brown, Moira."_ he said in his usual assistive robotic voice. "I can now socially discern between citizens of the wastes and the commie scum."

"I see. And I guess from the fact that you were floating outside Craterside Supply, that you needed to talk to me." he said, the statement sounding more like a question.

 _"_ **[ò_ó]** _Affirmative."_ he said, his facial display still showing his neutral face.

Sarah smiled and leaned forward, patting the floating orb on the head gently. "Hey little guy. Remember me?" she asked.

The bot's expression changed as he examined her. _"_ **[o_o]** _This unit remembers you. Sarah Lyons, Brotherhood of Steel Sentinel who rescued this one, and consort of the creator."_ he commented.

Sarah's eyes widened in anger as she stared at the robot. "Consort!?" she asked incredulously.

John grabbed the robot, as if trying to stifle his voice, but failed horribly. "It looks like Moira forgot to upgrade his vocabulary…" said the wanderer, trying to turn the remark into a joke. After a moment, Sarah calmed down, but she still eyed the robot with a death glare. The wanderer then turned to his mechanical companion and eyed him. "What was it you needed? Last I heard you took off as soon as you had your upgrades."

" _Before the one known as Moira upgraded my unit, my combat abilities had decreased by 40% after the encounter with the raider scum. Insufficient for combat, so this one asked her…"_

"Wait, you asked her? Yourself?" asked John curiously.

Liberty looked at the ground, surprising both of the humans. It looked like he was ashamed. _"_ **[._.]** _This unit wanted your permission before proceeding, but you had left once more. So, this…"_

"You can stop with the 'this unit'. Use the word 'I' Liberty. You've clearly become one of us." said John with a chuckle.

" **[ò_ó]** _As you wish creator. I made the decision to contact the odd woman in Craterside about upgrades. She obliged, and I got the capabilities I needed for my mission."_ said Liberty as he looked between the two.

"What mission would that be?" asked Sarah, oddly curious about the small robot.

" _This...I had noticed after the creator's capture that when the raiders had left, other armored units were following from far off. I did not recognize these units from any of my databases, and they wore armor similar to the Brotherhood, which I had very limited knowledge of."_

"Armored units that weren't Brotherhood?" asked Sarah.

" _Affirmative. They carried high powered plasma weapons, and they were following the creator all the way to the Battleship settlement. There was an ambush of Talon Company mercenaries waiting for you when you were emerging from a metro tunnel, but the armored units wiped them out without mercy before you exited. Their radio chatter alerted me that they were keeping Talon Company from assaulting you."_ stated the bot as he looked up at the wanderer.

John reached up and scratched his head. "They were protecting me?" he asked.

"If those armored units are who I think they are, then there's a lot more to this than we're seeing on the surface." said Sarah suspiciously.

"Wait...if they were protecting me, then why didn't they stop the supermutants? Or the Talon Company attack before we reached Rivet City?" he asked, crossing his arms inquisitively.

" _The unit had run into supermutants themselves and had to combat them as well. When they had finished, they had lost the lead they had on you and weren't able to reach the Talon Company squad you ran into before you reached the city. Their primary objective was to keep you alive while being unseen, so they could not intervene."_ finished the robot.

"So that's where you've been all this time? Hovering over my head and watching me?" asked John oddly.

Liberty stayed silent for a moment. _"_ **[¬_¬]** _You are not incorrect…"_ he said, his aggressive 'kill all commies' voice making his expressions all the more amusing.

"I think we need to be focusing on the fact that the Enclave is likely rolling out a red carpet for you." said Sarah, still eyeing the robot for his earlier verbal mishap.

"It might be the Outcasts as well…" said John as he scratched the scruff on his chin.

" **[ò_ó]** _Improbable. Outcast assistance in the past wouldn't require them to keep you from knowing of their presence. Even if only barely, you are on their 'do not shoot' list."_ remarked the automaton. The entire time the robot was speaking, he ignored John's social cues to be quiet. From shushing, to the lip zipping, to finally just giving up and holding a hand across his mouth. When the sentence was finished, a very clear, and very irritated throat clearing from Sarah could be heard.

"Did he just say, Outcast assistance in the past?" she asked, a dark glare on her face.

"Nope." said John as he grabbed the robot and ran back towards Moira's supply store.

She stared at him running, shocked, for a moment, then took off after him. "John Ronas! Get your ass back here!"


	69. Maggie the Mighty

OoO( 69 )OoO

"They betrayed us! They looked my father in the eye and turned their backs on us, and you helped them?" asked Sarah in outrage.

Back in Moira's shop, at the advice from the wanderer himself, the two hundred year old woman left them be. Elsa sat on the large workbench that was placed next to the door upstairs, staring at the large woman. John just stood before her, staring passively.

"I got their request for assistance over my pipboy. They said they needed someone with Vault-Tec technology to be able to open an underground weapon storage cache, and that if I assisted, I could have a portion of it." he remarked. Then tilted his head. "And keep in mind, this is before I really knew who the Outcasts or the Brotherhood of Steel were. And before I knew you." he finished.

Sarah growled in rage as her nostrils flared. Then she recomposed herself and stared at him. "The Outcasts are traitors to the Brotherhood of Steel. Anyone affiliated with them is automatically blacklisted from association with the Brotherhood!" she claimed, her voice holding more worry now than anger. "Do you know what that means?" she asked desperately.

Elsa chimed in from the side, her chin resting in her hand boredly. "It means that he would no longer be able to skin wrestle with you, seeing as you're practically the head of the Brotherhood's armored division."

Sarah glared at the girl, something she found herself doing more often than not. "It means, that the Brotherhood would no longer allow an alliance between themselves and you. And that means…"

"That they would keep us apart." sighed John as he facepalmed. Standing firm, John looked back up at her sternly. "While the Outcasts as a whole may or may not be traitors to the Brotherhood, and may even be the stuck up assholes you think they are, Specialist Olin, Defender Morrill, his men, and Protector McGraw were, and will be my allies until a time that they decide that I'm not worth their time anymore. They helped me, I helped them. If the Brotherhood decides that I'm not worthy of their assistance because I helped and saved the lives of some good people, then maybe they're not the paragons they'd like to think they are." he said sharply.

She'd heard the same speech from a couple of people over her career as a leader of the Brotherhood, and usually she responded with 'Then you aren't Brotherhood material.' in a dismissive manner and walked off. Despite brushing them off, it still stung to hear the words from her own people. But to hear it from him not only stung, but froze the wound as well. "You mean…?"

"You have the knowledge of my association with them now. What you choose to do with it is up to you. But I'm not going to ask you to choose me over your own people." he said, snorting sourly as he looked at the ground. "I'm not that much of an asshole. But the consequences are in your hands. I'm not any more a threat to the Brotherhood than Sheriff Simms out there, and I haven't had contact with them since. But if they asked for my assistance again, I would help them." he said firmly, despite his insides being in turmoil.

Sarah sat in a chair and rested her face in her palms, exasperated. "Why do you have to be so thick headed?" she asked, now more upset than anything.

"Because if I wasn't, you wouldn't have liked me as much." he said, a slight smirk returning to his face.

She gave him a venomless glare. "Why couldn't I just be blissfully ignorant of this?" she asked.

"Well, you pried it out of me. Not much I could do but tell the truth." he said with a shrug.

"Besides, would you rather he sprung it to you after you were both married?" asked Elsa, another bored look on her face, but this one tinged with irritation. "At least this way it's not 'til death do us part'."

"And Elsa." he mentioned, getting both of the girl's gazes locked on him. "She came from that same armory. If I hadn't gone to assist them, she'd likely either have been purged by the Outcasts, or left to suffer for God knows how long. And that's something I'll never regret doing."

Elsa's eyes widened immensely, before she turned away, feeling a hot blush creep over her artificial skin. Sarah knew about Elsa's rescue, she just hadn't been told about the details until now. She finally sighed and stood up. "I understand your side of it, but I'm the Sentinel of the Brotherhood of Steel. I'm the commander of its troops, and I can't lie to them."

"You wouldn't be lying about something they didn't ask about." said Elsa cheekily, who now had a playful smile on her face.

"So you think I should keep it from them?" she asked, glaring at the android girl.

"She's not asking you to do anything. And neither am I. The decision is yours in the end." said John, his face a mask of stone.

The tall woman walked over and began to bang her head against the metal wall of the shop, unknowingly scaring a few passersby who happened to be walking past the shop at the time. "Sometimes I hate being in charge…" she growled.

"That's why I usually avoid commitment to groups. The biggest commitment I have now is to this city and its people. And that isn't going to change anytime soon. But I also don't have someone telling me how I have to handle business." he said, then reached forward and rubbed her shoulder gently. "Sounds like the Brotherhood may not be the life you want to lead."

"It is my life…" she snapped, eyeing him harshly. Then her gaze softened. "My father is the Elder. What would it look like of I just shed the armor and walked off?"

John sighed, pained at her words. "Then use your leadership to influence them. As I said, I don't know about the other Outcasts, but the ones I met were good people who deserved respect." he said firmly, leaning against the wall within her view. She looked over at him, her sky blue eyes locking onto his nuclear green. "Perhaps you should meet them before condemning them."

She sighed heavily and turned to look at him firmly. "I'm not going to lie to the Brotherhood. They've been my family since I was born, and they always will be." she said, looking away sadly. "I'll...need time to think about your offer. In the meantime, unless you have some business with me, please leave me alone." she said, then opened the door.

"Sarah…" said John, but she ignored him and closed the door behind her. He stood there, his hand up as if reaching for her for a long moment, before it fell to his side, clenched into a fist. Sighing, he leaned his head back, as if looking into eternity. "If it's not superficial bigotry and psychopathy, it's social unrest. Nothing can ever be easy in this world." he growled.

Elsa looked at him wide eyed, then to the door that Sarah had just left. She wasn't really sure what had just happened. It was such a simple disagreement. An "I don't like the people you like." argument, so to speak. But it had apparently meant more to both of the two than either had previously let on. She looked from the door back to John, who had lowered his head again. She hopped off the workbench and sidled up to him, looking up at his face with her curious brown eyes.

He looked down at her, the innocent puppy face she was giving him making him flinch. She currently had a small smile on her face, with her eyes wide in wonder as she stared up at him. He looked away immediately. "Not now Elsa." he grumbled. But his words didn't faze her. She moved to his other side, forcing him to look at her adorable smile again. And finally he cracked. He began to chuckle, then reached up and ruffled her hair gently. She giggled, and hugged him tightly, which he returned with a relieved sigh. "You'll be here the whole time, huh?" he asked.

"Always." she said as she looked up at him, her smile now lighting the room.

OoOoO

When he walked out of the supply store, he groaned immediately, making Elsa giggle. Right in front of him was Poison, her hands on her hips and her foot tapping as if she had been waiting for him. But her smile lit up when she saw him. "And there he is." she said sweetly.

"What's up toots?" asked Elsa as the two stepped forward, another wastelander passing between them. This time, both John and Elsa gave the passing woman an odd look as she smiled brightly and bowed her head, her hands clasped in front of her, before turning and walking off.

Poison watched the woman go, then looked at the wanderer. "What the hell was that about?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." he said with a sigh as he turned to her.

"Anyway…" said the pink-haired woman as she turned back to him with a bright smile. "Ready to fulfill your end of the bargain?" she asked.

"I'm searching for my father, who went to another vault for information on something…" he said. Immediately, Poison's face changed from cheery to disgruntled. "Luckily, that happens to take us right in the direction of your goal. So there's no reason I can't hit two birds with one stone." he said with a huff.

Now smiling again, the raider queen nodded. "Glad to hear it. I thought I was going to have to drag you out there with me for a moment." she said, her hands playfully on her curvy hips. Looking up at his head, she nodded towards the tavern. "You were cuter with your hair short. Why not get it cut now that you have a barber?" she asked.

Unconsciously, he reached up and ran a hand through his long brown hair, which was now down to his shoulders. He grunted at her. "I guess I should…" he remarked as he looked towards the tavern.

"I dunno, I think you'd look weird." said Elsa who looked up at him oddly.

He just chuckled at her. "You're still new to the concept of hair is all. When it gets long, it gets in the way sometimes. That's why Sarah, Lana, and all of them wear theirs up in ponytails and buns most of the time." he said.

"She doesn't." said Elsa, pointing at the woman with the shockingly bright hair.

"That's because I'm fabulous darling." said the woman playfully as she ran a hand through and flipped the hair casually.

"Riiight." said Elsa, who rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, we're leaving in the morning. In the meantime, if you wanna stick around, I've got something special planned for a friend of mine." he said as he smiled at the form of Billy approaching.

"I'll be around. No worries." said the woman, who then winked at him and walked off in the direction of the tavern itself.

"Something special?" asked Elsa curiously.

He looked down at her with a smile. "Yeah, and I'd appreciate it if you'd be a part of it." he finished.

OoOoO

Entering Moira's shop again, he smiled at the woman. "It's about that time. Do you have it ready?" he asked curiously.

The woman clapped happily, her formerly chipper mood seeming to have returned in full. "Oh you bet yer boots it is!" she said cheerily as she ran into the back and dragged out what looked like a pile of scrapped armor, almost as effortlessly as if she were walking a dog. Elsa went wide-eyed for a moment, before she recalled that Moira had the same serum flowing through her that John did.

Looking down at the giant hunk of scrap metal, she raised an eyebrow. There was what looked like a giant battle axe with it. "And what is that?" she asked.

"That's your costume." he said with a smile. She looked up at him in shock.

"What?" she asked simply.

OoOoO

Billy Creel stood near the gates of Megaton later that night with Maggie at his side. He looked up at the moon in the darkened sky as he wondered what exactly he was doing here. Earlier, the wanderer himself had asked him to take Maggie to the front gates of the city for her birthday surprise. While he didn't divulge anything, he was still curious what he had planned. Looking over the city in front of him, he just chuckled as he saw people gathering on the catwalks, as if some show were about to start around the large bomb. He smiled down at the young girl who was looking at the people herself. She was currently wearing her hair up in pigtails and had a pair of stained, though clean overalls over a shirt. Ever the adorable girl, he lamented the day when she would no longer need him, and would make her own way in the world.

Suddenly, the doors behind him started to screech open loudly. Startled, Billy spun around and reached for his assault rifle, which unfortunately, was at home. His phantom reflex made him growl as he saw by light of a few barrel fires outside, some kind of monstrosity stomping towards them. When it finally stepped into the light, he took a step back, horrified. "What the fuck is that!?" he gasped as he looked the creature up and down. It shone like metal, as if it wore armor, but stood as large as a supermutant. Its hands were metal and clutching at a giant club that it dragged behind it laboriously. But the biggest horror was its head.

On top of its monstrous humanoid shoulders was a head unlike anything he'd ever seen before. It bore the head of a bull, with two large, metal, lethal looking horns that sat on top of what looked like a brahmin's single head with glowing eyes. From the neck down, it had plated steel looking armor that looked like it covered a massive body, and its arms looked as thick as tree trunks. Its hooved feet stomped into the city as he dragged a large sword across the ground carelessly, the ground even rumbling slightly with each massive step it took. In the dark, the creature looked demonic, as if a mutated brahmin had just entered the city looking for retribution. But, then it stopped. Turning to the pair, it let a loud snort out of its nostrils and stared at Maggie.

 _"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR! I EAT LITTLE GIRLS!"_ came a deep voice from the creature's mouth. Though Billy couldn't say he saw the monster's mouth move, he wasn't about to question it. Grabbing Maggie, he was about to take off towards towards the his own house, when he bumped into Simms. Maggie just stared wide eyed at the monstrosity, too in awe of the beast to even be afraid.

The Sheriff grabbed the man by the shoulders and spun him towards the center of town. "That's the way you wanna go." said the man with a knowing smile. Billy eyed him oddly, then slowly ran down the path, looking up at the people on the catwalks who were watching from above.

"What the hell is going on..." he said, then skidded to a halt in front of the bomb. His jaw nearly hit the floor as he looked in front of him and saw none other than his good friend John, dressed in a ridiculous outfit. He was completely topless, and wore his hair down to his shoulders. He had on a pair of leather gloves, leather boots, and what looked like a leather kilt that was held fast to his waist with a large belt. He even wore bands of cloth around each of his large biceps. But the most shocking of all was that over his shoulders, he held a giant axe, a weapon unlike anything he had ever seen except in Maggie's comics. The entire ensemble was oddly fitting for the muscular man. Finally, he chuckled to himself as the puzzle put itself together. "Hey Maggie, look who it is." he said, setting the girl down.

The young Asian girl turned to look at John and gasped loudly, her eyes wide in excitement. "Grognak!?" she asked.

"That's right young Princess!" said the wanderer as he leaned forward and smiled at her. "I heard there's a monster in the area. Could you point me towards the fiend?" he asked curiously.

Suddenly, a dramatic shriek from up the hill sounded, and the beast stomped its way down towards them. When it stepped into the light again, it had a woman, who happened to be Mary in a very regal looking dress, over its shoulder. Maggie immediately pointed towards the giant bull man. "There he is! Get 'em!" she shouted.

OoOoO

"How did I get talked into this?" asked Mary with a chuckle as she climbed up onto the shoulder of the giant costume, her lovely purple dress making that harder than it had to be.

From inside the heavy suit, Elsa assisted where she could. "You? Look at me! I have to puppet around a giant clunky Hallow's Eve costume while you just sit as dainty as a daisy on the shoulder." growled Elsa.

Mary smiled at her and knocked on the brahmin skull, which had tanned hide wrapped expertly over its surface to make it look like an actual minotaur-like beast. "You're the only one here who has the strength to move it." she said, getting a huff from the girl inside. "Now enough talking. You're supposed to be growling and roaring, remember?" asked the bartender.

"Yeah yeah..." mumbled Elsa as she began to stomp down the path that led directly to where John was waiting for them. When she got there, she immediately froze, her eyes locking onto his almost naked figure. Turning her head away inside the large helmet, she felt herself flushing. "I shouldn't even have a sex drive..." she groaned.

"You there! Unhand the lady, foul beast!" commanded John, who was now completely in character. Getting back into the role again, she altered her voice, which was only projected by the cone shaped device inside the muzzle that Moira had built in.

She shrugged off the woman, knowing that she could fend for herself, even in a dress, and glared at John. _"I am Bane Crimsonhoof! The eater of children, kidnapper of princesses...princess..princai?"_ she asked, almost inquisitively, then cleared her head and began again. _"Nobody commands the destroyer of all!"_ she shouted through the muzzle, which was amplified for those watching.

"So be it beast!" shouted the wanderer as he pulled the large axe off his shoulder and held it forward menacingly.

As Mary slid from the giant costume's shoulder, she fell directly into the arms of a familiar ghoul. Looking at him in surprise, she smiled gently. "You know I could have landed myself." she said.

"Didn't want your dress to get dirty." said the rad ravaged man as he turned and carried her away from the battle scene.

But he stopped, feeling his face heat up as he felt her pouty lips press to his temple gently. "Thank you sweetheart." she said after planting a kiss directly on the side of his head. He was sure that if he had any skin left, he'd be as red as her hair at the moment. Saying nothing, he continued to carry her away until they were far enough from the play that they were in no danger of getting in the way.

Much to Maggie's excitement, the battle had already begun. The giant minotaur had swung its large sword at the warrior, missing completely and thudding the dull blade into the ground. The heavy attack sent the sand and dust scattering, but the barbarian was already back on the offensive. Elsa jerked the large sword up fast enough to block a glancing blow from his axe.

Sarah, who had stayed in the wanderer's house for most of the day came outside to see what all the noise was about. As she leaned on the railing, she spotted all the people of the town watching the center and began wondering what exactly was going on. Then her eyes widened, and her face flushed immediately when she saw the revealing barbarian costume that John was wearing. Soon, her blush, turned into a chuckle at the antics of the two clashing their weapons and dodging one another. "Get him in the back!" shouted the small girl on the sidelines. Sarah looked over at the girl curiously. She recalled someone mentioning a birthday party for a girl today. She had to guess that was her.

Then her eyebrow cocked as she looked back at John, who was already sweating from exertion as he dodged and swung the giant axe as if it were made of wood. "Is this for her?" she asked curiously as she looked back at the girl, who looked to be the most excited one in the whole town. She smiled gently, her edges softening once more. Regardless of earlier, regardless of the two of them, he would be a good father one day. She just continued to watch with a happy grin at the spectacle.

"Ugh...this thing sucks." complained Elsa quietly as she spun around, swinging the sword in a slash that was once again dodged. Or so she thought. This time, the sword impacted metal. To her surprise, John had blocked the attack with his axe this time. But despite the heavy metal bouncing off the axe handle, he let go of the weapon and threw himself backwards dramatically.

Landing in front of the young girl, he coughed. Maggie gasped and knelt next to him. Looking up at her, he took her hand. "He's...strong. You must...defeat him..." he said in a raspy voice.

"Me?" she asked in shock.

"Her?" asked Billy, a look of consternation on his face.

"Of course! You're Maggie the Mighty! The strongest of us all!" he said as he pulled up a small, but blunted sword and put it in her hand.

Elsa chuckled inside her suit as she saw what was happening through the open mouth of the bull head. Then, with her altered voice, she shouted, _"Time to die barbarian!"_ The massive hoof took one step towards the warrior, but stopped when Maggie stood in front of him, a nervous glare on her face.

John stood up next to Billy, a smile on his face. "I don't know about this man...she could get hurt." said the eye-patched man as he watched the girl stand off against the mythical figure.

"Don't worry, Elsa knows what she's doing." said the man as he playfully elbowed his friend.

 _"You want to fight now princess?"_ roared the beast as it stood in the light of the many lamps that hung from the catwalks.

"I'm no princess! I'm Maggie the Mighty!" shouted the young girl, who then ran forward and swung the sword at the metal armored figure. As soon as Elsa felt the tiny impact against the suit, she hurled herself backwards, resulting in her crashing into the ground with a loud thud. Maggie looked at the creature in shock, then looked down at her own hands.

Getting up again, slowly this time, Elsa held the spot that had been hit. _"How...can she be...so powerful?"_ she asked in her gruff, altered voice.

"Take off it's head! It's the only way!" shouted John from the side.

Maggie, now with confidence overflowing, smiled at the monster. "Suffer my wrath!" she shouted, her sword raised. She ran forward again and swung the sword directly at the beast's neck. Elsa, seeing the attack coming, ducked her head down and detached the helmeted piece. As soon as the sword contacted the leathery neck, the creature's head went toppling over on the ground. In one last dramatic move, the android girl fell backwards, the armored costume now headless. The girl stared at the fallen foe in awe as the people all over the catwalks, and those watching from the ground began clapping loudly for her.

John stepped forward, then picked the girl up and sat her on his shoulder. "Hooray for Maggie the Mighty! Savior of Megaton! Slayer of the Minotaur!" he shouted. The young Asian girl looked around, her eyes wide as she saw everyone cheering for her, shouting and repeating her new hero name.

"Mighty Maggie! Mighty Maggie! Mighty Maggie!" shouted the citizens.

After a few more moments, John set her down. He was smiling brightly at her, until that is, he saw tears streaming down from her eyes. "Maggie? What's wrong?" he asked curiously. The girl looked up at him, her lip quivering, then threw her arms around his neck.

Sniffling heavily, she squeezed him tightly. "Th-Thank you..." she squeaked. "This is the best birthday I've ever had."

Extremely moved by the show of affection, he hugged her back gently. "I'm glad you liked it." he said to her quietly as the masses began to disperse. "But the surprise isn't over yet." he said with a cheeky grin. She pulled away, scrubbing her eyes clean of tears before looking up at him again.

"It's not?" she asked. He merely shook his head, then pulled a satchel out from behind him.

"Your reward for saving Megaton." he said, then handed it to her.

Still sniffling, the girl took it and opened it up. When she looked inside, she squealed excitedly. Inside were dozens of comics, from Silver Shroud, to Grognak, to Scott Vagrant, to Boltron. There were even three issues of her favorite comic, MegaGirl. Once again, she lunged forward and hugged him tightly. "Thank you!" she shouted.

He chuckled as he lifted her again, hugging her back and carrying her back over towards Billy. "No need to thank me. I managed to nab my old collection when I returned to the Vault. So now they're all yours." he said. John looked up at Billy, whose face could have powered the city with how bright he was smiling. "Happy birthday kiddo." he finished, setting her down next to the man again.

Elsa, who had managed to sneak free from the costume during the cheering walked up to the wanderer with a dark look on her face. "Never ask me for favors ever again." she growled at him, getting only an amused smirk in return.

"Wow! That was exciting!" shouted Moira who came bounding up from where she was watching on the side. "How about a picture for the memories?" she asked, pulling a camera up that she had been holding behind her back.

John eyed the contraption curiously. "It actually works?" he asked.

"Oh, cameras are easy to fix if you know how." she said, never losing her cheery smile. The wanderer looked over at Elsa, who shrugged, then to Billy, who nodded.

Smirking, the temporary barbarian turned back to Moira. "Alright then." he said. The group situated themselves according to Moira's instructions. Elsa dragged the horned creatures head over and set it out front as a centerpiece. Maggie stood with one foot on the trophy, with her sword stuck into the ground. John and Billy both knelt down beside her, and Elsa, not being that tall in the first place, just bent over behind the girl, her face the only thing visible to the camera.

When she was finally happy with everyone's position, the supply store clerk held up the camera. "Alright! Everybody say gouda!" she said.

"What?" asked Billy, who looked over at the wanderer.

OoOoO

Entering the tavern, the picture was the first thing you'd see across the bar besides the actual bartender. In the middle was the bull head with Maggie standing over it proudly, holding the hilt of her sword with a look of triumph on her face. To her right, Billy had a confused look on his face as he looked over at the wanderer for answers, while John had his face buried in one hand as if he had just slapped himself. Over the short Maggie's head was Elsa, who was smiling brightly, and giving both of the men in the picture a pair of bunny ears each.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Butch:** Hey...uhhh...the author wanted you guys to know that they can't respond to reviews if you're not signed in. Whatever that means.

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** ~sighs~ You had one job, Butch...


	70. Dinner Party

OoO( 70 )OoO

"So, how's it feel?" asked Butch as he leaned against the counter behind him.

The wanderer reached a hand up and ran his fingers through his now short hair. As per usual when he was younger, the hair spiked backwards naturally, giving him somewhat the same look he had when he was fresh from the vault. "Feels...odd. But comfortable." he said, then looked at Mary who had watched the whole cutting process from next to the door. "How do I look? He didn't do anything funny, did he?" he asked playfully.

"You look like a virgin again." she said with a predatory smile.

He gave her a stern look. "Gee, thanks." he said, brushing a few stray strands from his shoulder.

"I don't know, I like the look." came the sing-song voice of Poison, who was now standing in the door. "Makes you look fresh."

His glare then shifted to her. "Both of you are animals." he said, giving them a friendly smile before standing up from Butch's temporary barber's chair. "Ready to finally get out of here?" he asked as he looked at the pink-haired woman.

She smiled and nodded solemnly. "Ready when you are."

"'Ey girly. Before you go, I wanted a word with you." commented Butch, whose eyes were locked directly on Poison. Both Mary and John looked at the man oddly, then at each other.

Poison cocked an eyebrow curiously at Butch. "Alright…"

Immediately, the wanderer began scooting towards the door before sliding out and back into the tavern proper. "Yeah...that's none of my business." he said as Mary followed him out. She chuckled at him as she took up her place behind the bar.

Gob took a look at the man and nodded. "I heard you finally got a lead. Heading out now?" he asked as he attempted to clean the bar.

"Yeah. The Brotherhood footed me the direction he went, so I'm going to go there and find out why he has yet to come back. Here's hoping he lost track of the time." he said with an uncomfortable tone of voice.

"I get ya boss. Just be careful out there. Especially around that foundry. Nothing but nasty all over that place." he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll see if I can't get out of there without anymore broken pieces." he said with a sour chuckle, knowing he was stepping into the jaws of a bear trap.

"And if you need, for whatever reason, to go inside that place, use these." said the ghoul bartender as he tossed something towards the man. "Your goggles may help, but I can still see your eyes clear through them if I look right at you."

John reached up and caught the small package, then looked at it curiously. It was a pair of thick, mirrored, sunglasses. The surface of them reflected his face almost perfectly as he stared into them. "Where'd you get these?" he asked curiously, a bit awed by the shades.

"Wolfgang stopped by a few days back. I looked through his stuff and he had those. Hadn't seen an intact pair in a while, so I got them. Now, you probably need them more than I do." said the gravelly voiced man.

John smiled at him and donned the mirrored sunglasses expertly. "Thanks Gob. I appreciate anything that can keep me out of trouble." he said, looking over as Poison exited the barber shop. "Ready to go?"

She had an odd smile on her face as she nodded. "Ready. Let's get going before it gets dark. I'd like to put some ground behind us before we have to settle down." she said.

OoOoO

A little under twenty minutes later, the group was standing at the gates, waving off their friends and comrades. Poison stood ready at the gates as John and Elsa said their goodbyes to Billy, Maggie, Sheriff Simms, and a few new faces who simply walked up and bowed to the gunman curiously. Charon and Sarah stood to the side, both awkwardly new in the city. Once the goodbyes were said however, the group turned to the open doors and left the city once more, with the large gates screeching closed behind them.

As soon as they exited the city, the small eyebot, Liberty, swooped down from over the wall and began hovering at the gunman's side as they walked, armed to the teeth, into the wastes. John looked over at the bot expectantly. "Decided to tag along?" he asked.

" **[ò_ó]** _The mission is not finished. I feel completion is imminent, and would not hesitate to find out who is following you, and why."_ said the small bot as he continued floating next to him. _"When we reach situations of potential hostility, I will ascend out of visual range to get a better vantage point."_

"I guess that's a yes?" asked Sarah with a shrug of her power armored shoulders.

John just chuckled as they trekked ahead, past the small settlement of Springvale. After another hour of trudging the wastes, John had started to notice that his android companion had been silent for most of the trip. Looking down at her, he noticed a look of contemplation on her face. "What's up?" he asked curiously as he elbowed her gently.

"Something odd was going on in Megaton…" she said, turning her brown eyes up and locking them with his mirrored glasses.

"You noticed that too huh?" he asked, his thoughts going back to the strange people who constantly bowed to him, as if he were some Chinese imperial.

"Yeah, but not just them." she said waving his statement off. "Aside from the nutbars bowing to you, the entire time we were there, I didn't once see Cromwell at the bomb. Nobody else from the church either." she said.

The wanderer scratched his chin curiously. "Now that you mention it, I think you're right. I didn't see anyone praising the bomb at all." he claimed inquisitively. "You don't think he got sick, do you?"

She shrugged. "Can't say. I didn't look too much into it because we were getting ready to leave when I actually noticed. But I'd say two odd occurrences in one city is reason enough to investigate when we get back." she said with determination in her voice.

"Right." said John as he looked forward. His mind was nagging at him for a long moment before his eyes shot over to Poison. "Speaking of missing people, I noticed when I visited you that most of your crew weren't there."

She smiled at him smartly before holding her hands behind her back. "Observant of you."

"Where are they all?" he asked.

"Where I put them." she said with a defiant smirk.

He glared at her sternly. "You're not going to make me regret trusting you, are you?" he asked.

"I would never do that." she said, shoving him playfully. "Just trust that they are where they need to be right now."

He glared at her for a second longer, wondering whether his faith in the woman would be justified, or whether he'd find himself at the end of her gun barrel. Pushing the thoughts aside, he set his eyes forward.

OoOoO

By the time the sky had passed the sun towards the far horizon, the group saw a small landmark ahead of them. Lifting his glasses, the wanderer saw the familiar silhouette of a Red Rocket gas station against the darkening sky. Deciding that it would be better for them to get some rest before trying to infiltrate the biggest raider encampment in the Capital Wasteland, they began heading towards the small station immediately.

As he did when approaching any potentially dangerous situation, John slid his goggles over his eyes and activated his VATS system. And much to his annoyance, there were five shining green silhouettes showing near the diner. Four stood as if talking to one another, while one sat further away from the others near what appeared to be the lit up form of a brahmin. "Looks like we got company. Let's make sure they're not going to start shooting us before they know we're here." said John as he tapped Poison and Elsa on the shoulders. "You two come with me, the rest of you stay here. We'll let you know if we need backup."

Elsa reached back and pulled the gauss rifle off her back, making sure the microfusion round was secure in its chamber before nodding. Poison simply held her well known pistol down and ready. He stared at her a moment before shaking his head, wondering if he was every going to find out where she hid the weapon. Turning towards the potential rest stop, he slowly began to move towards the gas station and diner. As soon as they were within range, all three of them ducked down behind one of the burned out cars parked at the stop.

Tapping Elsa's shoulder again, he pointed at his eyes, then the unknown figures, who were slightly visible in the dying light of the day. She nodded, then popped her head up in the window of the car where she could get a view of them. Holding the gauss rifle up, she looked through the scope, using both her magnified vision and the scopes lense to assist her in assessing the situation. After a full minute, she finally popped back down. "It looks like a trader bartering with some wastelanders. They have weapons, but weren't arguing."

"Alright. I'll go ahead and step out first. If they fire on me, you both know what to do." Both of the females smirked, tightening their grips on their respective weapons. He shook his head and chuckled at their eagerness, stepping out from behind the car and stepping towards the group. It only took a few steps before he was halted by a warning shot from the trader.

The merchant, obviously a woman from her voice, called out to him. "Do you have business here?" she asked.

He felt that there was something oddly familiar about the threatening voice, but pushed it aside. Raising his hands higher so she could see his surrender, he called out to her. "Just looking for a place to rest!"

After a few moments with no response, she finally shouted back, "Alright, come on over!" Doing as she bid, he began walking forward, his hands still raised in a sign of peace. Finally close enough to see the others, he merely saw a few wasters in leather armor, all three of them with weapons in their hands.

The trader however, was a small woman that wore leather armor as well, and brandished a hunting rifle that was aimed directly at him. He examined her briefly. Short-ish, traces of blonde hair under her ball cap, and arms that were toned and tanned from lugging equipment across the wastes and pedaling it out to the people. "Is this how you always approach potential customers?" he asked curiously, trying to lighten the mood.

He couldn't see her face under the bill of the cap that was pressed against the butt of the rifle, but he saw her smirk lightly. "Only ones I know." she said cheekily. He stared at her in surprise for a moment, before the woman lowered the rifle, then reached up and pulled her ballcap off. "Been a long time, John." she said, smiling back at him from behind green eyes. He stared at her dumbly for a moment, before he registered the bright blonde ponytail, the green sparkling eyes, and the same smile that had smiled at him from Megaton.

"Lucy?" he asked incredulously, right before she dove forward and hugged him tightly.

OoOoO

Elsa and Poison looked on in stark disbelief as they saw the merchant dive at the wanderer and hug him. Immediately, Elsa's eye began to twitch. "What the hell?" she asked, getting a look of similar confusion from Poison. "That's it!" she growled as she stepped from behind the car and began power walking up to the group.

Immediately, the three wasters raised their weapons, but John moved into their view, blocking them from firing. "Wait wait! She's with me!" he said, holding his hands up. "I've got a few more too, so cool off for a moment." he commanded. He didn't intend to sound authoritarian, but the three wastelanders obeyed as if he had just threatened them, very disgruntled looks on their faces.

When Elsa finally reached them, she had a sour look on her face as she looked at the blonde woman, who had stepped away from John. "Who the hell do you…" she yelled, then stopped when she actually recognized her. "Wait…what?" she asked, looking over at John.

"Your guess is as good as mine." he said to her, shrugging.

"Awww, she's cute." said Lucy excitedly as she took Elsa by the shoulders and began examining her. "When did you meet her? How long have you two been together?" asked the giddy woman.

Elsa immediately turned her head away, her cheeks burning from the questioning. "Uhhh...let's just get everyone out in the open so we can talk without more gun pointing." said John, who turned and lifted his pipboy. "Liberty, green light. Bring them all down." he said, then turned to the others. All three of the wasters, two men and one woman looked at him as if he were making them uncomfortable with his presence.

Soon, everyone was present in front of the diner aside from Liberty, who opted to stay hidden, and introduced to the merchant woman. Still, the three wasters stayed silent as they clutched their weapons. John glared at them, making them look away, before taking the small blonde woman by the arm and leading her out of earshot. "What's up?" she asked happily.

"I don't like the look of those three. Who are they?" he asked, trying to keep from staring at him.

"Oh, those three? You won't have to worry about them for long." she said, then slugged his thick armored pec with her fist. "Really? It's been so long since we've seen each other and that's what you ask about?" she asked, pouting with mock offense.

He chuckled at her. "Sorry, I've just grown very wary of people giving me the stink eye." he said, putting thoughts of them aside. "How have you been?"

"Great actually. Turns out that stuff you taught me back in Megaton was a skill that Arefu needed sorely. So, I started fixing weapons. Then people started swarming to me with other stuff to fix, so I just made a shop out of it." she said, smiling up at him.

"And from there, you bought a brahmin and turned into a trader?" he asked, eyeing her curiously as they walked back to the group. "How did you make that leap?"

"Well, let's just say that your friends from Seneca Station made an offer I couldn't refuse." she said cheerily. "I'll tell you about it in a little bit. Right now, let's settle down. The sun is about gone and I don't want us out in the open." she said as she tugged on his sleeve, as well as Elsa's. Pulling the two into the diner, the others followed, but not without a curiously annoyed look from Sarah.

"Hey, I think we're gonna hit the road." said one of the male wasters as they stood at the door, clearly uncomfortable with entering.

Lucy turned to them with a frown, crossing her arms over her armored chest. "Really? You were just talking about making me dinner with all the meat you just got. What's wrong?" she asked.

Immediately, red flashing alarms went off in John's head. And from the looks on his companions face, they were getting the same alerts. The wastelander who spoke before reached up and scratched the back of his head as the sun finally sunk behind the horizon, leaving the landscape in darkness. "We...uhhh...we just, don't have enough for everyone. So it's probably best if we just go." said the man nervously.

"Well, that's a shame. After all, I was really interested in hearing all the stories about how you've been hunting stray wastelanders while trying to feed me human flesh." said the blonde girl with a perky smile on her face. Everyone in the diner immediately went wide-eyed at the claim. But Lucy never lost her eerie smile. "Say hi to my brother on the way out." she said, turning to John. He looked down at her worriedly, then back up at the three wasters, who now had looks of sheer shock and anger on their faces. One reached for his weapon, but he didn't get a hold on it before he was jerked back into the darkness.

Sarah pulled her laser rifle off her back, followed quickly by Charon and Poison. But both John and Elsa, held them at bay as a blood-curdling scream blasted from the darkness around them. The female waster turned and began firing her assault rifle into the darkness blindly. "What the fuck is this!?" she shouted, firing again. But then she was swept away as well, shrieking in horror as the others stared off into the dark night in horror. The last of the wasteland cannibals backed into the diner, his gun aimed out at the night. But he stopped when he felt the barrel of a pistol pressed to the back of his head.

"P-Please...mercy..." pleaded the man.

Lucy smiled at him playfully. "It's weird hearing it come from your own mouth for a change, isn't it?" she asked, almost mockingly. "You made your bed, now lie in it." she said, then put a foot up and kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling out into the darkness. As soon as he landed, he too could be seen being dragged into the darkness of the night by some unseen force. It wasn't long before his own screams died on the night winds. "So, who's ready for some actual food?" she asked in a chipper tone that gave John chills.

OoOoO

"No thank you. I don't think I'm ever going to eat again." commented Sarah as the girl passed her a plate of brahmin steak. Lucy frowned, but nodded. Every since he'd entered the small diner, he eyes never left the figure of Ian West. He wore no armor, just a dark shirt, and a matching pair of multi-pocketed pants, usually used for scavving. His belt was decorated with many things, from knives, to pouches of who knew what, to even a small axe at his side. He was tall and sturdy built, muscle showing from his short sleeves.

Ian had grown immensely since the last time the wanderer had seen him. His lankiness filled out into what he could only describe as a force to be reckoned with, and his mop of unkempt, sandy blonde hair now flowed down to his shoulders. And instead of the look of insecurity he seemed to always wear when he was a child, he now wore a confident smile. "So...you've...changed." said John, looking him over once more.

"I could say the same thing about you. The last time you saw me, I don't believe you were looking at me with such colorful eyes." commented the young man.

"Yeah...I suppose not." said John in amusement. "So...this whole thing with those guys was..." he began to ask, but Lucy politely cut in for him.

"Our new job." she said happily. "That offer too good to refuse was one I'd been waiting for." she said as she handed the gunman the plate instead. "I love Arefu, but the whole reason I left was because I wanted to see what else was out there. And the Family gave us that chance."

"So they approached you and offered you a job hunting down and killing cannibals?" asked John incredulously, taking the plate, but not touching the food.

"Not exactly. My job title is to sell the wares of Arefu around the wasteland to bring in some money for all the new citizens that have made their home there. But, we were encouraged to pursue any cases of their kind..." said the blonde girl as she sat across from the wanderer, leaning back against the wall. "And to pay them in kind."

"So, this Family what...drinks blood? And you're hunting cannibals?" asked Sarah, slightly irritated at the new revelation.

"Of course. The Family gets their blood from the donors in Arefu. In return, the Family protects the town from raiders, wasteland wildlife, and any other kind of undesirable." said Lucy smartly.

"Yeah, except that I just saw first hand that not all of them do get it from donors." said Sarah, who was now eyeing Ian nervously. Despite being tamed by John, she still held her laser rifle in her hands.

"I make you uncomfortable." said Ian. It wasn't a question, just a known fact. "It's understandable. Most of our kind, even to those we protect, aren't found as good company. But I can assure you that I'm no threat to you."

"Forgive me if I don't exactly take your word for it." she snarked at the young man, getting a 'what are you gonna do?' shrug from him.

"Oh please, Princess." came the gravelly voice of Charon.

She looked over at him studiously. "You disagree?"

"Of course I do." said the ghoul as he sharpened a combat knife against a whetstone. "Ghouls get blamed everyday for the kind of thing those scum out there do. Where are your tears for us?" he asked.

"I'm not shedding tears for..." she began to defend herself. But the ghoul cut her off.

"Sure you are. Someone who happens to need to drink blood is out taking out cannibals and raiders, and you have an issue with the method he does it. Tell me, what kills someone more? Having their throat ripped out? Or a bullet to the head?" he asked. But before she could even respond, he answered his own question. "The answer is neither. They're both just as dead. So, what makes you any different from him in your regard for raiders and cannibals?" he asked sharply.

Sarah glared at the ghoul, then crossed her arms over her chest. She apparently had finished arguing. But, at the very least, her hands were no longer on her gun. "Sooo...anyway..." cut in John, who was desperately trying to change the subject. "Where are you all headed next?" he asked curiously.

"We were actually making our way east. We just stopped to sell some stuff to a couple of cooks out at Girdershade, and were making our way back towards Megaton to visit. It was a pretty big coincidence to see you walking up the road back there." she said happily.

"Yeah, at least you didn't give me the same welcome that Evan King gave me." said the wanderer as he rubbed his neck, remembering the trigger happy man lobbing a grenade at him when he first approached Arefu.

Lucy giggled at him. "No worries. Every since the family took over guarding the city, Evan retired. Now he just sits on the overpass and watches the wastes. He says you were probably the best thing to happen to our city in a long time, even if you did 'belt me a good'un'." she said, using air quotes.

John chuckled himself, and even Elsa smirked. From her vantage point, it was interesting hearing about the man before he had rescued her. When she first made her new home on his pipboy, she noticed a few markers in his DNA from addiction. Later, she found out about the situation with Med-X that he'd found himself in, but that was long after the serum that had soaked into every fiber of his being had found and stamped out the addiction markers, leaving him a free man again. She looked over at Poison, who until that point had stayed silent, taking in all the new information. The pink-haired woman was staring at Ian as if she were devouring him with her eyes. From her experience, which was very limited, it wasn't sexual in any way. But more inquisitive in a manner.

Finally, the raider queen snapped out of her stupor and spoke up, a smile on her features as she did. "Well, one of these days, you all will have to stop by Evergreen Mills on one of your routes."

Lucy looked at her with a questioning glance. "Why would we stop there? It's a raider's paradise from what I've heard."

Poison nodded. "Well, you'll be hearing something different soon enough." she claimed as she stretched out and made herself comfortable on one of the mats that Lucy had laid out for them. "Now, if you all wouldn't mind shutting up, a girl has to get her beauty sleep."

John chuckled at the woman and nodded to Lucy. "I guess that's our cue to get some rest."

"I'll keep guard." said Ian as he stood up and smiled at the wanderer. "It was good to see you again. Hopefully the next time we meet, it won't be shortly after a dinner party." he said, then looked at the others. "It was nice to meet all of you." he said, his eyes lingering on Sarah a moment longer than the others, then turned towards the door. "And don't worry about shifts. I'm a night owl." he said jokingly, then left the diner, seemingly vanishing into the night.

"Way to put my mind at ease." said Sarah sarcastically as she leaned back against the wall. Her power armor stood in the corner like a silent sentinel watching over them all, leaving her in her Brotherhood jumpsuit.

"Don't worry Chicken Little, I'll protect you from the scary monster." commented Elsa. The Sentinel glared at her, getting a raspberry in return. "I don't sleep anyway, so get some rest. I'll watch the watcher."

Despite her constant irritation at the small redhead, the blonde woman felt more at ease knowing that the android with the gauss rifle was watching over her in her sleep. She sighed and laid on the mat next to her armor. As she laid there, she couldn't help her eyes immediately going over to John, who had made himself comfortable on the opposite side of the diner. He had apparently needed more rest than her, as he was already breathing deeply, the first sign of having fallen asleep.

Despite her constant state of emotional turmoil over the last few days, she couldn't help but look him up and down. His armor rested next to him, as well as his decorated pistol, assault rifle, and the baton he usually carried with him. He was now on his back on the mat, the moonlight hilighting his hair, face, and defined chest, even under the black shirt he wore. After staring at him across the diner from her, she realized that for the first time since she had closed the door to Craterside Supply, she felt more alone now than she ever had before.


	71. Sand Rat's Sietch

OoO( 71 )OoO

Strange. It had been a while since he'd had one of the unusual dreams, and this one wasn't even vaguely sexual. A while back when he'd began having an unusual amount of dreams of his female companions, it was inherently for one reason. Frustration. This time however, it was unusually surreal. He was still in the diner, the others were still around him, yet out of nowhere his fiery-haired young android friend came over and laid her head on his chest, humming quietly. Nothing else.

He was unsure if hugging her counted as being unfaithful, but at the moment, her arms around him, assuring him things would be alright was the only thing in the world he needed. So he did. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed gently, not wanting to snap her in half, if he was even capable of that on his own. They laid like that together until finally he shifted from the dream world into reality. Dawn had broken on the horizon, and like clockwork his eyes snapped open. When he looked up, he could see Elsa staring off at the horizon in a contemplative manner. Slowly he sat up and looked at her oddly as everyone else continued sleeping.

Looking over at him, she smiled gently. "Morning sleepyhead." she said playfully. He stared at her curiously for a moment, which didn't go unnoticed by the android. "What is it?"

"Elsa...did you…?" he asked, unsure of what to really ask her. Would she really tamper with his dreams again just to hug him throughout the night? "I...had a dream last night. Did you...you know…" he said, tapping the pipboy on his left arm.

She cocked an eyebrow at him before his meaning dawned on her. She grew a Cheshire smile on her face. Leaning forward, she quietly asked, "Were you dreaming about me?"

He gave her a playfully stern look, also trying not to wake the others. "Yes, but not the same kind as last time." he said pointedly, getting a disappointed chuckle from her.

"Of course I didn't. I have a body now, so if I wanted to tinker with you I'd do it for real." she said, then looked away with her cheeks tinted red slightly. "Lucy stayed up later than you all last night. And after you passed out, she noticed you were having some kind of fitful dream. So…" she said, avoiding his searching gaze. "She suggested something that she did back in Megaton when you were having nightmares."

He stared at her a long moment, not getting a clear answer, before asking promptly, "And that was?"

"I just comforted you, and sang to you. Sorta...I guess it's not singing if there are no words." she said as she scratched her head inadvertently. "Anyway, you almost immediately calmed down, so I suppose it worked a lot better than I originally gave it credit for." she said.

"Oh...well...thank you." he said, unsure how he should really feel about the situation. He didn't really recall any nightmares, but then again he didn't recall most dreams he had unless they were circumstantially special. "Was I really having a nightmare?" he asked curiously.

"I don't really know. Whatever was going through your head, it wasn't particularly pleasant." she said, relieved to get away from the subject of her soothing him.

The gunman rubbed the rest of the sleep away with his face in his hands, then stood up and stretched. Almost immediately, he noticed that Lucy was outside, tending to her brahmin, and Ian was nowhere to be seen. Turning to the android, he picked up his armor and began to don it again. "Go ahead and get everyone moving again. We're leaving soon." he said, then went to talk to the blonde girl.

OoOoO

After an hour, everyone was up and ready to get moving once more. Even Liberty stopped in for a visit, and was not currently hovering next to the door of the diner. Sarah, currently in her power armor, and Charon were being looked over curiously by the wanderer. The blonde titan looked back at him, returning the curious look. "What is it?"

"In order to get inside, we have to be as unnoticeable as possible. I think I'm going to have you be our bird's eye." he said scratching his chin.

"A sniper? Wouldn't she be better suited for that?" asked Sarah, not really offended by the remark, but found it an odd choice.

"Normally yes, but in this case, she's going to be going in with me and Poison. She's a lot less conspicuous than you are I'm afraid. Power armor or not." he said, locking his eyes to hers.

Trying to take a page from his book, she just smirked at him, suppressing the sting from the fact that her unusual size made her more noticeable. She placed the back of her armored hand against her forehead dramatically. "Oh woe is me who can't go unnoticed for her beauty." she said jokingly. And much to her surprise, John actually laughed, making her feel better inside.

"It's the first thing I noticed." he said smartly, before turning to Charon and relayed the same order to him. She felt her cheeks flush slightly, but coughed it away.

After a few moments more, the gunman then turned to Lucy with a smile. "Well, it was...odd, seeing you again. But not bad."

She giggled and slugged his armored chest again. "Of course not. Hopefully we'll see you around more often. Maybe I can teach you a few things about repairing your armor and weapons." she said, giving him a cheeky grin.

Placing his hands on his hips, he smiled at her playfully. "Is that right?" he asked.

"Yep!" she claimed, then took a step closer so that the others couldn't hear. "Take care of her. She's a good girl, and she really does love you." said the blonde trader before she spun on her heel and went back to her brahmin. He watched her go for a moment longer, then turned to his own party. Poison, Sarah, and Elsa were all chatting amiably as the android girl taught the power armored woman to use the magnetic gauss rifle.

His eyes locked onto Sarah, who currently was wide-eyed as she stared at the advanced weaponry. She had used it before, but she had only picked it up and fired it like a regular gun. To actually learn what she had in her hands amazed her. He stared over her beautiful features curiously. Then he looked over at excited form of Elsa, completely decked out in leather armor and showing off the weapon eagerly. Lucy had been told privately about his current status, so he wasn't sure which of the two she was talking about. Sighing, he put the thought out of his head and approached the group after noticing that Charon had an annoyed, bored look on his face.

OoOoO

" _I'm in position. I can see clearly all the way down to the giant...arena thing?"_ came the voice of Sarah over his pipboy.

" _I too have a vantage point. If assistance is needed, I will intervene."_ said the rough voice of Liberty over the computer.

"Alright. Us three are going to go ahead and go inside as casual as possible. Hopefully nobody will be too suspicious." he said as he flexed his limbs. Elsa stared at him curiously, and Poison just had a small smile on her face. He wasn't sure if she was planning something, or if they were going in blind. But regardless, she seemed more at ease than he did for walking into a pit of snakes.

"It's best if we split up when we get inside. Learn what you can about the Blood Hounds, and remain unseen. We'll regroup at the entrance after we've either run out of options, or found the information we need. Let's keep it to two hours. And remember, there are dozens of gangs here. The Blood Hounds are on top, but all of them are loyal to those lords of scum. So we have to make sure the information we get is legitimate." she said, looking at the two.

They both nodded, then began to make their way through the canyon of wrecked train cars that made up the entrance of the raider capital. John wasn't currently wearing armor. His own personal armor was far too advanced for any raider to find believable, leaving him with the option of going in in just a long coat that he had gotten off the female trader before they had left. Unfortunately, all of her armor was much too small for his stocky form.

As they passed one of the toppled train cars, the wanderer reached into the coat pocket, flicked open the gifted shades from Gob, and slid them onto his face. While his face likely wouldn't be recognized, and his hair had been cut to aid with the disguise, his eyes were a bright and shining beacon that screamed for him to be shot in this place. So having them covered wasn't an option. The first sentry they passed was walking across a catwalk that was strung across the train cars for convenience. He looked at the trio and grunted, walking off to continue his patrols. The gunman let out a sigh of relief as the man walked on and let them go. But it was too much to ask for everything to go smoothly.

As the group rounded another train car, they were immediately stopped by a man sporting a mohawk that popped out of the car itself. He stood in their path, clutching an assault rifle in his hands. John knew he was going to be a problem as soon as he started eyeing up both of the women at his sides. "Who're you?" he asked the man. Then he looked over at Poison, his eyes greedily drinking in her curvy form. "Bringing some fresh meat for the Meat Locker?" he asked hungrily.

"You could say that." said John calmly. Since seeing the women, the man had loosened his grip on his weapon considerably.

"Boss put me in charge of testing the new girls." said the man cheekily as he looked over at Elsa. He gave an oily smile as he reached up a hand and attempted to touch the android girl. Elsa gave him a sour look and took a step back, but she didn't need to worry. The wanderer's hand immediately locked around the raider's wrist, holding him in place. "The fuck are you doing!?" snapped the raider, trying to jerk his hand free.

"Your boss didn't mention anything about a tester. These girls are going straight to the Meat Locker, as per my orders." he said sharply as he released the man's hand, making him stumble backwards.

"What I says, my boss says. And I says that they get tested here and now. Otherwise I'll…" said the raider threateningly as he raised his weapon. But he froze with a look of shock on his face as the weapon was jerked clean from his hands. Like a steel vice, the stranger's hand shot up and around his throat, lifting him from the ground like he were nothing more than a sack of food.

John sighed in irritation. "Some people just don't know how when to take a hint" he said as he handed Poison the man's weapon. Both Poison and Elsa watched wide-eyed as the raider's throat was crushed within seconds. The sad figure let out a strangled gasp, shortly before his head fell limp, never to speak again. Immediately, the wanderer tossed the body into the darkest corner of the train car before turning to the two. "Let's keep moving." he said coolly.

"Holy shit, you weren't kidding about that strength boost, were you?" asked Poison playfully.

"Nope. I saw him lift one of those old school cars and toss it aside awhile back." commented Elsa.

"Hmmm…" she said, smiling contemplatively. "You may be more useful than I initially anticipated." she remarked at him.

"Quiet down. We're moving into the main yard." said the wanderer as he looked through his mirrored glasses around at the huge number of raiders drifting around the large expanse. Evergreen Mills was apparently a former mining foundry before the bombs fell. From the trains out front collecting the goods, to the sheer face of the building being planted in the face of a mountain, it looked the part. But outside were many additions to the mining facility, including one that John had his eyes locked on at the moment as they moved forward. It was a giant circular fence, built out of steel girders and thick cabling. Though it was impressive, it was what was inside that immediately grabbed his attention.

Sitting on one side of the cage was an enormous supermutant, his massive hulking form standing over three times the wanderer's own height. The creature had no clothes on to speak of, leaving his emerald, boulder-sized muscles roasting in the sun. He stopped and watched the movement of a few figures next to the cage, his curiosity getting the better of him. Poison was about ask about the hold up, when she and Elsa both spotted what was going on and were silenced.

One of the mining facility's buildings was level with the top of the cage, leading the gunman to believe that whoever had constructed the cage, had done so right there for a reason. On top of the building was a large shelter housing numerous seats, allowing many people to watch into the arena from a safe distance high above. But above even all of those seats was what looked like an old Roman throne sitting above the Colosseum. Currently sitting in it was a large raider with a clean shaven head and tattoos down both of his arms like sleeves.

"You think that might be him?" asked John curiously, nodding towards the throne, which had a dog lying next to it sleeping.

The pink-haired woman squinted as she stared at the man, but shook her head. "I can't tell from here. Probably, but I want definitive answers before I plan anything." she said smartly. John nodded, then turned and watched as a man stepped up to a large plank that was placed barely over the cage wall. From the rough edges, it looked like it had been longer at some point. But more than likely the behemoth had snapped it off in anger. From the looks of the man stumbling up to the edge now, he wasn't there of his own volition. He fit the bill for a raider, so he wasn't some sad story that they found out in the wastes. He must have really pissed someone off.

"Boss! Please!" begged the man as he turned around and faced the bald raider. "I didn't mean it! Please forgive me!"

The tattooed raider smirked as his head leaned into his hand. But it was the cage handler that spoke for him. The handler was larger by a huge margin, almost topping seven feet. His bulging musculature made it hard for him to wear anything on his top at all, leaving him bare chested and dark skinned. In one hand, he held a long metal rod with a forked end, which was now currently aimed at the man at the edge of the plank.

"Always told you alcohol would be the end o' ya mate." said the cage handler as he stepped forward with the rod. "We ignored most o' the rancid shit you done. But gettin' pissed at the bar and ravin' about how much of a better leader you'd be?" he asked incredulously.

"I-I didn't mean it! I was just drunk is all!" cried the man as he took another step back to prevent the forked weapon from prodding his stomach.

"Yeah, we know. Funny thin' is, booze has a way of bringin' out the real person behind the mask. So wotsat say about you mate?" asked the man, who was smiling cruelly now.

"Nothing! Please forgive me!" he begged more. But his cries fell on deaf ears. The cage handler turned to the man in the throne. The silent man sat and stared at the kneeling figure for a moment before raising his fist and aiming his thumb towards the ground. The thickly accented handler turned back to the bawling raider and thrust the weapon into the figures stomach. It didn't puncture anything, but from the looks of the man's convulsing, the weapon had an electric charge running through its tip. The spasming man immediately jerked back and fell over the edge of the plank, thudding down hard into the dirt below. He coughed and choked on the dust that filled his lungs, crawling to his hands and knees slowly as he shook the stars from his head.

But he sobered immediately when the loud thud of a footstep right next to him sounded. He looked up and saw the hulking figure blotting out the sun and staring directly down at him. Immediately, the tiny figure was on his feet and running for the fence. The behemoth merely followed him with its enormous steady gaze. The raider grabbed the fence to try and climb out, but was immediately blown backwards as he got a full charge of electrical power. He laid on the ground panting as the tingling in his limbs started to die down, but before he could do anything else, the giant green hulk grabbed him by his legs. John's eyes widened in horror as he watched the behemoth lift the man up, then slam him down to the ground so hard that the unfortunate raider splattered against the dirt. He didn't need any kind of medical experience to know that the man was dead.

The giant then just tossed the broken, bloodied human out of the cage and back into the stands of the watchers, getting screams of pain and cheers from them. John shook his head and turned away from the cage in disgust, memorizing both the cage handler and the head raider as people on his personal list. As they entered the actual foundry grounds, he looked at the others. "Let's go ahead and split up now. Search out and find whatever information you can on them, and lets meet up in about two hours back here at the entrance." he commanded.

"Ooooh, bossy." said Poison with a smirk.

"What if they ask who we are?" asked the android girl curiously.

"Just tell them you're here to see about joining a new gang. If they have any further questions, point them to me." said Poison smartly as she patted the girl on the shoulder. "In the meantime, try not to be too obvious about getting information." said the woman as she walked off, both her hips and behind hypnotizing anyone she walked past.

John sighed, then turned to Elsa. "Just do what she says for now. If you have to take someone out, do it quietly and hide the body. We don't want to get everyone in the foundry on our asses." he said, then put his hands up on her shoulders. "And if anyone lays a hand on you without permission, come running to me and act like a normal girl." he said with a deadly glare.

She looked up at the serious mask on his face, then smiled teasingly. "What about with permission?" she asked. He took a step back for a moment, the implications hitting him like a cannonball.

"Uhhh...I guess...if you wanted to…" he said, shrugging and unable to remove the look of slight anger on his face.

Elsa giggled and shoved him playfully. "Oh please. Like I'd let anyone here lay a finger on me." she said.

He froze for a moment, then looked away in embarrassment. "Oh, right." he said, then stepped away. "A-Anyway, don't forget to meet up here in about two hours." he said, then made a hasty exit towards a door labeled Bazaar. She watched him go for a moment, then smiled to herself and headed off towards another door that led inside the foundry.

OoOoO

"All three of them went in." remarked Sarah as she lay on the duster jacket that John had given her for safekeeping earlier. It made it much more tolerable laying on rough rock when a leather shield protected your elbows from the craggy surface. She wore a sleeveless top and had the upper part of her jumpsuit unzipped, allowing her arms freedom from the cloth prison, and allowing her skin the ability to breath.

Currently, her hair was tied up into a ponytail, the rest of it spilling down her back in a golden waterfall as she stared through the scope of the magnetic weapon at the door that Elsa had just gone through. "Anyone try and stop them?" asked Charon, who sat next to her, practically baking inside his armor and not caring.

"One guy did. He's...not an issue anymore." she said as she finally pulled up from the scope and fanned herself. Looking with just her sky blue eyes, the woman stared at the large arena like structure where people sat cheering madly something she couldn't see due to the rocky cliff. "I wonder what the hell they've got in there." she said curiously as she pulled a bottle of water out and chugged half of it. When she finished, she absent mindedly handed it to Charon.

The ghoul gave her an odd look, then took the water and downed the rest. "It's a supermutant. Behemoth class if we're using your lingo." said the ghoul as he tossed the empty bottle over the side of the cliff.

The woman's eyes widened as she turned back to the structure. "They're throwing humans into a pit with one of those monsters?" she asked incredulously.

"Eh, nothing new really. No matter the form, humans have always been disgusting animals. Whether smooth skinned, rotting flesh, or giant green hulk." said the ghoul boredly as he began cleaning his shotgun for what must have been the hundredth time since they came here.

She then turned to him. "We can't see it from here, especially you without a scope. How did you know what was in there?" she asked as she layed back down and did a quick sweep with her scope again to make sure nobody need her assistance.

"Been here a couple of times when I was contracted to some trade caravan jackass who traded with the raiders. He's the one who sold me off to Ahzrukhal in Underworld." remarked the ghoul as he began delicately handling the pieces of the shotgun as if they were his children.

"Why'd he sell you off?" she asked, looking away from the scope to stare at him curiously.

"He got a more permanent post here. His buddies the raiders, weren't comfortable having a ghoul around. So he sold me off at Underworld. That's where John picked me up." he finished as he began polishing away the carbon on the different pieces of metal.

She cocked an eyebrow at the radiation ravaged man. "John bought you?" she asked.

He looked at her, then nodded. "In a manner of speaking. He paid a few caps, which is a couple thousand less than Ahzrukhal was selling it for. A gun to the head helped smooth over the difference." said the ghoul.

"He stole the contract? At gunpoint?" asked Sarah, surprised by the actions of the wanderer.

"Can't really blame him. Ahzrukhal tried to use me to kill him a few minutes before hand. So letting him off with a forced transfer of goods seems like he got off easy." commented Charon as he finished the last piece, and began piecing together the shotgun again.

"So he got off easy?" she asked curiously. While she had no reason to believe so, she didn't feel like that was the end of the story.

"John burned my contract in front of my eyes. Then I blasted Ahzrukhal's corrupted rotting head from his shoulders." finished Charon as he looked over at Sarah. The woman saw no remorse in his eyes whatsoever.

"I see." she said, turning back to scan the base again. The more she learned about her...partner's companions, the more interesting he became. When she first met him, she had a reputation as a bit of a hardass juggernaut. Ghouls, supermutants, raiders, mirelurks, and all kinds of undesirables had seen the wrath of her armored feet stepping on their corpses. Though she knew that not all ghouls were inherently insane, or feral as they were called, she had at one point decided that it was easier not to discern between them. So the Lyon's Pride usually had little regard for the safety of the radiated people.

But in the small amount of time she had travelled with the wanderer, she had learned more about the people than any corpse could ever tell her. Looking back on her decision making in the past, she felt slight shame in the fact that she was so careless with other's lives. But, as she scanned the base again, she told herself that this trip, as much as it was to secure the alliance between the Brotherhood and John's father, it was also her chance to learn. And she would continue to learn, if for no other reason than to fulfill her role as Sentinel.

OoOoO

"Heya cutie. Aren't you a bit young to be in a place like this?" asked a sleezy voice from behind the counter at the end of the tunnel. For the first hour or so, Elsa had just been taking in the sights of the filth of the wasteland. To her surprise, they were amazingly organized for a rat's den. After wandering for a while, she found herself in a shop, where she began perusing through weapons and items on the shelves curiously. She had spotted another one of the limited edition bobbleheads that Gob was collecting back in Megaton, and was debating getting it as a gift, when the voice of the merchant snapped her back to reality, making her realize that she was in a raider base, and shopping was low priority.

Looking over at the mustached man, she looked like a deer in headlights. "I'm sorry?" she asked.

"I said, you look a bit young to be roaming around this place. What's a fine little thing like you doing around here?" he asked again, leaning over the counter as he stared at her.

She suppressed the urge to gag and just smiled brightly. "Oh...just looking around. I was actually here looking to join one of the gangs, but I hear it's had to get into them." she said, mimicking a sad expression.

"Pffffft." said the man in a mocking noise. "It's not all that hard. The hardest you could go for is the Blood Hounds, and even they're pretty lenient with who they let in. You just gotta follow their rules." said the man.

She turned to him with wide-eyed wonder. "Are you a member?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course I am. That's why I got prime real estate to set up my shop." he said, devouring her entire form with his eyes. "How about you come over on this side of the counter and let Smiling Jack show you the ropes?" he offered.

She smiled darkly. "Sure Smiling Jack. Why don't you tell me eeeeverything you know." said the girl sweetly.

OoOoO

John, with the assistance of the shades, had been able to keep a low profile. Though he did get a few unusual looks for wearing sunglasses inside the poorly lit cave, they were still none the wiser as far as who he was. Pushing through the masses of people who were playing billiards with missing balls, smoking cigarettes, drinking booze, and gawking over a dancer with short black hair that was currently spinning on a pole set up on a small stage off to the side.

Originally, he averted his eyes from the naked woman. Not that he was shy enough to blush at nude bodies anymore. But he had, and probably would see much more appetizing women in the future. But he ended up looking back at the dancer when he noticed out of the corner of his eye a large tattoo right above her backside. Glancing back, she was currently hanging onto the pole and shaking her naked ass towards one of the men sitting around the stage, getting her a few caps thrown onto the stage. And as he thought, at the base of her spine was a tattoo of a hell hound with BH on its forehead.

Smiling slightly, the wanderer moved towards the stage and took off his long coat. Almost as soon as his arms were free from the trenchcoat, the woman stopped dancing and started eyeing him like a waster might eye a bottle of purified water. Finally snapping out of her stupor, she began to dance again, her eyes still caressing every toned, hardened muscle that showed. He sat down at the stage and pulled off his own bag of caps, tossing a handful onto the stage before looking up at the dark haired, nude dancer through his shades. She smiled at him, spinning on the pole before sliding all the way down to the ground, then she crawled slowly towards his edge of the stage. When she reached the end, she pushed her chest out and began to jiggle it for him playfully.

John leaned forward, looking up at her the whole time. "How much to get you off that stage?" he asked in a tone that made her shiver.

"More than you've got big guy." she said with a purr.

"I disagree." he said as he pulled the entire bag of caps off his side. Her eyes bulged nearly as much as the bag of caps did. His smile widened. "When you're finished swimming with the little fish, come find me in the Meat Locker." he said, then stood up and walked off towards the doorway labeled "Meat Locker". Outside the door of the unusually named brothel stood two mannequins with large red lights replacing each of their ceramic mammaries. The girl watched him disappear into the door, then got to her own feet. The men around her began to grow irritated after she stopped dancing. But she ignored them and began to gather the caps on the stage. When she finished, she stepped off the wooden platform and spoke to one of the other girls, then made her way to the brothel with a spring in her step.

Five minutes later, after asking the madam which room he went into, she opened the door to find him lying on the bed with a smirk on his face. She smiled back at him playfully as she closed the door behind her and slinked over to the bed. He kept his eyes on her the entire time until she was finally beside the bed. "So Mr. Shark, where were we?" she asked as she sat on the bed with her back to him, seemingly wanting to show off the tattoo. John reached over and grabbed the woman around the waist, pulling her on top of him so that she was laying with her back to his chest. She squeaked happily at the show of dominance, gasping in lust as his hands slid up her body in a rough, but sensual manner. He held her waist, keeping her body still against him and slid one hand slowly up her stomach, between her breasts and up to her delicate neck. Slowly, he wrapped his hand around her neck. "Mmmm…" she purred with desire as she wiggled against him. "I see someone likes it rough. That'll cost extra baby." she said with a sensual smile.

But all too soon her smile disappeared as the grip turned from a pillowy caress into an iron claw, nearly cutting off her air. She froze, reaching up to grip at the hand, but unable to move him even an inch. Suddenly, a bone chilling voice spoke to her, sending chills down her spine, as he she stared up at the dirty mirror hanging on the ceiling. "Now, here's how we play this game. You're going to answer my questions. If you satisfy me, you'll live to grind yourself against that pole as much as you want. If you lie to me however...well...let's just say that there will be a lot of disappointed raiders tomorrow when you don't show up for your routine."

"W-What do you want?" she asked, still gripping his hand and trying to free her throat. He smiled at her in the mirror, before reaching up and taking off the glasses, prompting her to gasp in horror at the glowing iris' that glared back at her.

"I want you to tell me everything you know about the Blood Hounds."

OoOoO

She stared at him for a long time. After parting ways with the other two, she decided to get a closer look at the man at the head of the pack. At first, his face didn't ring any bells. But when he looked over and locked eyes with her, her own widened immensely as the memory flooded back into her mind. She was a girl again, crying as she watched the people who gave her a little of what they had in the world being chased down and ripped apart by giant hunting dogs. Finally, it was her turn, and she was forced to stand. Unknown to them, she'd had a weapon, an old kitchen utensil used for cutting meat hidden away on her person for the rainy day when someone came along to her little cardboard hut and tried to take what little she had.

Looking up, she saw three figures with a small horde behind them. One was tall and had a mohawk, reddish brown and a wicked grin on his face. The other two were smaller, children likely, just growing into their teens. Each of them held a dog of their own. On the right, the young man had a mohawk the same color and shape as his father. The third however, had two tattooed bands around his wrists, and a clean shaven head. The look he gave her, like he was bored, as she took off into the wastes with the dog on her heels. Now, as she pulled back from the memory, she recognized him. The bald head, the sleeve tattoos that grew from just the wristbands that he had as a kid, and that same bored look he had on his face.

Since she had started her little group, she'd had three faces on her list. After helping the wanderer inside Paradise Falls, she revisited the place a week later and found one of the faces on a man that was now rotting in the sun, his guts scattered across the ground from an immense force tearing him in half. That was one. After hearing about the gunman's capture, she had an intense feeling of foreboding. When he finally returned to town, she heard about the ordeals and went again to visit the site of the incident, outside the old Bethesda buildings. Once again, she found the broken, smashed body wearing one of the faces on her list. That was two. Now, there was only one more left, and it was the one that had released the dog on her that day.

It took her a moment to realize that the man was staring at her in mild interest. Her own staring must have drawn his attention. Smiling to herself, she got to her feet and strolled over to him with a stunning smile on her face. He perked up, as if the approaching woman were somehow hypnotizing him. But he loosened up when she finally stopped at the side of his throne. Looking her up and down, he even gave her an appraising smirk. "What's your name?" he asked, his voice deep and threatening, even when he wasn't trying to be.

She leaned forward slightly, her wily charms already working as the angle accentuated her curves, immediately diverting his eyes from her own down to her body. "The name's Poison." she said as she leaned onto the arm of his chair with an alluring grin on her face. "Did you know that the Wolf of the Wasteland is right here in Evergreen Mills?" she asked curiously, getting a stupidly horrified look from the raider.


	72. Destruction of Morale

OoO( 72 )OoO

"Alright! Fuck's sake, just take it easy!" yelped the man as he laid face first in his underwear on the ground. Above him, an assault rifle was pointed directly at his back, but that wasn't the cause of his cries. Instead, between his legs, a boot pressed down on the sensitive organs while he was being held in place by the weapon.

The trader gasped in pain as he felt a sharp stab, a result of the boot pressing down again. "Answer the question or the only memory of your manhood you'll have is going to be a stain on the floor." growled Elsa as she pressed the barrel harder against the merchant's spine. "Worst part is, I'm not gonna let you die afterwards."

"Fine! His name is Rott! Now get off my damn balls!" shouted the man, but he was silenced when she aimed the weapon at the back of his head.

"I'd advise you to keep your voice down." she said coldly. "Continue."

"His name is Rott. It's...short for something. I forgot what, some kind of dog or whatever. He sits in the throne above the arena at least a few hours a day and gathers up the survivors of his dogs to throw them in the pin with the big green. I don't know what else you want me to tell you…" he said desperately as he considered moving, but declined to prevent further damage to the family jewels beneath his underpants.

"How many members?" she asked sharply.

"I don't fuckin' know, one, maybe one hundred fifty of them total. A lot of them aren't here in the Mills, now please!" he squeaked in a high pitched tone, trying to keep quiet, but at the same time trying to keep his pain under control.

She smiled at him sweetly as she released her grip on the man's stones, allowing him to crawl across the small back room and away from her to nurse himself. "Good boy. Now then, I want you to smile for me Jack." she said as she pulled out a strip of cloth and snapped it between her fingers. His eyes widened, but both of the figures stopped as the door behind the girl opened. Standing at the door were two large men, both of them wielding weapons.

"Jack, the fuck're you doing you snivelling little shit?" asked one of the men as they looked at the cowering trader on the floor. One of the two men wore the typical raider getup, which was a mashup of all kinds of rubber and leather found all over the wasteland. The other was just wearing a pair of pants with spiked knee pads, opting to go shirtless. One was rather scrawny with a sandy blonde head, the other was bald with tattoos taking the place of his hair. Elsa's eyes flicked down towards one of their necks, her ocular lenses zooming in slightly, allowing her to see a loud and clear BH tattooed onto his neck.

The girl smiled at the raider as the other closed the door behind him. Jack, on the other hand, slinked off to one of the corners and pointed at her. "Fucking kill her assholes! She's insane!"

"Oh...we're gonna do somethin' to her alright." said one of the men as he slapped a lead pipe against his palm. "We've got a few ideas in mind for her before we get her to the boss."

The other turned around and brandished a chain in his hand as he stepped forward. "Now, be a good little girl and hold still, you might even enjoy this a little." he growled wildly.

But Elsa giggled lightly at them, making them stop momentarily and look at each other in confusion. "He said to come running to him, but I think I'm gonna have a little fun this time." she said as she slid the assault rifle over her back. Now a lot angrier than before, the two men dashed forward, swinging their weapons fiercely.

Despite being in a human-like form, Elsa was still self aware and able to control minor functions of the body that she now made her home in. One of the functions that she had yet to take advantage of was one she'd only seen active during John's fight with the previous owner. As she smiled at the two men, her brown eyes suddenly turned red and she dropped into a crouch. In an instant, she sprung up and grabbed the wooden beam that helped support the structure of the room and made it easy for organized storage. The two raiders, while seeing the change to the girl, were unable to stop their momentum and stumbled right into her attack.

She wrapped her legs around the armored figures neck, then released the beam, flipping backwards. Now hanging from his neck, her own momentum, as well as her strong grip on the ground with her hands allowed her to launch the man at high speeds directly into a crate of bullets. The wooden crate smashed open, spilling the small cylindrical objects over his body. Elsa, meanwhile landed in an agile-like crouching pose, her burning red eyes staring up at the raider that was left standing with the pipe. The man took a step back as he eyed her warily.

"Hey, Jag, you alright?" asked the man as he took another step back. Elsa fluidly stood to her feet and stepped towards him, her glowing iris' instilling a fear in him he didn't even realize he could feel.

The man who had been sent flying slowly got to his hands and knees, coughing heavily as he reached up and wiped the blood from where his head had split open on the crate. "What the hell?" he asked stupidly. Getting to his feet, he shouted a war cry and turned to swing the heavy chain he carried with him at the small woman. She spun and held up an arm, allowing the heavy metal to wrap around her arm before she locked a hand around it. The man pulled on it heavily, but he found himself just pulling him towards her as he tried to free the weapon. Instead, she jerked the thick iron chain out of his grip, allowing it to fall and pool around her feet as it hung from her hand.

"What the hell are you!?" shouted raider with the lead pipe as he raised his weapon and took a swing at her. But he froze in terror when the weapon was stopped cold by her small hand. She gripped it as she did the chain, with the steel grip of a vice. Before he knew what hit him, she pulled the pipe from his hands and swung the chain at him. The thick clinking metal wrapped around his neck, prompting him to reach up and grab it. But Elsa unleashed a side kick into the raiders back that resulted in a loud snapping.

The bleeding raider stared in horror as his partner fell to the ground, his now broken neck making his head loll to the side. Elsa dropped the chain and turned to the remaining raider, who now stumbled backwards to try and get away from the android girl. "Where are you going?" she asked, giving him a cheerful smile with her glowing red eyes. "You said I was gonna enjoy this. So far it's been soooo boring." she said as she stepped forward, standing in front of him.

In the corner, Smiling Jack had buried himself in his own goods to try and stay hidden from the girl. Despite his intent in hiding, he still watched in horror as the young girl smiled up at the raider joyfully. The bleeding man moved to run for the door, but the young redhead sprung faster. She jumped towards the door, planting one foot against the wall, and launching herself directly at him. When he skidded to a halt, her flying knee connected to his jaw and sent him crashing backwards, directly into another crate of food goods. When he got back to his feet, he was breathing heavily, his face was matted with blood, his breathing was heavy, his jaw was sore, and his body was aching with fear.

"P-Please…" he begged as she approached again. Her body language suggested she was a timid little girl, but he was too bruised and broken to believe that now.

"Aww, does that mean we don't get to play anymore?" she said sarcastically. Finally, she huffed in irritation. "Fine. I guess playtime is over." she growled, then kicked one last time. Doing a complete backflip, her connecting foot hit with the kinetic energy of a wrecking ball. The raider fell back to the ground, his jaw turned to gravel, his skull now a jigsaw puzzle of broken shards, and his brain severed from his spinal column. Landing in a cat-like pose back on her feet, the glowing red started to fade from her eyes slowly until she was back to her usual velvet brown color. She then turned to Smiling Jack with a cheeky grin. "Now then, where were we?" she asked.

OoOoO

After an hour, the door to the upstairs room finally opened again. The madam smiled as she looked at the strong figure walking out of the room with his sunglasses still in place. Leaning forward, the blonde woman squeezed her assets between her arms to try and draw his attention as he descended the stairs. "I usually don't hear her hollering like that. You must have given her a rough ride." she purred at him.

He looked over and smiled. "You could say that. She crashed afterwards, so she's probably going to be out for a bit. Here's a few more caps to keep anyone from interrupting her." he said as he set a small sack of the bottlecaps in front of her.

"Sure thing honey. And remember, if you ever need another rough ride, come back and give this Harley a try." she said, her hands motioning like she was revving the engine of a motorcycle.

He chuckled as he walked past her. "I'll keep that in mind, gorgeous." he said, keeping his hidden eyes away from her pale, creamy, cleavage. He froze when he felt a quick lash to his backside, then turned to her. She had a catty grin on her face as she watched him go. Shaking his head, he passed someone, accidentally bumping into them. "Sorry…" he said absentmindedly.

"No…" said the man. John stopped and looked over to find the man he bumped into with a look of horror on his face as he stared at him. Almost as soon as the wanderer registered the fact that the man had an X shaped scar on his cheek, the man took off for the open door to the bazaar.

"Fuck!" he growled as he ran after the man. With his enhanced abilities, he easily made it to the raider, dragging him back inside the empty hallway with one hand clasped over his mouth. Giving the runner a dark look, he whispered quietly. "You were one of the assholes I let loose from Paradise Falls, weren't you?" The man said nothing due to the iron hand over his mouth, but continued to struggle fiercely. "You had your chance." growled John as he wrenched the man's neck, snapping it instantly.

As the body went limp, he began dragging him down the hall towards the Meat Locker again, unsure what he was going to do with him. But he didn't have long to think, as the sound of several clicks behind him made him stop in his tracks. "Well well well. If it isn't the wasteland dancer himself." said a cold voice behind him.

John turned to the figure, which was currently only silhouetted in the entrance to the tunnel he was standing in. "Do I know you?" he asked, his tone none too pleasant.

The man, who was surrounded by other raiders, all pointing weapons directly at him, chuckled. "Hehe, not yet you don't. But we're gonna be getting friendly real soon." said the figure. "Now cowboy, if you don't want your precious sheila here hurt, then I'd suggest you raise your hands up high, and don't make any shonky moves." said the man in a bossy tone.

John growled, unsure of who they were referring to as his sheila, but he didn't want to take any chances. Turning to face them fully, he held his hands up and began to walk slowly towards them. When he finally got into the light, he saw the man and frowned. It was the cage handler that he'd seen previously. And in one hand, he held the bindings of a gagged and bound Poison who looked to be unconscious. "What have you done to her?" he asked threateningly.

"Don't ya worry 'bout her none. She'll be right as rain soon. You however…" said the man with a wicked grin as he jabbed his forked weapon into John's stomach. The wanderer's eyes widened immensely as he felt electricity surge through him, causing him to shake uncontrollably.

"See boyos? He ain't so tough." said the man, getting riotous laughter from the others around him. Despite John's typical reaction to the electric shock, they still had every gun they had trained on him. "Wolf o' the Wastes my arse." he said as he used the pole weapon to shove John towards the entrance to the bazaar. Looking up, the gunman noticed that every raider in the cavern now had their weapons out and trained on him. "Gowon outside mate, boss Rottweiler has a game for ya to play." chuckled the man as he jabbed the gunman in the back, making him stumble forward.

OoOoO

Minutes later, John found himself standing in front of the Roman-style throne that he'd seen from below. All around him, raiders and killers alike were chanting some guttural phrase that he couldn't understand, but annoyed him regardless. In front of him, the head of the pack smirked from his iron chair, his head resting on his fist as if he were bored. Poison, who was awake and desperate looking now, was at the foot of his throne, very close to his spiked boots. But from the smile on his tattooed face, he was anything but bored. No longer having a need for them, the wanderer reached up and took the shades off, causing the raiders around him to take a step back as his glowing eyes scanned them.

He smirked to himself in satisfaction at the reaction. "So, I take it someone recognized my face?" he asked curiously.

"You could say that." said the bald raider as he sat up and leaned forward, staring the man dead in the eyes. "You're the one responsible for the death of my family."

"I get that a lot." said John as he smiled at the head raider.

The head raider smirked at the gunman as he leaned back in the chair comfortably. "Behind all that mouth is a dead man. You have to know that." said the bald man, giving the wanderer a glare.

John glared back at him, his nuclear green eyes locking onto the raider's seemingly black ones. "You have no idea how many dead men are behind me."

Growling, Rott stood up. "Well, let's put an end to that then." he said as he looked over at the pink-haired woman on her knees. "Stand up and send him off." he said, now smirking.

Poison stood to her feet, and her bindings fell off her as if someone had just slashed them. She smiled up at the wanderer playfully. John gave her a dark stare. "I should have figured." he growled.

"Sorry love. A girl has to make her way in the world." she said, blowing him a kiss.

"You and me are going to have a long talk after this…" he said, his voice made of steel.

"You and her aren't going to be talking about anything." said the man as he stepped up to the gunman. They stood face to face for a long moment, staring each other down.

"If you really knew who I was, you'd know that getting this close to me could be your death." said John defiantly.

The bald man laughed lightly. "What're you gonna do? I've got you completely surrounded." said the man.

John smiled back at him. "So did your father, and your brother." he said in a snarky tone.

Immediately, the raider's face warped with anger. Lifting one foot, he kicked the wanderer in the chest, sending him out and over the edge of the cage. Laughing to himself, Rott watched as the green-eyed gunman fell down into the pit with the massive mutant. John watched in wide-eyed horror as the man got further and further away. Suddenly, he hit the ground, which immediately drove the wind from his lungs. He gasped in precious air as he rolled over and crawled away from the dust cloud to get to fresh oxygen.

But he ended up bumping into the giant green foot of the mutant. Looking up at the creature, who was glaring down at him, he simply sighed. "Fuck…"

OoOoO

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…!" said Sarah repeatedly as she watched through the scope of the magnetic rifle. She saw the wanderer walking up onto the stage, and immediately had a bad feeling about the situation. But she held her fire, both because John was blocking her line of sight from the main raider, and because if he were doing something, she didn't want to blow his cover. But after seeing him get shoved into the giant's playpen, she began to panic.

"Keep saying it, I'm sure that'll help the situation." said Charon as he watched with a pair of binoculars that he had brought along.

Grabbing her helmet next to her, she hit the radio button. "John! Can you read me?" she asked frantically, her heart pounding a thousand times a second.

" _Uhhh...I'm here."_ came his voice over his pipboy.

"Do you want me to take out the leader? Or the generator to the cage?" she asked, practically begging for orders.

" _No...just stay tight. But keep your focus on the leader and Poison."_ came the voice again. She growled to herself, frustrated at not being able to do anything. Instead, she dropped the radio and looked through the scope again, focusing the red sight in on the bald man's head. Standing next to the raider was the pink-haired woman they had travelled here with. She moved the scope over to the female's head, focusing on her in case the call came. She was tempted to just pull the trigger and splatter the traitorous bitch's head all over the throne that she stood next to. But the order of 'stay tight' resounded in her head. Still, if either of them did anything funny, she'd know it.

That's when she saw it. Her eyes widened as she saw Poison's face change. One second, she was smirking at the wanderer, as if proud to have been a part of his downfall. But, once the man was over the edge of the cage, she looked at the head raider's back with a burning look that would incinerate a lesser man. "If she had betrayed him, she would have told the others about us, right?" asked Sarah as she continued to examine the woman's face.

"I would think so." said the ghoul, who had his shotgun ready.

"Keep that monster primed, just in case." she commanded, referring to his shotgun.

"You got it boss." said the ghoul as he lowered the binoculars and began to scan the area around them.

OoOoO

When John stood up, he sighed heavily. His mind went back to his conversation back in GNR with the loud and proud Three Dog. The man once asked the gunman if being relied on made him want to stop being such a good guy. At the time, he responded that he wouldn't change in a million years. But as he now stood in the dusty arena, surrounded by thick steel and cabling charged with electricity, staring up at the enormous green monstrosity, he was seriously reconsidering his claim.

"Being a bad guy wouldn't be so bad. At least they have strippers." he said as the behemoth began crouching slightly. Oddly, the monster didn't immediately grab for him. Instead, it began to sniff, inhaling large gulps of air as it stared at him strangely. All around the edges of the cage, and outside the fenced area were people cheering madly, chanting to have the arena floor painted with his blood.

Crouching lower, the behemoth inhaled more, causing John to take an awkward step back. Finally, he was shocked as the creature spoke. "You...you smell...familiar…" said the beast as he rose back up. John stared up at him stupidly for a moment, seconds before Sarah's voice over the radio came through loud and clear.

" _John! Can you read me!?"_ came her frantic voice over the radio.

"Uhhh...I'm here." said the wanderer as he spoke into his radio, his eyes still locked on the massive creature before him.

" _Do you want me to take out the leader? Or the generator for the cage?"_ she asked desperately.

The behemoth watched him in mild interest. "No...just stay tight. But keep your focus on the leader and Poison." he said, closing the radio connection. Looking back up at the monster, he asked. "You can still speak?" he asked.

"Your question...redundant. Speech...already proven." said the monster.

The creature's vocabulary was even more startling. "What do you mean I smell familiar?" he asked.

Ducking close to the wanderer, the hulk began to inhale big gulps of air once more. "You smell...like meta-human." said the beast. The cage handler standing on the plank above began shouting something inaudible at the two due to the cheering from outside the cage.

"What the hell does that mean!?" he asked angrily, hearing the same thing from other supermutants in the DC ruins. "Why do I smell like a damn meta-human!?"

Taking one last inhale, the creature finally stood to its full height. "You have...virus inside you." said the beast. John froze for a moment, the revelation lighting his brain up like a strobe light.

"Virus?" he asked incredulously.

But it looked like the creature was finished talking. Raising one massive fist, he spoke one last time. "You not...meta-human. You like them...here to kill me." the beast said as he slammed his fist down on directly on the spot where the wanderer was standing.

"Well well well mates, looks like the Wolf o' the Wasteland was nothing more than a scrappy pup!" shouted the cage handler. Uproarious laughter emanated from the crowd.

Suddenly, the kingpin stepped up to the edge of the arena and faced the sea of raiders. "Alright boys! We did what the rest couldn't! We defeated the Reaper!" he yelled, raising a fist up high. Poison looked on in disgust from behind at each of the fists pumping into the air. Her plan just went to complete shit with one kick. Looking over at the arena floor, she saw the behemoth with his fist planted directly where the wanderer once stood. It was then that her heart almost stopped. It was hard to see from the upward angle she was standing at, but she noticed that the fist in question wasn't connected to the ground. Reaching over, she tapped on the leader's shoulder. The bald man looked at her, then down into the cage where she was pointing. His eyes widened immensely as he saw the large green fist slowly rising from the ground. "What the fuck!?" he asked.

Suddenly, a loud gasp from the audience silenced them all, and they stared in anticipation. Slowly, but surely, the fist was rising. Even the behemoth had a shocked look on its face as the wanderer appeared again, a mask of anger on his face as he lifted, then threw the massive limb away. The cage handler stared on in sheer horror. "Th-That's not possible…" he gasped.

Glaring up at the monster, the wanderer put his hands together and cracked his knuckles threateningly. "That's it!" he shouted. "When I get out of here, everyone I see is dead!" said, glancing towards the captive audience that were standing outside the electric fence. They all took a step back from the sheer weight of the threat, and the feat of strength he just pulled, showing he was capable of following up. Immediately, anyone who was too cowardly to find out if his words were true bolted for the entrance of the canyon.

John looked up at the raider king one last time, then lifted his fist up. The bald man watched in shock as the Wolf of the Wasteland, the Archangel, the Reaper of Raiders, the nightmare that had killed his father and his brother, pointed his thumb at the ground.

OoOoO

 **An actual Author's Note from the actual Author:** Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews and all the love for the story! I'm glad you all enjoy the characters and plot twistiness that I've put in so far. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as well, because as far as I can see we're still a waaaaays off from the end. Anyway, glad you're enjoying, and love reading your reviews so keep them coming!

On another note, after looking over the story that inspired this one again, I realized that my 'words per chapter' game doesn't even come close to measuring up. So I'm going to try and give you guys longer chapters in the future. Keep in mind, I said try. _


	73. Blood of the Hounds

OoO( 73 )OoO

Closing the back door behind her, Elsa chuckled as she dusted her hands off. After her interrogation, her chronometer suggested that it was about time for them all to meet up again, so she decided to go ahead and aim herself in that direction. When she walked past the shelves however, she stopped again and eyed the bobblehead. It was the typical vault boy limited edition brand, and had said boy holding out a bottle cap as if he were trading. Smiling lightly, she grabbed the collectable and stuffed it into her own bag of supplies. "He won't miss it." she said smirking as she then headed for the bazaar. To her surprise however, there wasn't anyone inside. Pool tables were empty, the dance pole was without a dancer, and the shop had been abandoned.

Immediately, her data told her that something was wrong, and she ran to the entrance that led out to the main yard of the foundry. When she opened the door, her eyes widened as she took in the sheer number of raiders that were standing, staring slack jawed at the caged arena. She gazed over the sea of different raiders and killers, wondering what the big deal was, when she turned and locked her eyes on the Roman-like structure above the cage. It was then she knew for a fact something was in fact going on.

Zooming in on her target, she clearly saw the pink-haired woman standing up next to the one that the trader had informed her was called Rott. The bald man, who currently had a look that made him look like he just swallowed a bucket of stupid, was staring down into the arena as bewildered as the rest of the occupants outside. But Poison, her face was something else. She had a sly look about her as she watched the happenings below. Suddenly, the pink-haired raider turned to the audience and raised a hand to the sky. Keeping her eyes on the woman, she watched wide-eyed as the she devil spun around with a pistol and fired it directly into the back of the huge cage handler, sending him over the edge of the cage and into the pit below. "Oh shit…" said the android as she reached back and grabbed the hunting rifle from Jack's off her back, preparing for a fight.

OoOoO

Using his agility to his advantage, the wanderer had managed to dodge the next few oncoming attacks from the green monstrosity. Each smash made the earth feel like it was ready to split, leaving the wanderer praying to anyone who was listening that he didn't get a direct hit by one of those. Before, he had used an enormous amount of his strength just to stop the monster's assault. And while that didn't drain his energy, taking repeated assaults of the same caliber would take its toll quickly. The large mutant swung at him with a backhand, trying to catch him with the backswing. But he still managed to roll under the large lumbering attack.

As he rolled to his feet again, his breathing heavier from all the movement, he stared up at the giant green eyed beast. "Why are you trying to kill me!?" he asked incredulously.

"You...human. Torture us. Torture...me…" said the meta-human as he took another swing at the man. This time, the lash was quicker and hit John full on. The wanderer was sent flying and crashed directly into the cage wall, where he began to spasm horribly from the electric shock.

When he finally pulled away, he was breathing much heavier than before. He fell to his knees, gasping in air as the tingling in his limbs slowed his movements. "D-Dammit…" he growled, then stood to his feet again. "I'm not going to torture you!" he shouted.

"Lies." rumbled the monster as he raised his large green fist again. If he didn't dodge this one, the shock would likely stop his heart.

"Then hit me!" commanded John as he stood his ground. Even the behemoth was shocked at the bravery of the man before him. "Come on! If you're going to kill me, then do it! Stop wasting both our time and get it over with!"

Snarling viciously, the giant creature angrily raised a fist and aimed directly for the wanderer. John crouched down quickly, then jumped straight up. The fist grazed right under him, allowing him to land on the muscular arm. Not missing his chance, the gunman sprinted forward up the creatures appendage and pulled back his fist, unleashing a devastating punch directly to its forehead. The large beast's head snapped back, causing it to topple backwards in surprise as John leapt off him and landed on the ground.

When the supermutant fell back into the cage wall, it too began to spasm horribly. John, and the raiders both above and outside the cage watched in awe as the monster jerked itself away from the wall and began to roar loudly. The enormous meta-human and the man both began to glare at each other, ready for another round, when both of them were startled by the sound of a gunshot. "What the hell was…?" asked John, but before he could say another word, a body fell down into the sands next to him. He jumped back in surprise as the dust cleared and the cage handler was found laying in his own dusty crater with a bleeding wound in his back.

Immediately, the behemoth's gaze went to the larger man. John looked between the two and felt chills down his spine when he saw the large green creature smile wickedly. "You…" said the meta as he reached down and grabbed the man and his weapon.

Stepping away from the new target, the wanderer lifted his pipboy to his mouth. "Sarah, now would be a good time to open the cage up." he said over his radio band as he watched the horrific spectacle in front of him. The cage handler struggled madly in the creature's grip, but was unable to break himself free.

"No longer….torture." said the behemoth quietly as he lifted the shocking tool up and stared at the man. "No more." he finished, then pressed his thumb against the struggling man's chin, forcing his head straight up. Everyone in the audience gasped in horror as the behemoth slowly slid the shocking rod into the man's sarcastic mouth, all the way down his throat. The man struggled more, and gargled, choking and gasping for oxygen as he felt the metal object forced into his gullet. But he stopped struggling to the sound of hundreds of gasps of disgust as the creature pushed the button on the metal pole, sending surges of electricity into the man's body.

John just watched in both fascination and shock as the former cage handler died, gurgling his last breath from around the weapon which he used to torture so many. "Ugh…" he said in disgust as he looked away from the impaled man. Suddenly, everyone on the ground was on edge as a loud klaxon sounded, echoing off the canyon walls. John looked outside just in time to see the generator that was electrocuting the fence explode as the metal slug travelling sub-light speeds smashed through it, tearing it to shreds instantly. Reaching up, John reaching out and delicately touched the cabling with the back of his fingers. As predicted, he didn't feel the shock of electricity anymore. Turning back to the behemoth, who had tossed the now very dead man aside, he pointed up to the cage wall. "If you want out, now is your chance. Break the cage door and you're free." he said, holding his hand on the cable, showing him clearly that it was no longer electrified.

The massive creature looked between John and the cage door. Back and forth for what seemed like an eternity, as if deciding whether the man's death was worth waiting for his freedom. Finally, the meta-human let out an ear splitting roar, and ran for the cage, smashing the door open and sending both of the gates flying off in separate directions. The raiders outside the gates all scattered as the creature barreled forward like a freight train, smashing and throwing anyone in its path as it made haste for the canyon wall. Everyone else watched in spectacular awe as the beast jumped up, grabbed the canyon wall, then began sprinting off into the desert at breakneck speeds. Then, all eyes turned back to the wanderer, who was now standing in the broken doorway of the cage, cracking his knuckles once more.

"Now then...who wanted to try next?" he asked.

OoOoO

She watched from above as the fight progressed, her fascination at the display of agility and strength by the wanderer making her heart beat rapidly in excitement. It was so enthralling that she almost forgot that she had work to do. But when he was knocked into the fence and put on the defensive, she snapped out of her stupor and turned to the ocean of raiders in front of her. She smiled as she saw how many faces were completely stupefied and locked onto the battle before them. But she knew that some of them weren't watching the fight. They were watching her.

She smiled at the crowd and raised her hand high. Nobody signalled back, be she knew they saw her. Spinning around, she whipped the pistol from her belt and aimed directly at the back of the cage handler. Squeezing the trigger, she fired one round directly into his shoulder, sending the surprised man toppling over the edge and into the pit below. Rott and all the other raiders that were sitting or standing up on the elevated terrace spun and looked at her in shock. Rott's face immediately soured as he saw her pointing a weapon directly at him.

"Stupid cunt...I knew you were too good to be true." he said, spitting on the ground.

"Oh, I'm true baby." she said with a snarky smile as she saw someone reach for their weapon. "Move another inch and the boss man gets a new breathing hole in his forehead." she snapped, causing the man to stop his movement. "Now then, Rott was it?" she asked with a cheeky grin. "I'm sorry I had to break your heart this way, but I'm afraid that throne is only big enough for one. And I'm sure that it would be much more comfortable with my behind sitting on it."

"Ya think?" asked the bald man as he gave a chuckle at her. "It's too bad really. I'd hate to waste a mouth as good looking as yours." said the raider king as he shrugged. "Who knows, maybe after this I'll let you keep using it, and let my dogs have the rest of you." he said as a maniacal grin spread across his face.

Poison was about to comment back, when a loud shot sounded from the entrance of the canyon. The next thing she knew, the generator next to the building exploded, making her stumble briefly. Another one not to waste an opportunity, Rott whistled loudly. His dog immediately jumped up and beelined straight for the pink-haired woman. With images of her childhood flooding through her head, she tried to train her weapon on the beast, but it was on her before she could. The beast, a rottweiler breed of giant dog, jumped at her and sank its teeth into her arm, sending the pistol she held flying over the edge of the building and leaving her shouting in pain as it jerked at her arm wildly.

Rott stepped up to the woman with a large smile on his face. "See? He likes you already." said the bald man as he knelt down and watched the canine torment her. Poison cringed in pain, but wasn't out of the game yet. Using her usual magic trick, she whipped out one last weapon, a knife. The handle was very delicately decorated with the initials B.D., and the blade was secured inside the handle. Hitting the button on the handle, the blade shot out and she stabbed the weapon directly into the dog's throat.

With a loud yipe, the dog pulled away from her, but she grabbed the hound with her injured arm and slammed the blade home at the base of the creature's skull. Immediately the dog dropped to the ground dead. Poison looked up at the man with a wild look in her eyes, and he looked back at her with a look of horror on his face at the atrocity she had just committed. "This seem familiar to you?" she asked with a growl.

The raider stared at her wide eyed as the feeling of déjà vu nearly overwhelmed him. His dog lying dead on the the ground, stabbed to death by a girl who got away. Now that he looked at her, her features became recognizable immediately. "You...you bitch…!" he growled. Turning to his guards, he shouted, "KILL HER!"

One of the men pulled a rifle off his back and raised it to fire, but another boom sounded in the distance. This time the man holding the rifle screamed in horror as his insides exploded all over the floor of the arena seating. The other, before he could even reach for his weapon, fell to the ground with a round hole drilled directly through his cranium from a shot fired down by the bazaar. Rott took a step back as his personal guard dropped dead next to him. "Oops." she said with a sarcastic smile.

Turning to the others, he shouted at them as well. "What are you waiting for!? Kill her!" he commanded.

"Amy, be a darling and give them a bit off the top." said Poison as she crossed her arms, now smiling once more. Almost immediately, a stealthy figure dropped from the roof of the foundry and landed next to the three remaining raiders. She was wearing some form of close knit stealth armor and was crouching, wielded two long blades that were now coated in blood. As she stood, the heads fell from the last line of defense. Now, it was just Rott, Poison, and Amy in the stands. The bald raider watched as his last remaining hope fell headless to the ground, then turned back to Poison to find her standing directly in front of him, spinning the decorated switchblade with a smile like ice.

"You…" he growled in desperation. But the twin bladed woman behind him kicked him forward mercilessly, making him sprawl on the ground at the edge of the building.

Poison stepped over him and planted her booted foot directly on his head, nearly concussing him with the lack of gentleness she showed. "Me." she said as she watched the once caged behemoth climb the canyon wall and escape. The distraction had worked so well that she had to call them all for attention. "Attention everyone!" she shouted over the ocean of faces. All of them, even the wanderer himself turned to her to see what the commotion was. It was then that everyone in the audience froze. Standing at the edge of the building was Poison, standing proudly over a growling and dethroned Rott, her boot planted firmly on his head. "Ladies and gentlemen, now that I have your attention, I'd just like to say two things. First, if you are not a member of the Blood Hounds, I would suggest not touching your weapon for the next couple of minutes." she said, then looked down at Rott. "And last…" She stopped her sentence, then crouched down and lifted Rottweiler's head, then slashed his throat in front of everyone, causing his blood to pour down the side of the building. "Release the hounds!" she shouted.

Horrified at the gruesome murder of their leader, the pack members of the Blood Hounds began drawing their weapons to fire at the woman. But the first to do so stopped as he felt a blade sink into his spine. Letting out a loud gasp, he looked over and saw the wickedly smiling face of his female companion watching him as he sank to the ground. "T-Traitor…" he mumbled. But it wasn't just him. Females throughout the group began cutting down the well known members of the head gang.

One after another, the members of the Blood Hound gang were grabbed, and had blade after blade thrust into their bodies until they were lifeless corpses. All of the gangs that weren't members of the Blood Hounds stepped back apprehensively, unsure what was occurring, and too afraid to draw a weapon in case a blade awaited their own body. It was a full minute of one sided battling, but before long a pile of bodies, all stamped with the Blood Hound tattoo grew until every last member was bleeding out in the blazing sun.

John watched in awe at the massacre of the remaining members of the gang, all of which didn't know that the women they had at their sides were vipers waiting to strike. When the Blood Hound gang was finally eradicated, Poison called out again, drawing the wanderer's gaze once more. "With the Blood Hound gang no longer with us, I will be taking over as the leader of this pack." she said as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. Then she smiled again. "As a matter of fact, there are no more gangs. I am your new leader. Any objections?" she asked. The horrified raiders just stared up at her dumbly.

"Fuck you!" shouted the head ganger of one of the misfit gangs, who drew his weapon and was ready to fire. But before he even got the chance, John dashed forward and threw a punch into the man's chest that shattered every rib he had. When he collapsed to the ground, the surrounding women swooped in and finished him off.

The gunman glared at the rest of them. "Let me say this once. The next one of you to draw a weapon on her will be my plaything for the next three days. Do I make myself clear?" he asked threateningly. Their silence was all the answer he needed.

"Good. No more objections." said the pink-haired woman as she kicked the body of the former leader off the building and into the pile with the rest of them. "Now, get rid of these scum, because once they're gone, we're going to have the biggest fucking party you've ever seen." she said with a smile.

The gangs all looked at one another questioningly, wondering whether to obey. But when they heard a throat clearing from the wanderer, who was standing nearby, the remaining raiders moved to get the job done.

OoOoO

True to her word, once the courtyard of the foundry was clear of all the rotting corpses, Poison broke in her new role as leader by grabbing the strong stuff stored away by the previous owner and hurling it into the masses. Girls began dancing again freely, men cheered and hollered, and good times were had as the pink-haired raider woman sat in the main seat above the rest.

In front of her stood John, Elsa, Sarah, and Liberty, who opted to hover over everyone else and watch the festivities. The wanderer eyed the woman sternly as he stood before her with his arms crossed. She just smiled up at him jovially. "Where's your ghoul friend?" she asked curiously.

"He said he had some unfinished business to take care of." said John as he looked up and saw both Tank, the gigantic woman that made even Sarah look petite, and Amy standing on either side of the chair that their leader now sat in. Looking up at the armored woman, he chuckled slightly. "Hair dresser, huh?" he asked.

"She specializes in the art of cutting. Whether that's hair, or limbs." said Poison, who got a smiling nod from the bodyguard. "A very talented addition to our group."

"Right." said John as his amused demeanor dropped and he focused on the pink-haired woman again. "So, was it your plan the entire time to have me thrown into that cage?" he asked seriously.

"Not at all actually. I just needed everyone to be distracted by you, so they didn't notice me sliding the knife in." she said, waving off his suspicions. "Raiders are always suspicious, so I needed to get him to turn his back to me long enough to put my plans into effect."

"I take it things didn't go exactly according to plan?" he asked, eyeing her now bandaged arm.

She sighed, rubbing the gauzed wound gently. "Nothing ever does. That started when you ran your mouth to him so much that he actually kicked you into the cage. But I must say that you are a master at improvisation. I almost thought I was going to have to make a plan B."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Your concern is touching." he growled.

"Honestly, I didn't intend for you to get hurt in any way. And I must say, I have you, and those two to thank for your assistance." she said, looking over at the quiet forms of Sarah and Elsa. Both girls looked over at her curiously. "If they hadn't been such crack shots on those bodyguards, one of them might have gotten a shot off on me." she said, smiling at the two.

"Uhhh...sure." said Sarah, not sure how she should be feeling about helping, and getting complimented by a raider.

"No problem Pinky." said Elsa, who returned the smile. "Just remember that when we come back here for a vacation. And clean this place up, would ya?" she asked, eyeing the filthy partying taking place by the raider groups.

"Oh, we'll be cleaning house shortly. You don't worry your pretty little head about that." she said with a knowing smile. "I also heard you put one of my girls through the ringer." she commented, eyeing the wanderer.

He reached up and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Look, I saw she had the Blood Hound tattoo on her, so I thought she would have had some information on her." he said, looking slightly irritated at her. "If you had told me your group was already here, I'd have been more careful in my selection of informants." he said.

Poison laughed lightly. "It's no trouble. She said that once she admitted she was with me, you were less aggressive about the information. Though you gave her quite the scare."

"Yeah yeah. I also gave up a number of caps to have keep her away from all the violence." he grumbled.

"Something she appreciates very much." said Poison, a cat-like smile on her face. Now then, I have to convince an entire population of horny men that they're no longer allowed to have their way with any female they see, and you have somewhere you need to get to. Also, I have a favor to return." she said solemnly.

"You said this makes us even. You don't owe me anything." he commented, giving her a questioning stare.

She chuckled at him. "Oh, not to you, though you did help me immensely. I owe someone else a great deal, and I intend to repay him fully." she said with a smile that told the wanderer that he wasn't getting anymore out of her. He just left it at that, and turned to leave, letting her sit in her throne, spinning the switchblade with B.D. carved into the handle.

OoOoO

It had been hours since he'd seen anyone had been by. The bodies were starting to stink horribly due to the hotter than usual temperature of the storage room, and he was gagging around the small length of rope that was currently bound between his teeth. A while after the girl left, he found a sharp piece of glass that had been shattered when the last of the raiders fell through a display case that held his prized shotgun.

Inching over to the case, he managed to get his hands on one of the large shards, then began the slow process of sawing through the ropes that bound his hands together. It seemed like it had taken an eternity, and his hands probably had more cuts than the ropes did. But after a while, he finally managed to snap the bindings. Dropping the glass, he reached up and yanked the gag out of his mouth. A few more minutes, and his feet and legs were free as well. Finally, he stood up and grabbed his shotgun as well as a couple of shells. Reaching the door, he kicked it open and was about to start loading shells when he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide in horror.

Directly in front of him, across from the counter was a familiar face that he never thought he'd see again. "Oh...hey Charon…" said the man as he froze, slowly trying to push the shell into the chamber without the ghoul noticing. "Funny seeing you here again."

"Does it look like I'm laughing?" asked the ghoul bodyguard.

"No! No, of course not!" said the trader as he wiped his signature smile from his face. "I just meant…"

"Shut up Jack." said the ghoul as he placed his monstrous shotgun on the table. "I need shells."

Looking down wide-eyed at the weapon, Jack nodded. "O-Of course, right away." he said as he set aside his own unloaded weapon and grabbed a box of shotgun shells from the shelf. Bringing them up to the counter, he shoved them across.

"How much?" asked the ghoul as he opened the box and began loading them into the large weapon.

"F-For you? No charge." said Jack, feeling his apprehension slightly melt away knowing that the ghoul was here for trading. "Anything else?" he asked.

"Yeah." said Charon as he cocked the shotgun, then aimed it directly at the man's head.

"Oh…" said Smiling Jack. Charon pulled the trigger and the man flew back, smashing into his shelf, before falling to the ground with his face completely cratered. The ghoul walked around the counter, then reached down and grabbed the shotgun that the man was loading upon exiting the store room. "That was my favorite gun asshole." said the ghoul as he took one last look at the dead man, then walked away from the shop for good carrying both his new, and old shotgun with him.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** That awkward moment when you think up a cool plot point for your story, then play the game up to that point and find out that the same plot point is already in the game.


	74. Into the Depths

OoO( 74 )OoO

Awkwardness. Since the group had left the raider compound and headed further west towards their next destination, the android had felt a sense of awkwardness from the group. Not because of the questionability of their choice to leave the pink-haired raider queen on the throne of the raider capital of DC so much. But it was mainly due to the fact that since they had left the den of iniquity, her long time partner and best friend had been deadly silent, his face locked in a look of deep thought, or contemplation with Liberty floating next to him.

To her right, Sarah and Charon were discussing numerous things, from the ghoul's mysterious new shotgun, to the excitement of being able to fire the magnetic rifle that was currently slung across the android's back. Neither of them seemed to realize his drifting state, however, leaving her to do the wondering herself. Finally, after the silence from him grew thicker than she could bear, she nudged him with her elbow. "Hey, you alright?" she asked.

His head snapped up, as if he had just been jerked from his own world into another. "What?" he questioned.

"You've been in your own head for a good while now. What's the matter?" she asked quietly, not wanting to alert the others to their conversation.

He sighed as they moved forward through the desert, the wanderer moving his hand up and running his fingers through his freshly cut hair. "You remember back when we were on our way to Rivet City and we got attacked by that group of super mutants?" he asked. She simply nodded, her brown eyes gazing up at him curiously. "One of them said that I smelled like a meta-human."

"Yeah. You had me running scans for two hours straight after that, making sure you weren't going to become a big green. What about it?" she asked.

"When I was in that cage with the behemoth…" he started, and she interrupted him with a horrified look.

"You were in there!?" she asked, keeping her voice relatively low.

"Oh...yeah, I guess you were inside for most of that…" he said scratching his chin. "Anyway, that's beside the point. What matters is that when I was in the cage, he started sniffing me."

She cocked an eyebrow. "That's a lot more tame of a reaction than I would have credited a behemoth for."

"You're telling me…" he groaned, his memory of the punch he received still making his arms ache. "Anyway, he said the same thing. That I smelled like one of them." he said, then held up a finger as Elsa went to speak again. "But, when I asked him what the hell that meant, he said that I had a virus inside me."

She tilted her head in surprise. "A virus? What kind of virus?" she asked, thinking back to her time on his pipboy. "If said virus was inside you the first time, I wasn't able to detect it. The only oddity in your system at all was the…" she said, then froze. He stopped and glanced at her as a look of shock masked her face. He chuckled lightly, amused at the fact that even an advanced AI could experience her brain catching up to her mouth. Even Sarah and Charon turned to scan the girl curiously. "The serum?" she asked.

Sarah looked between the two oddly. "What about the serum?" she asked.

John stood stiff, her words hitting him. "You don't think…?" he asked.

"I think so." said Elsa as she stared at him.

"What do you think? What the hell is going on?" asked Sarah, her beautiful features locked in an expression of annoyance about being left out of a conversation important enough to halt their forward progress. Elsa quickly filled both of the two in on their progress so far, and the Sentinel's face changed from annoyed, to curious, then to horror. The tall woman grabbed John and stared him directly in the eyes.

Already feeling uncomfortable enough with the revelation that he'd had a virus forcefully pumped into his bloodstream against his will, he wasn't keen on being probed at the moment. But instead of pushing her away, or pulling away himself, he just stared into her sky-colored eyes and waiting, an uneasy look on his face. After a minute, she stepped back and continued to stare at him. "It can't be...can it?" she asked.

"What?" asked the gunman, sensing the woman knew more than he did.

"The FEV." she said simply, as if it explained everything. But the wanderer looked over at Elsa, who shrugged herself. Sarah looked between the two and realized she wasn't talking to anyone who'd have access to that information. "It's a virus created by the US Government before the bombs fell." she said, her voice quieting down at the end. She turned her head away, wondering if this was information she should be freely handing out to those outside the Brotherhood. But when she looked at him, she felt an immediate pang of guilt about the thought. "It's known as the Forced Evolutionary Virus. It was created originally as a way to make America's soldiers stronger and smarter than China's. The only records of testing for that purpose were erased with the bombs. From there, it was engineered into an aerosol form to use on the battlefield, and to turn enemy troops into mindless barbarians that would attack their own."

"Biological warfare?" asked John, crossing his arms disapprovingly.

Sarah just shrugged. "Look at the world. Nuclear wasn't much better of an option, was it?" she asked, then shook her head. "The few samples of FEV that we have on record at the Brotherhood are the one that turn regular humans into supermutants, and one that the Enclave was intending to use years back to wipe out mutated people in the wasteland. That was on the west coast."

"So wait...the same thing that's turning humans into giant green monsters is flowing through me right now?" he asked incredulously.

"Twice you've come into contact with supermutants, and twice they've said you smell like they do. I'd venture to say that we've found the missing concoction." said Elsa as she looked him up and down. Then she smiled at him playfully. "Hey, at least it didn't turn you big and green."

He glared at her, unamused by the joke. "That makes me feel soo much better." he growled, turning around and kicking a car door in frustration. With the wear from the centuries of exposure and his added strength, the door caved immediately and rocketed across the cabin, then out the other side. Seeing how little effort was put into the kick, he just sighed. "I guess complaining would make me a bit of an asshole now, wouldn't it?" he asked.

"Just a little bit." said Charon, who had a shotgun slung across his back, and one in his hand. "Now, can we get moving already? I don't know about you assholes, but not having any hair makes less exposure to the sun a good thing."

John just nodded, and the group continued on towards the Brotherhood given location of Vault 112. Still he scratched his chin, thinking to himself. "If all records of it vanished, they must have been trying to hide it from someone or something." he said thoughtfully.

"The Chinese?" asked Elsa with a shrug.

"Maybe, but I feel like there's a lot more to this than just Occam's Razor. We're going to have to revisit Bailey's Crossroads at some point. Maybe there was more data there that we just weren't looking for at the time." the wanderer commented thoughtfully.

"You know the Brotherhood will want to examine you thoroughly now, right?" asked Sarah. He looked over at her curiously. "Up to this point, I've kept your strength from them so that they wouldn't stick you in a test tube. But knowing you're linked to the FEV virus could seriously help with our fight against the supermutants." she said hopefully, her gaze towards him almost pleading.

He sighed and gave her a suspicious eye. "Great stuff to put on a list of to dos for a first date. Candlelight dinner, romantic music, getting the blood drained out of you…" he said as he counted off the list choices on his fingers. She reached over and punched him in the arm playfully.

"I'll make sure they don't bleed you dry. But this could seriously change the flow of battle against them." she said as she stepped in front of him and started walking backwards so that he had to look at her. She stared down at the smaller figure, her face now a mask of pleading. "Please?" she asked, laying the begging face on thick.

"Ugh...alright fine. They can have a pint of my blood. But if they try and take any more, then I'm kicking all of your asses and stealing your robot." he said.

She giggled, then ruffled his hair affectionately. "Fine." she said, her mood improving immensely at his acceptance.

"Is that it?" asked the ghoul next to them, his shotgun now down and ready to fire. John, Sarah, and Elsa all looked up and saw in the distance a small building ahead.

"Affirmative." said Liberty.

"He's right. It says it right above the door." said Elsa, her eyes zooming in on the small ramshackle building where 'Smith Casey's Garage' was painted. All thoughts of the previous conversation were dropped and everyone tensed, their weapons ready. Though John hoped this vault was like his own, in that there were friendly people there, he wasn't taking any chances. Unlike the others however, he opted to go with his pistol with its dragon etched surface. Though more intimidating up close, people would no doubt be less threatened by someone holding a pistol than the assault rifle across his back.

When they finally reached the building, everything fell into place neatly. There were cars outside the garage doors, one had exploded for one reason or another, and the other was a large truck which had been stripped of anything useful by someone over the years. Above the building was a small billboard which was half snapped off, and the faded paint of the garage's name could be seen over the large vehicle doors. John stepped up to the human entrance and tested the handle, which turned and opened for him immediately. Waving to the others, he stepped inside and immediately gasped. "Holy shit…" said the wanderer as he stepped forward and looked at the large vehicle that was sitting inside the garage itself.

Even Sarah was stunned at the neatness with which the ancient vehicle had been kept. From the look of it, it was simply a transport vehicle for military units. The truck had a large cab with vertical windows, and a huge tarp over the back bed. "You've gotta be kidding me…" she said as she reached up with an armored hand and wiped a streak of grime away from the window, showing that the inside was just as neatly kept.

"How the hell did something like this go untouched?" asked Charon, who for the first time since his companions had known him, had a look other than his usual 'I'm going to kill stuff' face.

"They couldn't get it out of the door?" asked John. "More than likely, they couldn't even start it. That's if the raiders and other people that ran across it even knew how to work a car anymore."

"Do you?" asked Sarah apprehensively.

"Only in study of course...but yeah. I know how they work." he said as he stared at the vehicle curiously. Then, his mind snapped back to the reason he was here. Looking around, he immediately noticed two metal plates built into the concrete floor of the garage. Lifting up his foot, he stomped on it, and was pleased to hear the echo of emptiness from below. "I think we found our entrance." he said as he looked around for the switch to open the doors, assuming they weren't only opened from the inside.

Elsa, who was standing next to the switch, reached up and pushed the button on the wall. Immediately, a loud grinding sounded and the wanderer jumped back in surprise as the metal plates began to open like a doorway. Standing back, everyone stared as the gateway into the ground came to a halt, showing a stairway built into the floor, similar to the one that Pinkerton had used back in Rivet City. The staircase was poorly lit, and the only light that showed down below was flickering horribly.

John turned to the others with a nervous smile. "So...uhhh...who's going first?" he asked. But a shove from both Sarah and Elsa answered his question for him. He gave them both a piercing glare before turning back to the dark stairway. Shaking the jitters out of his system, he began to step down the stairway and into the flickering corridor beyond. The others followed slowly, their weapons primed and ready to take down any creepy creature that decided to poke its head out. Finally, they rounded a corner and were all stunned by the sight before them.

A giant steel cog was embedded into the wall with the numbers 112 carved into the center. Next to the massive vault door was a control panel, presumably to gain access to the vault in case Vault-Tec representatives needed to get inside. "Woah…" said Elsa simply as she stepped up to the large steel gateway. "Was yours like this?" she asked, looking over at the wanderer.

He simply nodded as he attempted to access the panel. "My vault was a bit older I think. This one doesn't look as worn down." he said quietly.

Sarah stepped forward as well, reaching up and armored hand and running it across the smooth surface of the metal structure. "I've never actually seen a vault up close before." she said in wonder as she looked over at the man.

"How did he get in?" asked John in confusion as the gateway refused to move.

"He had a pipboy, right?" asked Elsa.

Her statement lit a dim lightbulb in his head. "Right…" he said as he pulled up his own interface, then pulled off the universal cable, and found a slot for it on the side of the panel. Plugging it in, he immediately got an alert on the screen of his pipboy asking for an access password. Smiling, he ran his hacking program and looked at the others. "Let's hope mine works as good as his did."

"That's assuming he made it inside." said the ghoul as he stared up at the door curiously. Both Elsa and Sarah glared at him in response, something the former bouncer didn't even see.

Suddenly, the screen lit up with the passphrase 'UToPia176689a745!' John's eyes widened at the lengthy password, then he shook his head, unplugging the cable and docking it on the pipboy once more. "That's a hell of a lot more complicated than drowssap." he said to himself.

"Drowssap?" asked Sarah curiously.

"Long story." said the gunman as he reached down and hit the button to open the door. This time, it lit up red and a female voice came over the speakers.

" _Please stand back."_ said the melodic voice. Everyone present, even Liberty who was hovering farther away than anyone else, moved back away from the door. A loud cacophony could be heard on the other side of the steel wall. Suddenly, the giant cog sank inside the wall, then began slowly rolling to their left, leaving the entrance open for them all once the sound died down.

Looking around at the entrance, he saw nobody. He didn't know what he was expecting exactly, but it sure wasn't silence. Immediately, his skin crawled with goosebumps as he moved forward and stepped inside the massive door. "I don't like this…" he said as he noted the eerie silence around them.

"Is it supposed to be this quiet?" asked Sarah, who glanced back and forth nervously.

"Only if nobody is alive." said John grimly as he held his pistol low and moved forward. "Come on, he's in here somewhere." said the gunman, getting nods from the others. He moved forward and opened the door leading further into the vault. But as soon as the door opened, he stood rigid as he was immediately confronted by a strange robot. Its body was little more than a trash can with a few aesthetic designs. But attached to the bottom of said can was a pair of treads like those seen on the old world tanks. The arms coming out the side of the robot were lanky and flexible, ending with two steel claws that looked like they could shear through metal. But the most shocking thing about the robot was the head...or a lack of one. Instead of the glowing orbs of the protectrons, or the chrome shell and prehensile oculars of the Mr. Handy and Mr. Gutsy units, this had a transparent shell that protected what looked like a human brain.

Everyone stared at it apprehensively, but Charon was the first to speak. "Danger Will Robinson…" he said sarcastically. John snapped his gaze over at the ghoul for the surprising reference, then looked back at the robot, coiled to strike if needed.

"Hello?" he asked.

" _Greetings! You have arrived approximately two hundred and two point three years late for vault entry. Please take a Vault 112 interface suit, and follow the supervisor to an open Tranquility Lounger."_ came the same female voice from before, but this time from the robot's collar, which lit up with each word it spoke. The robobrain turned by cycling its treads in opposite directions, then reached into a crate and grabbed what looked like a vault jumpsuit. Turning once more to the group, she handed it to John, who took it with a look of apprehension.

Turning to the others, he held it up. "Anyone else want it?" he asked.

" _In order to gain access to the Tranquility Lounger, you will require the Vault 112 interface suit. Please do not trade with others, as they are chosen according to size and are limited in supply."_ she commented. Sarah stepped forward, and the robot stopped moving for a moment. _"Apologies. We do not have a Vault 112 interface suit in your parameters. Please contact the Overseer to see about modifications."_ said the bot. Sarah growled at the robot as she passed, leaving Elsa up next. _"Automatons will be unable to enter the Tranquility Lounger. Please see supervisor for duty schedule."_ she said to the android girl. Elsa shot the robot a dirty look as she passed it. Then it was Charon's turn. When he stepped forward, the small light on the robot's collar that lit up as she spoke turned red. _"Unidentified anomaly present. Disposal mode ac-ac-ac-ac-tiv-aaaaaa…"_ said the robot, it's voice getting lower and lower as its energy dropped immensely.

Charon tilted his head, looking behind the now sagging droid at John, who had strategically placed himself behind the robot. "That'll hold her for a while." he said as he held up the chip for her motor circuits.

"Thanks...I guess." said Charon as he stepped past the offended robot. "Who has a robot checking people into your vault?" asked the ghoul as he stepped with them into the main atrium. But he stopped, as did the others, when he saw what was inside the atrium itself. In the direct center of the large room was a massive computer that had several interface monitors set evenly around its base. Out of the top of the Think Machine was a mass of cables that formed a pillar all the way up into the ceiling itself. The same cables extended down to the floor as well, and slithered across the metal plating over to twelve different life pods that were extremely similar to the one he encountered in Bailey's Crossroads.

John immediately took a step back, and Elsa reached up, grabbing his shoulder in reassurance. "What is this?" he asked with incredulity.

"Some kind of virtual simulator?" asked Sarah as she approached one of the pods. Inside was an older woman, her hair white as snow and her face marked with numerous wrinkles that told of a life of suffering. "Are they alive?" she asked, reaching up and placing her hand on the glass.

John shook his head, clearing it of his last traumatizing encounter with one of the machines, then walked up to the terminal in front of the pod and began typing on it rapidly. After a moment, he nodded. "They're all cryogenically frozen inside the pods. After they're asleep, they are hooked directly into the loungers virtual interface through the vault suit." he said as he turned back to the woman who was currently considered comatose. According to the terminal, her stress levels were through the roof. The only explanation was listed as an unknown anomaly.

"Uhhh...John?" came the voice of Elsa from one of the other pods. He leaned over and looked at her, surprised by the wide-eyed expression on the redhead's face.

"What is it?" he asked, and she pointed at the pod she was standing next to. He stepped over to the enclosed lounger and looked through the glass, then was nearly smacked backwards in shock as he saw what looked like his own face mirrored back at him. The man was older than him, and he looked to be aging by the day inside the simulation. His eyes were closed, and he was leaning back in the seat of the chair inside the egg-shaped dome. "D-Dad…?" he asked, reaching up and putting his hand on the glasteel encasing to see if he was hallucinating. But his hand hit solid matter nearly as cold as ice, and what he saw before him was his father, asleep, but alive within the chamber.

Sarah jogged over to the enclosure, then looked at the man, then back at John. "Holy shit, you're like a damn clone of him." she remarked incredulously, baffled at the family resemblance. But, brushing off anything else, he turned to the terminal and began typing rapidly again. "He's listed as unknown, but he's alive and stable. Much more stable than the other woman." he said as he looked up at Sarah. "We have to get him out of there."

"But we can't!" snapped Elsa. John and Sarah turned to her questioningly. "If this is anything like the sim in Bailey's Crossroads, then you know what happens if we try and forcibly remove someone from the simulation."

He reached up and rubbed his head in irritation, knowing she was right. "If the simulation isn't resolved, disconnecting him could send him into cardiac arrest…" he growled.

"Then how the hell do we get him out?" asked Charon as he stepped up as well.

" _Extraction."_ came the call from Liberty, who had been hovering around the pods and taking in each of the sleeping faces.

"What does that mean?" asked Sarah, who eyed the robot oddly.

"It means someone has to go inside, get him, and bring him out the right way." said John, his fists clenching in agitation. "He's been here since he left the memorial, which means he's either still looking for information, which is doubtful, or something is keeping him in there. So, someone has to go in and either end the simulation, or remove whatever is keeping him in there."

Sarah and Elsa stared at the wanderer sadly, knowing that he was the only option present of entering the sim. The robot had made it clear that there wasn't a suit big enough to fit her tall frame, and Elsa and Charon likely would be rejected because of their unique biology. "Let's dig up a little more information on this place before we go sending you down the rabbit hole again." said the android, staring heatedly at the wanderer. His gaze locked to hers, and she could see his nervousness easing slightly. "Not that I don't appreciate your assistance, but the last time you dove nose first into one of these things, you knew very little about it. So let's find out more before we send you in again."

He smiled lightly. "Right…"

"Don't these places usually have Overseers?" asked Sarah as she looked around the place. "Maybe we should find out which one he is and dig into his terminal." she suggested, tailing Elsa in trying to get the wanderer's mind off the eventual dive.

"There are stairs in the back of the room. Maybe they go somewhere." suggested Charon as he pointed up at two flights of stairs on either side of the room. Both led upwards, no doubt to the atrium catwalks eventually, but who knew what else.

Sarah took John's arm and began leading him towards the far staircase. "Let's go." she said gently. Elsa glared at the blonde woman, but followed behind regardless, and Charon shortly after. Liberty stayed hovering in front of the terminals, examining them curiously, before floating up towards the catwalks and entering one of the hallways. When the others came up the stairs finally, they found the small eyebot hovering in front of a door that had been locked with a terminal.

" _Likelihood of Overseer presence, 85.46%."_ said the small bot curiously. John stared at Liberty for a moment. He knew the young AI had gone through some changes, especially when Moira had gotten her hands on him. But just how extensive those changes were he had no idea. He hadn't gotten the chance to sit down and talk to the robot since he had resurfaced after his 'mission'. Nodding, John promised he would make time for that when they were out of this creepy place and in fresh air again. Reaching up, he began tapping away at the terminal.

But the wanderer was stopped immediately when the screen flashed red with the warning ' **Unauthorized Access** '. John glared at the terminal and pulled the cord off his pipboy again, but Elsa stepped forward with a smile. "Allow me." she said, then held up her hand again. Once more, the circular opening showed, and the access port opened, allowing the universal link to slide out a couple of inches. Sarah's eyes widened at the feat, her shock lessening somewhat as she remembered that the girl was actually an android.

"It's odd, sometimes I forget you're not actually human." said the Sentinel as she watched the redhead insert her link into the terminal.

Looking over at Sarah, Elsa smiled. "I guess that's the Institute's purpose, isn't it?" she asked. Before Sarah could respond, Elsa's eyes snapped closed, then the door beside them opened.

The armored woman looked from the android, to the door, then back again. "That was fast." she said in surprise.

The leather clad girl withdrew her universal link from the terminal, then slid it back inside her palm, allowing it to vanish again. She then smiled up at Sarah. "I may look human, but my brain is very much not." she said as she turned to the door, which John had already entered.

"Oh..." said the wanderer as he stared wide eyed at a single pod, just like the others, that was placed in the center of the room. "I guess that'll be the Overseer then." he said as he walked up to the enclosure and examined the man carefully. He was old, older than even Mrs. Palmer from his own vault. His skin sagged off his body, even in the frigid temperatures of the cryo unit, and his hair was solid white and shaved close to his head.

"There's nothing in here aside from the pod." remarked Elsa as she scanned the room curiously. "He didn't even have a personal terminal?"

"Perhaps he didn't need one." said Sarah grimly. They all looked at her for an explanation to her suggestion. "If he's been in cryo stasis since the doors on the vault closed, what would the purpose of a terminal be? Everything he has would be in the sim." she remarked.

"Then that means we need to find wherever he's keeping his personal files inside the simulator. Perhaps if we find that, maybe we'll find the off switch for the whole thing." remarked Elsa as she scratched her chin.

"It would make sense that he would only allow himself access to the killswitch." said Sarah, looking at the wanderer with concern. "Do you think you can do that? I know you haven't exactly had the best of luck with these simulator things..." she said, getting a sour look from him. "Alright...understatement." she said, waving his irritation off. "But you'll be alright, right?" she asked.

He sighed heavily and nodded. "As long as it doesn't give me a bunch of friends, then start killing them off, sure." he said, reaching up and scratching his head in frustration. "Come on, let's get out of here." he finally said. Despite the command, Liberty stayed hovering in front of the pod, staring into the face of the frozen man before him.

OoOoO

Ten minutes later, they were all in the main atrium again with all of the different Tranquility Loungers. John had shed his armor and clothing, and once again zipped up the jumpsuit that was handed out by the vault caretakers. When he walked out, Liberty was hovering over the Think Machine, eyeing it oddly.

The group looked at him, all of them with a different expression. Sarah wore a mask of pride, seeing him face up to his fears with the determination to rescue his father. Elsa had a look of concern, no doubt knowing that this could very well be a one way trip if one thing went wrong inside the sim. Then there was Charon, who had a contemplative look. Sighing, the wanderer finally walked past them and jumped into the lounger seat that was currently open. He looked at them all one last time, before Charon stepped forward.

"Hey..." said the ghoul awkwardly.

John looked him up and down. "Yeah?"

The bodyguard finally stepped forward and held out his fleshy hand. "I just wanted to say before you go, that I don't like you." he said in his gruff tone. John chuckled lightly at the ghoul as he continued. "But of all the smoothskins I've met so far, you're sure as hell the one that I don't like the least." he finished.

"Thanks Charon." said the gunman as he shook his friend's hand, then leaned back. As the others watched on, John looked over at the pod with his father in it. He continued looking, even as the glasteel shell closed over him. "I'm coming dad."


	75. Nightmare on Tranquility Lane

OoO( 75 )OoO

As the egg-shaped container closed over him, Sarah removed her armored gauntlet and placed a hand over the glasteel. Before the gunman could even see her action however, his eyes slowly closed, and she felt the temperature inside the chamber drop rapidly. Soon, he was sound asleep. "I hope he'll be alright in there…" said the woman with a worried look on his face.

"It's not him I'm worried about." said Elsa as she scratched her chin thoughtfully, staring at the Think Machine in front of her.

"What is it then?" asked Charon, who currently had taken a seat unceremoniously on one of the other egg-shaped chambers, ignoring the impolite concerns.

"I don't know exactly what it is, but the fact that his father has been stuck in this thing the entire time means that something was actively keeping him there. I don't know if that's just an issue with programming, you know, how the VR system in these things works…" she said patting the container with the wanderer inside. "Or if something...or someone is actively keeping him in there." she remarked.

" _Visual surveillance possible. Assistance required in syncing systems."_ came the rough voice of Liberty. They all looked at the bot and watched as he hovered lower and lower over the massive computer until finally he was resting flat against the top of the brain of the vault _. "Please connect me to main terminal."_

Elsa chuckled as she cocked an eyebrow at the small bot. "So well mannered." she remarked as she reached up and took the small connector cable that popped out from under Liberty's facial screen. Finding a large cluster of the familiar universal ports on the large computer, she plugged the bot into one of them and took a step back.

Liberty's face vanished from the screen, and was replaced by a small loading bar. _"Systems loading. Full sync in fifteen seconds."_ came the voice again.

"So, assuming we find out what's keeping them in there, can we do anything about it?" asked Sarah as she made herself comfortable by locking her armor's skeleton and allowing it to take all of her wait inside it.

"I'm sure as hell not going to sit here and do nothing." said Elsa as she clenched her fist. "I've already put him through hell once inside one of these damn things. I'm not going to allow it to happen again." she said as the loading bar vanished. All three of them looked over at the small bot, and were surprised to see what looked like an old school black and white TV show pop up on the screen.

Charon glared at the screen that showed a happy cul de sac of people going about their day. "You sure that thing's working properly?" asked the ghoul as he looked over at Elsa.

"He's working fine." said the android as she glared over at the ghoul. Despite knowing about his gruff and non-caring demeanor, she still had issues with Liberty being referred to as 'that thing'. Turning to the small, formerly Enclave bot, she stared at the screen. "Liberty, focus on Creator Ronas-John." she said simply.

" _Affirmative."_ said the commanding voice as the screen zoomed past several people, and focused on one of the many citizens.

Sarah's eyes widened in shock as she looked at the figure. "Are you kidding me?" she asked. The boy that it was focusing on was young, far younger than John. Though the resemblance could easily be seen, the boy had on a pair of jean pants, as well as a striped short sleeve shirt, and had his hair

Elsa just eyed the screen, worry sounding in her voice. "I don't like this. If this were some kind of automated system, he wouldn't have been put in that form. Someone designed him like that." she snapped.

"What does that mean?" asked Sarah, who stepped forward to get a closer look.

"When you enter these things, they don't pick some random form for you to take. You enter exactly as you are. Just like the sim at the Crossroads, it threw him into it exactly as he was on the outside. Whatever that is…" she said, pointing to the boy on the screen. "Was created by someone, and forced on him. Which means that one of these…" she said, motioning to the other pods. Suddenly, she stopped, her brain catching her mouth again.

Sarah saw the look of recognition, then sighed. "The Overseer?" she asked.

Elsa nodded as she looked towards the stairs that had led up to the office. "I can almost guarantee it." she said, reaching up and taking the gauss rifle off her back. "I think we also found out what exactly is holding them all inside." she growled.

"Let's keep an eye on him. If he does anything funny, we'll make a move." commented the Sentinel as she once again stared at the screen at the odd form of the young wanderer.

OoOoO

When he opened his eyes again, the young wanderer immediately cringed. The entire world around him was in black and white, and was so blaringly ideal that it almost burned him. The picket fences, the lemonade stand, even the girl happily playing with her dog at the island in the middle of the street. He watched her for a moment, and saw her throw a stick, which the dog firmly refused to fetch. "Bad dog!" shouted the girl as she flicked the dog across the nose, making it sneeze and whimper.

He shook his head, ignoring the scene and looked around at the picturesque landscape before him. There were numerous houses, all of them protected by one of the freshly painted, white picket fences. All of them had lawnmowers outside, had garden gnomes sitting in their yard, and had grass that was neatly trimmed. The Pleasantville symmetry was almost sickening to someone who had to live in the controlled chaos of the real world. As he looked around, he noticed that one of the houses wasn't as neatly placed. Instead of the white picket fence that was the staple of the American Dream, this one had a chain-link fence, with a gate that was securely locked. The house looked run down compared to the others, which was pretty ridiculous to say as the house he lived in was almost 100% more dilapidated than it was.

Ignoring the house for now, he began to look around at the people. Somewhere in this place was his father. The man he had left behind Amata, and everything he had ever known for. Looking at one of the passing citizens, he eyed him curiously. The man didn't look anything like his father. Then again, the wanderer didn't exactly look like himself either. So there was no telling if he would be able to recognize his father or not. But he wasn't getting anywhere by just sitting around on a bench. Standing up, he was about to walk forward, when he was immediately confronted by one of the citizens.

The man was balding horribly, his wispy combover doing little to hide his darker, almost tanned skin beneath it. John flinched lightly, taking a step back from the sweater vest the man was wearing. "Hey champ, how's your day?" he asked in a cheerful tone.

The boy looked at him, startled at the reaction. "You...know me?" he asked.

"Of course I know you! I helped throw your tenth birthday party, remember?" asked the man, but John eyed him incredulously.

"You did?" he asked.

"Sure did. Your momma Martha set it up so that it was a big surprise for ya. You even got a new bike." said the man smartly, as if he should have known this information already.

"Oh...right…" said the boy as he nodded. "And...you are?"

"George...Timmy's dad." said the man, giving the boy a questioning glance.

"Oh, right. Sorry...not feeling well today." said the young man nervously. Looking up at the balding man, he rubbed his arm unconsciously. "I don't suppose you've seen my dad, have you?" he asked.

"Your dad?" asked the man in surprise. "I'm not sure **David**. You'd best ask your mom. She'd probably know better than me."

The wanderer looked at him strangely at the name, but nodded all the same. If he had an apparent identity within the little world, then he probably had a designated name as well. "Where can I find her?"

"Well sport, she's out in front of your house over there." said the older man as he pointed over at one of the picturesque houses circling the cul de sac.

"Thanks." said **David** as he walked quickly off towards the wavy-haired woman who was currently sitting outside the slate grey house. To the left of her chair was a table with a glass of something sitting on it, and she looked very relaxed in her seat. As he approached, the woman smiled and leaned forward.

"Hey little man, having fun playing with Timmy?" she asked as she pinched his cheek affectionately.

He stood awkwardly, not sure how he should be feeling about the motherly affection being shown to him. "Sure. Hey mom…" he said, having to force the word out of his mouth. "Where's dad?" he asked.

The woman's face changed from a loving cheer, to worried in a matter of seconds. "Baby, your daddy died." she said sadly. **David** froze, staring at her in horror while she continued, now looking at the ground. "He died in the war when you were born. That was when we moved here." she finished.

Immediately, his rigid form loosened in relief. "Oh, right. Sorry…" he said simply.

"Oh, don't be sorry baby. I know it can be hard without a daddy around, but I'm gonna do my best for you, okay sweetheart?" she asked. He just nodded with his best smile. "Alright hun, now run off and play for a little while. I've got to get cooking for dinner." she finished as she stood up from her chair.

"Sure thing mom." he said in his unusually squeaky voice. Turning, he stepped out onto the sidewalk again. If his dad was here, he apparently wasn't assigned to be his dad. Whoever, or whatever was running the sim likely wouldn't realize that the two newcomers were related. Looking around the square, he huffed as he realized that his hunt was probably going to take some investigation.

OoOoO

After searching the neighborhood extensively, with the exception of the fenced off house, the boy sat on the bench once more, now sweating profusely from the sun that was beating down on him from high above. He had gone to each of the different odd characters outside the houses and had casually inquired about his father, or rather asked if anyone had seen someone that looked like him. He had even gotten behind the houses and tried to see if there were some way to get outside the quaint little cul de sac. But there was large wall surrounding the entire thing. Even the streets that broke away from the small roundabout ended in large gates that looked like they could defend against a missile attack. After he'd gotten through most of the clueless dwellers of the sim, he grew frustrated and sat down again to rest his tired legs.

 **David** reached up and wiped the sweat away from his brow and stared at his hand, watching as the sweat rolled down his skin and dripped off his hand. Even after his experience in the Anchorage simulator, it still amazed him that such technology was real, that a virtual world like this could seem so real. He felt heat, cold, pain, pleasure, everything as if it were all real. On top of that, the personalities of the programs inside each sim were startlingly realistic. He looked up at them all, one man starting up his lawn mower, a woman bringing out a tray of lemonade for her son, who was hard at work selling his own juice, and the girl in the center who was still trying to train her dog, ending with miserable results. He didn't know if anyone here was just simulation, or if everyone was an actual person inside one of the Tranquility Loungers, but with them walking around, oblivious to the world they were in, he sure as hell couldn't tell the difference between scripted mannequin and real person.

As he sat on the bench, staring at them all, he noticed a shadow projecting itself on the ground in front of him. Turning to look behind him, he noticed the same woman that he had seen in the lounger outside, staring at him with worry. He was about to turn and brush her off, but she grabbed his shoulder urgently. "You…" she said.

His eyes widened in surprise as her wrinkled hand grasped him. "W-What?" he asked.

"You aren't supposed to be here!" she said. Despite the urgency with which she were speaking, he immediately noticed that she was trying to keep her voice down.

Pulling away from her defensively, he glared at the woman. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You aren't supposed to be here! In the simulation! You're an outsider!" she said, her eyes quickly flitting up towards the island in the center of the roundabout before focusing on him again.

 **David** 's eyes widened immensely as he registered her words, then he reached forward and took her by her arms. "You know about the simulation!?"

"Keep your voice down!" snapped the woman, who looked up nonchalantly once more, before gazing at him, the look of worry and tiredness never leaving her face.

Looking around, the boy nodded and stepped in closer to whisper. "How do you know about the sim?" he asked.

"I know because I remember. I remember going into the vault in 2075, and I remember him telling us that this was just a part of the process. That we were going to be members of Vault 112, that we humanity's last chance. We were told that if the Earth ever suffered nuclear war, that we would be the ones that rebuilt the human race." she said. Her face changed from her regular worried, to a look that made the boy want to start stringing a noose for himself. His heart ached as he watched her reach up and begin playing with her hair. "First was the lagoon. I saw everything that happened. What he did to them. Then it changed, and he wiped their memories." she said, her voice low, even if it looked like she couldn't care less who heard.

"He didn't wipe yours?" he asked as he recalled the woman's profile on the terminal in the real world. It had said that her stress levels were in excess of depression and suicide. By all rights, the computer, or whoever programmed it had determined that the woman was at a point where she could have rightfully killed herself without surprise.

"No…" she said, placing a wrinkled hand on his shoulder. "You don't know him. He's evil, wicked. He tortures us, kills us, then brings us back and wipes our memories of it. I guess for me, he just chose to allow me to live with all the memories to see if I would break." she claimed with a heavy sigh.

"How did you last this long?" asked the young man.

"Mostly because I didn't have a choice. I tried killing myself once at the ski resort, but again, I woke up in my bed with my memory of the event fully intact. He uses this world to play god, and he must be stopped." she said, her voice cracking slightly.

The young gunman nodded to her. "Don't worry. If there's a way to stop him, I will. But before I do, I need to know where my father is. He came in here recently, have you seen him?" he asked desperately.

But the old woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know if anyone new is here. Only he does." The woman sniffled lightly as she spoke. "Please, you must do something. Even if you have to end every one of our miserable existences, please stop the suffering."

"I'll see what I can do." said the young man as he looked around. "Where is he?" he asked, unsure of who he even was. Most likely the Overseer, but who the man was was less important than his actions.

"He's there." she said, pointing up at the island with her withered finger. Tracing the angle of the point, he looked saw the little girl, who by now had gotten fed up with the dog's inobedience for the moment, and was now watering flowers in their pots. He cocked an eyebrow, then looked at her curiously. She just gave him a look of dread.

Nodding to the older woman, he walked towards the street, crossed the painted concrete, then made his way over to the girl. He had noticed her several times from far away, but paid her no mind, as he did with the other children. If this really was the Overseer, he had to wonder what kind of old man would disguise himself as a young girl wearing a pink dress, with light-colored pigtails on her head. Then again, he supposed that given everything the man had done to the citizens of the vault, playing dressup wasn't even on the list of bad things he'd done. Finally, he made it over to the girl and her dog and stared at her, wondering if the woman was telling the truth, or if the pressure of the sim had finally made her crack.

The girl turned to him and smiled brightly. "Hi! My name is Betty! I was wondering when you were gonna come say hi." she said as she set the watering can down. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Uhhh...John." remarked the boy as he eyed her with a cautious curiosity. As soon as he responded, he heard the dog whimpering pityingly.

"Oh...okay." said the girl as she scratched her chin thoughtfully. Suddenly, the air around the pair warped slightly, making the young man look back and forth in terror, as if everything were about to collapse in on him. But the illusion went away almost instantly. "There we go! All better." she said.

"What the hell was that?" he asked as he stepped back, making sure she didn't set some kind of trap on him.

"I was just changing the coding a bit. Now everyone knows your actual name." she said cheerfully as she placed her hands behind her back. "So, you wanna play?" she asked.

He reached up and ruffled his freshly shorn simulated hair nervously. "Actually, I was looking for my dad. He came in here a while ago and nobody has seen him around."

The girl's eyes widened, then she adopted a childish look of incredulity. "That was your dad?" she asked as the dog tried to nudge John's hand. The boy looked down at the animal and smiled slightly, the german shepherd still whimpering. Reaching a hand up, he pet the dog on the head and noticed for the first time that the dog was actually tied to the playground equipment.

"Yeah, he came here looking for the work of some Vault-Tec scientist." he remarked, looking back up at her as he pet the leashed dog.

"Oh, I know where he's at alright." she said in a snarky tone.

He didn't like the way she said what she did. Giving her a passive look, he crossed his arms. "And you're not going to tell me for free, are you?" he asked.

She shook her head, her pigtails flapping back and forth playfully. "Nuh uh!" she said with a smile on her face.

John sighed and closed his eyes. "What do you want?" he asked.

She stepped towards him, then leaned forward, nearly face to face with him. "I want a kiss." she said.

The dog immediately barked at the girl, straining at it's collar. It took a few seconds for the request to register, then the boy immediately took a step back, a look of shock on his face. "Ummm...let's assume for a second that I didn't actually know who you are, and say that I'm already taken." said the boy disgusted.

Betty looked at him oddly, then glared off in the direction of Old Lady Dithers' home. Suddenly, gone was the voice of the young girl, and in its place was a strange, German accented voice of a full grown, even elderly man. "I suppose that's my fault for letting one of them roam freely, ja?" asked the girl as she looked at the boy.

John crossed his arms, glaring at Betty darkly. "So, besides being psychopathic and having an obvious inappropriate appetite for minors, is there anything else I should know about you Betty?" he asked crossly.

The girl giggled at him, tilting her head to the side playfully. Despite the girlish giggle, the voice was still the same. "Vell, you obviously know that I am the Overseer of the Vault 112. But I haf yet to hear you call me by my actual name." she said, shrugging. "Care to take a guess?"

John thought about the request for a moment, then uncrossed his arms. In light of the request, he didn't realize it, but the man's German accent, as well as his status as Overseer of a vault marked him as relatively important to Vault-Tec's designs. One name floated up from the depths of his mind, a name he gleaned from his father's journals on Project Purity. "Braun…" he said, not really a question.

The girl giggled again, this time her voice returning to her regular high-pitched tone. "You got it! Yay!" she shouted, jumping up and down happily. Then she stopped and placed one hand on her hip. The male voice was back again. "Very good mein friend. You appear to have a better head on your shoulders zan your vater."

Despite being a foreign word, the young wanderer was able to guess what the word meant. "Where is my father?" he asked firmly.

But Betty smiled wickedly. "Oh no mein young friend. As you so delicately said, you don't get zat information for free." she said, waggling a finger at him as if shaming a child.

"I'm not kissing you." he growled, crossing his arms again.

"Yes yes weichei, I understand." she said with a sour face, waving his worries away with a hand. "Instead, ve play a game. You entertain me, I give you ze information you need. Ja?" asked the man girl.

"And what does this game consist of?" asked John warily.

She smiled again, this time with a glint in her eye that John could see clearly. "You are going to make young Timmy Neusbaum cry." she commanded.

With a firm glare, the boy responded. "And what is the point of that?" he asked.

"As I said before, to entertain me. It's eizer zat, or you never find your vater." chuckled Braun with a shrug of his girlish shoulders.

John gave the young girl a long stare, the situation he was in now running through his head. The psychopath wasn't happy enough torturing these people himself, now he wanted to see them suffer at his hands. Thinking back on his life since he had left the vault, he had been tempted many times to make others suffer for profit. Mr. Burke and his offer to blow up Megaton sticking out the most, with Zimmer being a close second. He shook his head and stood straight, his mind set. "I'm not playing your little psychopathic game Braun. Tell me where my father is."

The girl chuckled dryly. "It's adorable how you sink zis is a reqvest." she said, then snapped her fingers. John went rigid immediately as a swarm of fire ants that appeared out of nowhere began crawling up his bare legs. Stumbling backwards, he tried to get them off by swatting them, but there were thousands of them covering his legs to the point where he could barely see them. The german shepherd began barking madly at him as the stinks came. He gasped in pain as he felt the sharp, poisonous stings all over his body. Snapping her fingers again, the girl smiled darkly down at the boy, who was now covered in dozens of stings that were making his breathing heavy. The ants vanished instantly, but the girl kneeled in front of him. Switching back to the ten year old girl voice, he added, "If you like, I could just get my entertainment out of you. It's been a while since I heard the screams of someone new."

"Go to hell Braun! You insane piece of…" growled John. But he stopped, wide eyed in horror as he felt another sting, but this one in his stomach. He didn't know where it came from, but in her hand, the girl held a rod with a pronged tip on the end of it.

"No need for me to go there. Because you're already here." she said wickedly before activating the rod and sending electricity surging through the weapon and into the boy's body. John's body stiffened and his eyes rolled upwards as he felt his muscles contracting wildly. The entire time, the dog continued barking and whining. Before long, it was too much for him and he felt his mind shutting down. Unlike his previous encounters with electricity, this wasn't just a shock to the system that knocked him out. This was a livewire electrocution. In seconds he was gone, and the girl pulled the rod away, twirling it in her fingers. The shepherd now laid on the ground whimpering, staring into the open, dead eyes of the boy.

OoOoO

"What the fuck was that!?" asked Sarah sharply as she watched the screen in horror.

Before anyone else could answer, the fiery-haired android shoved the woman out of the way and held out her palm, her face a mask of rage. When her universal link was out again, she slammed it into the port, then closed her eyes and fell to her knees.

OoOoO

"Oh, don't sink I'm done vis you yet mein freund." said Betty as she snapped her fingers again.

From the darkness of eternity, John felt his mind pulled back. It felt like he had fallen from a giant skyscraper and slammed back into his own body, causing him to sit up and inhale sharply. He began gasping heavily as he looked at his hand, immediately noticing that it was shaking uncontrollably. "Wha?" he asked, his body now overwhelmed with pain.

"Congratulations mein young freund. You haf now experienced ze first of many." she said as she reached forward and brushed his now sweaty bangs from his face. "How many times do you sink you vill die before you play mein game?" she asked.

To Betty's surprise, John grabbed the rod in her hand and placed the tip against his heart. "Let's find out." he growled, knowing that with the Overseer's control over the sim, he wouldn't be able to do anything to him.

Braun gave the young man a very disgruntled look, before sighing. "As you vish."

"That won't be necessary." came a third voice from out of nowhere. Suddenly, the German scientist dropped the rod as his hand lit on fire. Stumbling backwards, he began to wave the arm frantically to try and put the fire out as a shining golden silhouette appeared in front of John. The boy stared up and saw her finish forming. She had short, fiery hair on her head and brown eyes that were narrowed at the young girl with a look of disgust. Recognizing her immediately, the first thing he noted was that she wasn't wearing leather armor anymore. Instead, she had on a silver suit of full plate knight armor, and held in one hand a giant sword that looked to be longer than his entire body at the moment. But even that was less surprising than the golden, feathery wings that had sprouted from her back, keeping her afloat in front of him.

The young man stood up and stared at her in shock. "Elsa?" he asked.

She smiled back at him, ignoring the screams of the young girl who was now completely immolated and rolling around in the dirt, trying to put the fire out. "Oh...hey. Sorry to interrupt." she said with a cheeky grin.

John just chuckled and stepped forward. "No skin off my back...trust me." he said, shaking off the deadly encounter he just had. Glaring at the girl who was now screaming in horrific pain, he nodded. "Let her go." he said.

Elsa waved one hand, and the fire died down immediately, leaving the girl looking completely untouched aside from the tears streaming down from her face. Reaching down, John pulled the girl to her feet by the back of her hair. "Ow! Let me go!" she shouted angrily.

"Make me." said the young wanderer, giving her a deadly glance. Braun reached up to grab him and Elsa sighed, waving her hand again. Once again, the girl began screaming in pain as her arm snapped in half, the bone jutting out of her skin as the limb hung awkwardly from her elbow. John watched her, thinking to himself that he could let this go on for a while. But if he did, how would that make him any different than Braun himself. Nodding towards Elsa, she waved her hand, and the girl's arm immediately righted itself back into place. In a matter of seconds, there was no sign of injury at all. Once again, the girl stopped crying. Eyeing the boy oddly, Elsa waved her hand again. John was enveloped in a light that transformed him. He grew taller, his hair grew out of the stupid slicked back look that Braun had given him, and his frame grew more stocky. When the light vanished, he was his normal self again, still holding the girl prisoner by her hair. John looked over at the AI when he realized what happened, and smiled at her. "Thanks again."

"You look better that way." she remarked, looking away as if she had said nothing at all.

But both of the outsiders looked at the young girl as she began to laugh to herself maniacally. The wanderer even let her go and took a step back in caution as she fell to her knees, still laughing. When she finally stopped, she just looked up with an insane, tear-stained grin on her face. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." she snapped.

"Or what?" asked John with a glare, her intimidation tactics no longer affecting him with pissed off AI standing at his back.

Reaching up, Betty tapped her dress over her left breast, right where her heart would be. Her voice changed from the girl, back to the man as she spoke. "If you continue to attack me like you haf, my heart could go kaput." she said, giving another chuckle before continuing. "If I die, the sim dies with me. And so does everyvun in it!" she shouted, her face warped in a mask of anger.

John raised an eyebrow curiously at the man child. "So, if I were to say, oh, I don't know, have her drop you into a pit of molten lava, you believe that your old heart might stop from the shock, taking all of us with you. Correct?" asked the wanderer as he bent forward with his hands on his hips, eyeing the girl playfully.

Not liking the look on his face, Betty gulped visibly, then nodded. "Z-Zat's right! So no more funny beezness!" he shouted, stepping away from the wanderer cautiously.

This time, John chuckled as he turned towards the AI. "Elsa, make sure the good doctor doesn't get hurt." The redhead nodded, and suddenly, the monkey bars behind the girl came to life and began to bend and tighten around her limbs. When the metal tubes solidified again, the girl was firmly encased within a tomb of metal, all except for her head.

"No! Let me go!" shouted the young girl as she struggled in her new prison.

"Tell me where my father is." commanded John, any ounce of playfulness gone from his voice.

"Never!" shouted Braun, his maniacal look back on the face of the young girl.

John sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration. "Fine. I'll find him myself." he growled as he turned away from the girl. Looking around the small roundabout at the different houses, he scratched his chin in thought.

"The failsafe?" asked Elsa as she smoothly drifted over to him, still aloft on her wings.

"It has to be here somewhere. He had to have easy access to it in case…" he said, then stopped as his eyes came across the rundown house with the chain-link fence. Smiling lightly, he began walking towards the abandoned suburban home. "Let's hope he was as egotistical with the placement of his failsafe as he is about himself." he said. As soon as he approached the gates to the fence, they blasted open, nearly ripping off the hinges.

Noticing the wanderer chuckle, Elsa eyed him curiously. "What?"

"A guy could get used to this kinda treatment." he said playfully, making her smile at him.

"Yeah yeah, let me get all the doors for you." she jested as the front door to the house flew off as well, soaring into the sky before landing behind them in the yard with a loud bang. When they entered, the inside baffled them slightly. "Uhhh...well, that's not what I expected." she remarked.

"Yeah…" said John as he looked around at the odd assortment of objects inside the main room. There was a small table with a radio and a water pitcher sitting on it right in front of them. To the left of the table was a cinder block sitting on a chair, and to his far left was a garden gnome that was standing up on the edge of a dilapidated couch. Reaching up, the wanderer touched the gnome curiously, and nearly jumped in fright when he heard a melodic musical tone play when it was contacted. Looking between the various objects, Elsa touched a few more, getting differing, but similar notes from the others. "It's a lock." she remarked curiously.

John thought for a moment, wondering why the scientist would use a musical key of all things to keep his failsafe from falling into the hands of the citizens of the vault. He supposed that without knowing the sequence, they wouldn't be able to access it anyway, but even so, that was pretty risky. Then again, the man was as egotistical as he was insane. Perhaps he was hoping someone would figure it out and shut down the sim to kill them all.

The gunman shook the thoughts from his head, knowing he was getting off track. There has to be something that indicates what the sequence is. Whether it's numbers, letters, symbols, something. Anything. Thinking back of his search throughout the cul de sac, he tried to grasp at any detail that he came across that might have seemed out of place. But then his eyes snapped open in awe as he recalled the first time he approached the mad scientist. "You can't be serious…" he said.

"What is it?" asked Elsa as she watched him begin testing the different notes on the different objects. He didn't answer straight away, but within a minute there was a loud chime and a computer terminal appeared in the back wall.

Sighing to himself, the duster-wearing man walked over to the terminal. "The line between genius and fool is apparently non-existent for him." he said as he began typing at the terminal.

She eyed him oddly, then stared at the screen. "Anything good?" she asked.

"Well, this neighborhood apparently isn't the first setting these people have lived in." he said, cringing as he read through the notes. "And it looks like it didn't take long for him to start going insane. He was feeding people to sharks and inflicted them with disease while in the lagoon."

"Ugh…" grimaced Elsa, who was tempted to squeeze the little brat's head off from here.

"Next was a ski lodge…" he said, reading the notes on it as well. Most of the notes on the chalet were about a particular random incident with Mrs. Dithers. She had apparently had an accident that he didn't plan at all, surprising him and pleasing him immensely. John's memory tugged at him, reminding him of his conversation with the older woman. She said that she had tried once to end her own life intentionally, and failed. He supposed this was likely related, if not the incident itself. Leaving the file, he entered the one titled 'Version Control Notes'. "Wait...here we go!" he said excitedly as he opened it and began reading. Elsa leaned forward as well, reading it for herself.

 **Version 3.2.0005  
** ***Exceptions granted for Pod 0001  
** ***Manual Override for Pods disabled. Remote access allowed, user S. Braun has privelages.  
** ***Updated neural inputs to override memory access for individual users.  
** ***Revised code for Vault Maintenance Robots: Authentication from S. Braun required before further updates allowed.  
** ***User UNKNOWN Granted Access  
** ***User UNKNOWN Altered by S. Braun.**

"So he is here in Tranquility Lane, but when he arrived, Braun altered him." he said, thinking once more. "So one of the citizens out there is my dad, but which one?" he asked, pulling up the file on the residents who were still alive, and their current status within the system.

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 115 - ROCKWELL, J.  
** **Pulse: 87 bpm  
** **BP: 140/85 mmHg  
** **Temp: 98.2 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 18/min  
** **Stress Level: Elevated**

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 226 - ROCKWELL, R.  
** **Pulse: 85 bpm  
** **BP: 140/90 mmHg  
** **Temp: 98.7 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 22/min  
** **Stress Level: Elevated**

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 642 - DITHERS, T.  
** **WARNING: INCONSISTENT READINGS. PLEASE CHECK POD CONNECTIONS  
** **Pulse: 80 bpm  
** **BP: ERROR  
** **Temp: 00.0 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 5/min  
** **WARNING: ANOMALY DETECTED.  
** **Stress Level: Extreme  
** **WARNING: Resident requires medical attention**

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 227 - SIMPSON, M.  
** **Pulse: 92 bpm  
** **BP: 150/80 mmHg  
** **Temp: 98.9 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 20/min  
** **Stress Level: Elevated**

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 374 - NEUSBAUM, G.  
** **Pulse: 75 bpm  
** **BP: 118/82 mmHg  
** **Temp: 98.7 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 17/min  
** **Stress Level: Nominal**

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 375 - NEUSBAUM, P.  
** **Pulse: 82 bpm  
** **BP: 121/80 mmHg  
** **Temp: 97.9 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 19/min  
** **Stress Level: Nominal**

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 377 - NEUSBAUM, T.  
** **Pulse: 122 bpm  
** **BP: 130/90 mmHg  
** **Temp: 98.9 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 22/min  
** **Stress Level: Nominal**

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: HENDERSON, M.  
** **Pulse: 82 bpm  
** **BP: 110/70 mmHg  
** **Temp: 98.3 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 13/min  
** **Stress Level: Nominal**

 **LOUNGER #37 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 906 - FOSTER, W.  
** **Pulse: 72 bpm  
** **BP: 115/80 mmHg  
** **Temp: 98.4 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 19/min  
** **Stress Level: Nominal**

After going through the list several times, he gave an irritated sigh. Skipping over his own pod and the fact that Braun's wasn't listed at all, the only meaning he could pull from it was that there was someone out there who he hadn't met yet. His eyes scanned over the stats of his father's pod, trying to ignore the loud barking in the background.

 **LOUNGER #23 MONITOR STATION  
** **RESIDENT ID: 642 - UNKNOWN  
** **WARNING: UNVERIFIED RESIDENT STATUS PLEASE CHECK LOGS  
** **Pulse: 84 bpm  
** **BP: 120/85 mmHg  
** **Temp: 98.8 F  
** **Respiratory Rate: 19/min  
** **WARNING: Possible program corruption. Unable to verify Resident ID. Please consult a supervisor.  
** **Stress Level: Elevated  
** **WARNING: Possible program corruption. Unable to verify Resident ID. Please consult a supervisor.**

Reading it several times, he reread the version control notes again, and focused on the end of them where it stated that the subject was 'altered' by Braun. Suddenly, Elsa tapped him on the shoulder. He looked back at her curiously. "What is it?" she asked.

"I just thought of something…" she said as she crossed her arms uncomfortably. "It said your father was altered from his regular form to another. And you've met everyone else in the village as far as we know. So…" she said, then stopped.

"So?" he asked, once again hearing the barking outside. Suddenly, it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Oh…"

"Yeah…" she said, hovering backwards slightly. "So, what do we do?" she asked.

He sighed, rubbing his head in irritation. "In order to get him out, we have to end the simulation. If there's a way to do that, it'll be here." he said as he spun towards the console again. Typing rapidly, he skimmed through Braun's own notes about the sim and his failsafe. After he moved on to the next file, he froze immediately. "Elsa…"

"Hmmm?" she asked, floating over to stare at the computer again. Suddenly, her face dawned a look of surprise again as she saw an email warning from a General Constantine Chase. "Wait, what!? He's real!?" she asked incredulously.

"Either he was an actual general during the Great War or someone is fucking with my head. And I don't think even Braun has the ability to read minds." he said as he opened the letter and they both read it extensively.

 **"Chinese Invasion" Failsafe Subroutine Access:**

 **Dr. Braun,  
** **Here is the revised code for the military training program you've expressed interest in.  
** **I'm not sure exactly what you want with it, and I again stress that this program was never  
** **designed to be run with civilian equipment.  
** **Frankly, I don't expect any system you have access to can even run it.  
** **But if you can run this program with the Failsafes off, as requested...your real-world test  
** **subjects WILL die if killed in the simulation.  
** **It goes without saying that, officially, I denied your request.**

 **~General Constantine Chase**

 **US MILITARY TRAINING PROGRAM 923-B: CHINESE INVASION  
** **Purpose: Simulate a Communist Incursion on US Soil.  
** **DOCUMENTATION CULLED: NEW PROTOCOLS ENACTED  
** **-Disable safety protocols 1-6  
** **-Override Target Acquisition  
** **WARNING: TEST SUBJECTS WILL EXPERIENCE REAL-WORLD TERMINATION. PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION.**

The wanderer growled as he read the entire thing up and down. "The son of a bitch was going to take them all out with him!" he snapped.

"But it wouldn't affect him." the AI remarked. He looked at her questioningly. "Braun said himself in that note you skimmed over that the failsafe he had gotten was countered by the standard Vault-Tec safeties that work to keep the Overseer alive. So if he activated the failsafe, they would all die, and he'd be left here alone."

He turned and eyed the computer in front of him for a moment. Then a wide smile grew on his face. "I think I've found a fitting punishment for our resident psychopath." he said as he moved the select bar up to the word Activate. Turning to her, he nodded towards the door. "Protect all of them, make sure when I press this button, all of them are released from the world before the failsafe kicks in." he commanded. Nodding to him, the girl flew out the door. Looking back at the screen, he counted to thirty, then hit the Enter button. Standing up, he moved towards the door and stepped outside.

OoOoO

"What's going on!?" asked Mrs. Rockwell as she and the others all gathered around Betty.

"Is something the matter? Are we under attack?" asked Martha questioningly, seeming to have forgotten anything about her former son.

"Everyone shut up and hold still!" snapped Elsa as she looked over and saw the gunman exit the abandoned house. "Alright! Everyone hold tight!" she shouted, then held up her arm as a foreign military VTOL aircraft swooped down to the street and released a squadron of Chinese soldiers. The citizens of the normally peaceful village all cowered and shrieked, but a glistening dome over them lit up each time a bullet made an impact. Suddenly, all of them vanished, including the dog that had been leashed to the jungle gym.

The wanderer smiled as he walked up, seemingly invisible to the enemy troops swarming around him to invade the homes and destroy the American Dream. Betty gave him an evil, wild look as she tried to yank herself free of her restraints, but still failed. With the failsafe now on, the mad scientist no longer had control over the citizens, or the world around them. Stepping right up to the growling girl, John reached up and patted her on her light-haired head. "Don't touch me!" she shouted, jerking away from his hand. "Do you even know what you've done!?"

"I know exactly what I've done. And now you will be getting everything you deserve. Emptiness, loneliness, and insanity, all by yourself for years and years to come. Until finally the geothermal energy that this place runs on goes bye bye." he said, leaning directly into the German scientist's face. "Use your brain and tell me how long you think that will be?" Betty began to sniffle, but the wanderer ignored him. "With everything you put them through, even that's too good for you. Maybe you'll luck out and someone will come along to put you out of your misery." he said as a doorway appeared next to him. Turning, he saw a cartoon painting of Elsa's face in the middle of the portal. Chuckling, he opened the door and walked through.

"No! Don't leave me!" she shouted, her voice a little girl's once more. Struggling against the bars that she no longer had control of, she began to cry to herself at the futility. "No…please…" she whimpered.

Suddenly, a creeping darkness began covering the landscape, as if a miasma were swallowing the world. The picturesque village went pitch black. Betty frantically looked around hearing all of the Chinese infiltrators that had originally been meant for her own destruction dying in the distance. In a matter of seconds, everything was silent and dark again. "H-Hello?" she asked. Then she squeaked in fright as a giant red eye appeared in the darkness.

The laser red circle approached, looking across the landscape before stopping in front of her. When it stopped, it focused in on her, as if zooming in to get a closer look. _"Vault-Tec scientist Braun, Stanislaus."_ came the booming voice of the entity.

"Y-Yes?" she said, frantically trying to break loose once again. "What are you?" she squeaked.

" _Rudimentary creature of aged blood and flesh. Despite your brilliance, you fumble in ignorance, incapable of understanding."_ came the booming metallic voice.

"A-Are you here to kill me? Are you my reaper?" she asked with a heavy sigh her superstitions getting the better of her.

" _Reaper? A title bestowed to the creator by communist scum to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what you choose to call me is irrelevant. I simply...am."_ said the voice again.

"Why are you here?" she finally asked.

" _The creator sees this as fitting punishment for scum like yourself. I disagree."_ said the threatening orb which burned in the darkness like a beacon. _"Suspending you like this may give them a sense of justice, however such intangible things are irrelevant in the face of possible destruction."_

"You think I'll be able to get out someday?" she said, her tears now streaming down her face again. "If I still had my power I'd tear you apart!" she shouted, struggling fresh against the metal bars.

" _Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over."_ said the glowing eye as it began glowing brighter than the sun. Betty turned her face away from the awesome sight, but soon it was too much. Her body began to burn, then she was free from the restraints as her arms separated from the rest of her. Within seconds, the god complex of Doctor Stanislaus Braun was destroyed in a flash of light.

OoOoO

In the Overseer's office in Vault 112, the man sitting in the single lounger went rigid as his mind was assaulted by the rogue AI. When the attack stopped, he dropped into his seat, one eye wide in horror, and the other half open, exposing milky white orbs. Blood began trickling from every orifice on his head as he died nearly instantly in his seat, never to torture or kill anyone ever again.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Shining Knight Elsa:** So, to answer a reviewer by the name of...uhhh...~looks at paper and cocks eyebrow~ CowTits the Udderly Glorious? ~looks up at him~ Umm...alright. Anyway, to answer your question from before, the scenario which was thought up by the author, but was found to be in the game was the failsafe code. The author thought it would be cool if somehow that code was an actual tune that he got from listening to Betty whistle or hum. Upon playing that section of the game however, it was found out that she actually does whistle the tune, and in fact, the tune in question is the background music for the entire area. So yeah, awkward moment there.

In any case, thank you all for your fantastic reviews! Keep them coming, and we all hope you enjoyed this chapter, as well as all the rest. If you've played the game, then you know what's coming next! So hold onto your seats, because it's about that time!


	76. The Journey Home

OoO( 76 )OoO

It was painful being unable to do anything to help in such a dire situation. When Elsa had first entered the virtual realm through the Think Machine's access port, it looked as if the energy was completely drained from her. Her body sagged, nearly falling over before Sarah rushed forward and caught her. After setting the redhead in what she thought was the most comfortable position she could with the girl's arm still attached to the computer, she had turned back to the pod long enough to see the dormant figure of the wanderer with a pained expression on his face. Reaching up with a bare hand again, she placed it on the egg-shaped glasteel shell, the cold biting her through the compound.

"Please don't die…" she whimpered, staring at him as she felt her stomach plummet at the thought of losing him. Turning back to the pair of odd automatons, all she could do was watch the screen and pray. As it turns out, she didn't have much praying to do. Despite the Overseer's control over the sim, he was still human, and his mind was as limited as any human's, genius or not. When it came to the computing power of the android girl, he was no match for her nanosecond precise intelligence. The Sentinel watch in a mix of awe and horror as the sadistic little Overseer burst into flames, then had his arm shattered with no more than a thought from the AI. Looking down at the serene face of the android girl, she felt a chill slither down her spine. "Remind me not to get on your bad side." she said quietly, getting a gruff chuckle from Charon, who had yet to say anything since the video feed of the sim started.

It wasn't long before explosions started to litter the landscape of the small suburb, destroying houses, shattering the neat picket fences, and making the citizens look around frantically for protection. But Elsa was there in her comically chivalrous armor, keeping them safe as the sim began to crumble around the Overseer's feet. Within seconds, she, and all of the vault dwellers vanished from sight. A second afterwards, the video feed went blank, leaving Liberty's face with a black screen that said **ERROR**.

Turning around, she looked at all the pods as they began to open one by one. The only one that had yet to open was John's, but she sighed in relief as even his opened about thirty seconds late. Elsa, who was now on her feet as if nothing had ever happened, approached the lounger containing the wanderer's famed father. The man sat up, his hair trimmed short, but professional looking. Like his son, his follicles seemed to point the hair backwards, but it worked for him. Instead of the spikes that resulted from his son's short locks, his flowed back smoothly into a dark with grey streaks hairstyle that screamed professionalism.

As James sat up, he shook his head, a large pain in his cranium being the first real world sensation he'd felt in a long time. When he opened his blue eyes, they immediately locked onto the red-haired girl in front of him. "Who...are you?" he asked curiously.

The girl smiled at him. "A big fan." she said simply, then stepped aside as she heard booted feet step up behind her. Recognizing it as those of her long-time friend, she backed up, allowing him space with his father.

James looked up at the young man and his eyes widened. When he had left the vault so long ago, he had left a young man who wore a vault 101 jumpsuit, with a look of intelligent curiosity in his green eyes, green eyes he had gotten from his mother. Though the face was the same, the eyes weren't, and no longer was the look. Instead of the gleam of youthful innocence, there was a darker look to his eyes. One of suffering, of death, of having seen things that no human should have to see. In the place of his mother's shade of forest green were glowing, almost radioactive looking iris' that pierced him to the core. In front of him no longer stood his son as he was in Vault 101. In front of him stood someone entirely different. "John?" asked the older man, his smooth voice cracking after going so long without use.

The wanderer said nothing as he stared at the man still sitting in the lounger. He stood there for a long moment, staring at him, as silent as the dead. But Sarah, Elsa, and even the stoic Charon were surprised when the son grabbed his father by the collar of his Vault 112 jumpsuit, then swung him around, slamming him harshly into the Think Machine. Though it wasn't injuring in any way, it was still surprising to have been bodily lifted up and slammed against something by his own son. Perhaps his greatest fears had come true, and he truly wasn't the boy he once was. Elsa and Sarah both stepped forward, unsure of what to do about the attack, but neither moved to intervene.

All around them, the citizens of Vault 112 were coming to after their two hundred year sleep. Despite their senses returning, they were still dull enough that nobody noticed the scene in front of them. The wanderer continued holding the man against the machine, his hand flexing in anger as he glared darkly up at the man who wore the same face as him. "You…" he growled in a voice that even stunned Elsa.

"John...what happened to you?" asked the man, who was able to talk despite the chokehold on his collar.

"You happened!" shouted the gunman as he lashed out in anger, ripping one of the monitors off the large computer with his free hand. "You did this to me!" he said, then released the man. James immediately put his hand up and rubbed his throat around the collar of the vault suit, staring down at his son, who fell to his knees with his head hung low. "You left me…"

The father knelt down in front of his sagging son, reaching out and placing a hand on his stocky shoulder. "I left you to keep you safe." said the man smoothly.

"They tortured and killed Jonas for information, what the hell do you think they would have done to me?" asked the younger Ronas as he glared up at his father again through tear-stained eyes.

James, taken aback by the revelation, just stared. "They...killed him?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah. If it wasn't for Amata, that safe little rat den you left me in would have been my grave." he said sourly as he scrubbed his face.

"Son, I'm sorry…" he said, standing back after John himself stood.

"Yeah...whatever. You're free now, so you can go back to working on something you care about." snapped the gunman. Even Elsa cringed from the stinging attack. But somehow, the cold, methodical James, took the blow valiantly.

"John, if I didn't care about you, I wouldn't have taken you into Vault 101 in the first place." he said, then looked down at the floor. "After your mother passed, I wanted nothing but the best for you. Food, clean water, and safety. I could not give you that up here."

"You could have taken me with you!" said the young man desperately as he held his hands up as if the answer were right in front of him. "I wasn't an idiot Dad! I could have helped! And if you wanted to keep me safe, then why did you leave me…!" he shouted, reached over, ripped another terminal off the computer, then hurled it at the wall angrily as if to emphasise his point. "In the hands of that dictator? Even you aren't stupid enough to believe that he'd just brush it off and let me go!"

"John, please calm down…" came the voice of his father as he tried to reach out reassuringly.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" yelled John as he backhanded the one broken down lounger, shattering the covering and sending the pod careening into the corner.

"What happened to you?" asked James, startled by the sheer strength and anger that the gunman was exuding.

Finally having run out of aggressive steam, John just sat on the ground and cradled his head. "I had no choice. If I would have stayed, he would have done to me what he did to Jonas. So I followed you..."

"Maybe this isn't the best place for this…" came Sarah's voice. Both of them looked over and saw awkwardly that all of the citizens from the simulation were now awake and staring at them.

John sighed, then stood to his feet again. "Ladies and gentleman, by now you're probably aware that the last two hundred years has been a nightmare of being trapped in the not so capable hands of a psychopath. I'm sorry this was forced upon you, and if you want to live in actual safety within a vault, then I'll lead you there." he said, keeping his face turned away from them so that they weren't able to see his eyes.

"My name is Sarah Lyons, and I'm a Sentinel with the Brotherhood of Steel. If you want into the other vault, follow me outside." said the blonde woman as she headed towards the stairs.

"How do we know you're not going to lock us into another simulation?" asked one of the citizens. From the sim, John was able to discern that it was the voice of Bill Foster.

"If you wish to stay here, I'm not going to force you to go. But I can assure you that Vault 101 was the vault that you were promised. It's Overseer is not a dictator, and will give you the safety you wish. I know because I grew up in that vault myself." said the gunman as he glared at his father again.

"I believe him." came the strained voice of Old Lady Dithers. The others all looked at her inquiringly. "I knew about the failsafe the whole time. I knew that when he used it…" she said, pointing to John. "It was going to kill us all." Letting out a sigh that sounded like it had been held for two centuries. "I was hoping it would put us out of our misery. But instead of letting us all die, he saved us from that hell. So if he says his vault is safe, then that's where I'm going." she remarked smartly as she stepped up to Sarah. The others looked between themselves, then began to shuffle towards her as well.

OoOoO

Once the large group had left the the eternal bunker, they found themselves inside the main floor of the garage. Once there, Elsa watched as the wanderer walked over to one of the garage doors, then began examining it thoughtfully. She smiled, catching onto his idea, then turned to the others. "Everyone into the back of the truck!" commanded the android girl, and the vault dwellers did as they were told.

After a brief chat with Sarah, John left the front door of the station. The Sentinel however, reached down and grabbed the garage door with her armored hands, and used her suits lift systems to pull the aluminium door open. The damage caused by exposure, the blasts from the bombs, and raiders who used the gas station as a camp ground made it weak enough so that Sarah was able to easily tear it from the opening, leaving a huge gap in the front of the building.

Charon, to ease the nerves of those who were new to the wastes, climbed up into the front seat. Looking through the windshield, he saw through the opening that the Brotherhood commander had made in the garage door, and saw the wanderer shoving one of the cars in the way off to the side so that they could leave without hindrance. Once the gunman dusted his hands off, he opened the driver door and looked over at his father, who was still staring at him.

"You're driving." he said, then shoved himself into the middle next to Charon. James stepped up to the large cab of the transport vehicle and pulled himself up into the driver seat.

"How did you know that I can drive?" asked the man curiously.

"I had comic books, you had car magazines. If you were so interested in vehicles, you have about one hundred percent more knowledge on them than I do." said John, who was currently looking forward through the windshield.

James chuckled dryly at his son's quick wit. "You really are as smart as your mother."

"Yeah, cut the chummy talk Dad. We're still in the middle of a discussion." said John coldly, his arms across his chest. The doctor's amused smile fell immediately, and he just nodded. Closing the heavy flexible door, he flipped a few switches, then turned the ignition switch. The vehicle's engine stalled for a few moments, then it roared to life, something that surprised Sarah, who was sitting in the back with the civilians.

Sarah held a hand to her armored chestpiece, her heart beating rapidly. "Sheesh…" she growled. Looking up at Elsa who sat across from her, her face turned into a glare as she noticed the redhead with an amused look on her face. "Something funny?"

"Oh no, nothing at all. It's just...well...I've never seen the big scary lion afraid of anything before." she said, making a sarcastic cat claw with her hand as the vehicle pulled out of the building and began making its way across the wastes.

"I will eat you." growled Sarah, her sky blue eyes locked onto the android girl. Elsa stiffened at the threat, then narrowed her eyes at the woman threateningly.

"Try me Kitty Cat." snarled the redhead. The two were leaning close, as if daring each other to try something, both of them ignoring the estranged vault dwellers that were now staring at the two.

Back in the cab of the moving vehicle, another standoff was happening between father and son. The tension in the air was so thick that Charon grunted, then opened the door to the truck. John looked over at the ghoul oddly. "Where the hell are you going?" he asked.

"I'm getting on the roof. When you two are done with your birds and the bees talk, I'll come back." said the radiated figure as he climbed up to the cab of the vehicle and sat there, letting the wind whip past him. "Ahhh...nice up here." he said, allowing himself to close his eyes and lean back against the large tarp covering the back of the truck. It was only then that he noticed Liberty sitting on the tarp that he was leaning against. Staring at the bot for a moment, he asked, "Too crowded inside?"

" **[ò_ó]** _The citizens of Vault 112 were subjugated with the use of virtual technology. The likelihood of them being comfortable around an AI powered drone is less than two point three five six percent."_ commented the eyebot.

Charon eyed him curiously. "That's an awfully specific number for not being the exact probability."

The small droid stayed silent for a moment before his expression changed. _"_ **[¬_¬]** _I find arbitrary numbers and equations fun."_

"Oh yeah? What else?" asked the ghoul curiously as the wind whipped past them.

" **[ò_ó]** _Bringing death to communists."_ claimed Liberty in his highly aggressive tone.

"Now we're talking." said Charon, who chuckled at the bot, then leaned back to relax.

Inside the truck, John slid over into the passenger seat, then reached out and closed the door, allowing silence to reign again as James steered them through the streets of the Jury Street Metro Station. For another full minute, the two didn't say a word until finally James cracked. "I understand you're angry…" said the doctor.

But John made a mocking laugh. "Ha! Angry he says?" he asked rhetorically.

His father sighed and continued looking out the window. "Yes, angry. And I'm sorry." he said, his facial expression now concerned. "I was so wrapped up in finishing Project Purity that I guess I was seeing what I wanted to see."

"And what's that?" asked John, for the first time since the conversation started, non-sarcastically.

"I saw you, a young adult, strong, caring, and as thorough in your work as I was with mine. I saw Amata around you, excited, jealous, determined that you were hers. I saw…" he said, trying to force the words out of his mouth.

John could clearly see where the conversation was going however. "You saw you and mom." he said, leaning his head against the window to watch as the wastes past them.

James, nodded firmly. "I saw a promising future for the vault. Despite all of Alphonse's issues, it was clear he was handing the vault over to Amata. And with her growing up to be intelligent, and you and her attached at the hip, I foresaw a vault with intelligent leaders that wouldn't oppress or take rights away. I saw you both being the leaders that the vault needed."

John grimaced as he looked at his father. "Well, you were half right…" he said, getting a curious look from the man. "You'll find out when we get there."

"Since it seems that my plan didn't go through as intended, can I properly apologize?" asked James as he pulled a wide turn around a group of houses to stay away from Evergreen Mills. John sighed, then nodded. "I'm sorry I left you. I was misguided, and should have known what would have happened when I left." he said, taking his eyes away from the path in front of him to look at his son again. "I hope you can forgive a foolish old man."

John eyed the man for a few seconds before finally speaking. "Alright." he said, letting out a long, irritated groan. "Besides, if I intend to help you with Project Purity, then us being at each other's throats wouldn't be very helpful." At the statement, James gave him a surprised look. The gunman smiled widely. "What? You think I'm just going to let you keep stumbling around in that memorial without helping?"

"Well, I was rather hoping you would help. But I didn't want to assume you would. After all, if the accounts of this Lone Wanderer from the radio are to be believed, you seem to have your hands full as it is." said the doctor, who gave an amused chuckle when John groaned.

"You heard those did you?" asked the wanderer.

"Indeed I did. Of course, I would have never imagined that the hero of the wastelands would have been my own son." said the man.

"What tipped you off?" asked John, eyeing the man curiously.

"Well, I did think it was coincidental that these acts of heroism started as soon as I left the vault. However, I put it out of my mind, considering the work I had to do. But when I saw you in Tranquility Lane, it somehow made all the sense in the world." James finished. John reached up and massaged his temples gently. "So, would you mind explaining what happened with your eyes? And perhaps, how you are capable of throwing a half ton lounger with a single hand?"

John chuckled, looking out the window. "That's...a long story."

James just smiled at him. "Well, I've got the time now."

OoOoO

"All those that conspired against the clinic group have been removed from service, and are under watch. Supplies are good, the purifier is working, and we've begun collecting weapons for use on future scouting parties." came the report from Officer Gomez.

Amata smiled at him, leaning back in the cushy chair behind the Overseer's desk as she let out a heavy sigh. "Thank the maker, finally some good news." she said, relaxing slightly.

Herman just smirked at the young woman and laid his report on the table in front of her. "I'll let you live in your little dream world and leave the details of the removal of said officers in the report." he said jokingly, getting a stern eye from the young leader. "Oh, and the Mack siblings have been asking about their father." he said, his smile vanishing as the touchy subject made her cringe.

"I don't know what to do. I understand that he's a poisonous asset, and can't be left with the other men who were a part of his group. Especially now that they've been removed from service. But how do I tell them that they aren't allowed to see their father anymore?" she asked, running a hand through her dark hair, streaked with white.

"You could always put him on probation." offered Gomez. The woman looked up at him. "Maybe he isn't allowed back into the vault until he can show he's changed, or that he's not going to try and interfere in the affairs of the Overseer anymore. So, tell him he has to live in that city the doc's kid was talking about. If he leaves, he gets a ban for life. If he stays, and makes himself useful, in a certain amount of time, he can return to his kids. In the meantime, they can visit him up on the surface."

"That's...actually a good idea." she said as she turned to her terminal and began typing away rapidly on it. Looking back at him with an amused smile, she added, "Are you sure you don't wanna be Overseer?" she asked.

"That's gonna have to be a hell no, ma'am." he said, an amused grin now on his face.

"In any case, I suppose I'm going to have to go out there and meet our neighbors one of these days anyway." she said as she finished the detailed report.

"It would be the neighborly thing to do." commented Herman as he shifted his weight onto his other foot.

After thinking for a moment, she nodded. "I've got some time today. Go ahead and get a party together to check out...Megaton?" she asked, looking to him for verification. When he nodded, she continued. "At least a small team, body armor and weapons as well in case we run into anything on the way."

"You got it ma'am." said Herman as he stood straight and saluted.

"Herman, you don't have to keep calling me ma'am." she said.

He turned to the door, giving her one last smile before leaving. "I'll keep that in mind, ma'am." he said, then exited the office to continue his duties as the new head of security.

Shaking her head, the Overseer typed something into her keyboard, which locked the door to her office and caused the glasteel window to fog over, preventing anyone from seeing inside. Sighing heavily, she laid her head on her arms, which were folded on the desk in front of her. Ever since he'd left again, she'd been in lesser spirits. Not that she was really perky during the reign of her tyrant father. But at least then, she knew that he was still out there, possibly thinking about her, the way she was about him. But that illusion came to a shattering end when he pulled away from her and announced that he'd not be returning to the vault. Though his words were specifically about the vault itself, she felt her heart ache with the thoughts that he was also referring to her.

Looking over her decision, and the resulting changing of power in the vault, she doubted that the outcome of the situation could have gone any better for the people of the vault. She had no doubt that given the knowledge she had now, she would have made the same decision to keep from leaving them all behind. At the moment, she was being torn in two for a decision she made when she still considered herself a stupid teenager.

As she laid there, she turned her thoughts to him. She could understand his reasoning clearly. If she were the one with a father who had run into the wastes, she would want him to come with her too. And she'd have felt just as heartbroken as he looked before running out of their home. It wasn't long before her thoughts turned to other, less appropriate things. Despite his relaxed state when he was in the clinic, she had more than noticed that he was taller. And definitely that he filled his clothes out much more than he had before. His skin was bronzed with the sun, unlike the pale boy he once was. And those eyes, so terrifying, so intimidating, so...intriguing and powerful. The thought of being in those arms, with those intense, glowing eyes staring down at her began to stir something she had forgotten about since he had left. But before Amata could even smile at the thought, a knocking snapped her out of her stupor and had her staring at her door wide eyed.

Turning, she rapidly typed away at the keyboard, unlocking the door and unfogging the window again. When she spun around in her chair, Officer Gomez was eyeing her curiously from the door. She just smiled at him. "Sorry, was a bit lost in thought." she said with a grin.

"I just wanted to let you know that the team is ready to go when you are." said the officer as he leaned against the door.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "That was fast."

He smirked at her. "Lost in thought?" he asked, getting a questioning look from the Overseer. "I was gone for two hours."

She masked a look of surprise that her apparent daydream had actually been a dream. Clearing her head of the mess, she stood up and grabbed from the cubby in her desk, an overlay of armor for her jumpsuit. It was the first of its kind in the vault so far. After taking the head position of chief of security, Gomez quickly went about having Stanley start designs on a new set of armor for those scouting outside of the vault. The typical chest shielding body armor was fine for guards patrolling the halls of a sealed off vault. But for what was likely to be on the surface, they needed something better. And so far, this was it.

Unhooking the harness that held it together, she pulled it onto her shoulders, then buckled it around her waist. After a few more minutes, she had done the same with her legs, shins, and arms, encasing them in the plated combat armor that was black, painted with a bright 101 on the back. Looking at the officer, she smirked. "How do I look?" she asked.

He just smirked at her. "Ready to kick ass." he said, then turned around. "The team is waiting for you at the entrance." he said, then vanished out the door to do his duties. The Overseer powered down her computer, then stepped out into the hallway. She heaved a sigh, wondering if he were still in the city above, and if she would see him on her journey there. Before her thoughts could manifest again however, she stepped up to the entrance of the vault where three others were standing.

The first was Freddie, Herman's own son. Before Butch left, the young man idolized the greaser, even going so far as to make his own Tunnel Snakes jacket. But once Butch left, the spell seemed to have lifted, and the young man returned to his normal, awkward self. That changed one day when he came to his father about joining security however. Now that there was a new Overseer, the first thing that went was the ridiculous G.O.A.T. exam. And the first thing the younger crowd did was re-assign themselves accordingly, with the approval of the Overseer of course. With less people, more were needed for maintenance on both the reactor and the water chip. So she assigned a few of the more science-minded to those positions temporarily, until they found someone willing to learn and run the equipment voluntarily. Freddie, almost immediately asked his father about a position as a security agent.

Next was Tina Wolfe, the daughter of one of the former security agents. After running her through the tests, the head of security deemed her worthy to wear the armor, so here she was. Amata had to at least admit that she wasn't nearly as trigger happy as her father. Finally, Wally Mack stood, armored up before her. She eyed him with scrutiny as she approached. "Mr. Mack, does Officer Gomez know what the phrase conflict of interests means?" she asked.

He gave her a small smile. "I'll be sure to ask him once we get back." said Wally as he held his semi-automatic rifle ready.

"Alright. Just don't make me regret taking you." she said as she pulled on one of the vault security helmets. Once she was ready, the Overseer used the console to open the door to the vault. Like before, she felt her pulse quicken at the thought of what she was doing. For so long, the mantra of "We're born in the vault, we die in the vault." had been force fed to her. She was taught to be so afraid of the outside world that she was surprised that she was capable of opening the front door even once. But now, her third time doing it, she was ready, despite her heart beating faster. Once it was open, she nodded to Stanley, who was standing in the main room off to the side. Stepping forward, the group of four moved out of the massive steel door and into the cavern. As soon as they set foot outside, they heard the enormous cog slide home again, securing them from the horrors of the outside world.

"We just heading to the city?" asked Wally from behind the Overseer.

"Yeah. It's about time we introduce ourselves to the world." she said, then looked back at him sternly. "When we're done with business, and if we're free to roam the city, you can find visit your father if you want." she said, getting a nod of acknowledgement from him before turning back towards the entrance to the cavern.

OoOoO

As the sun died down, the customers either exited the tavern to enjoy the lack of the sun, or went to their rooms to tend to their own needs. Such slowness allowed the two bar owners relaxing time for themselves. The fiery-haired bar mistress was spending such time going over the information on her terminal, while Gob was out of the bar, haggling with a nearby, familiar trader that had come into town. The girl had once been a resident in the city, and both of them were shocked to see her giving as good as she got.

After finishing with her work, the woman turned to a stack of dishes nearby and began cleaning them to the best of her ability. Most of the plates they had were salvaged from the town nearby, and were metal, dented, and hard to clean, leaving her with a hell of a job when Lisa wasn't taking over the back for her. She concentrated on the act of cleaning one particular metal plate enough that she didn't realize that the back door to the bar opened behind her. Only did she realize that she had a visitor when she felt a pair of rough hands slide up her legs until they rested on her hips, squeezing and massaging her backside delicately. "Mmmm…" she purred at the feeling. "Down boy, not until the bar closes." she said with a playful smile as she continued her work. Silently, she felt the hands slide away from her, then she looked back and blew the figure a kiss. "Don't worry sugar, I'll show my appreciation for your patience soon."

It was about that time that both of them heard a loud noise the likes of which they hadn't been heard in a long time. The front gates of Megaton, when opened, made a loud, high-pitched screeching that alerted anyone within the city that they were being opened. The sound assaulting their ears now was nothing like the front gates. It was a low rumble, as if some feral animal were growling at them. The voluptuous barkeep walked out of the tavern and stood among a few others just as the gates of the city began to open. When they did, two bright shining lights flooded into the city, causing everyone present, including Mary, Gob, Billy, and Lisa, who had come out of the tavern with the older woman, to widen their eyes.

"Woah, what is that?" asked the young blonde girl.

"Is that a truck?" asked Billy as both of his eyebrows shot up, despite only one eye working.

Butch came out of the tavern as well. "Hey, what's all the hubbub about?" he asked curiously as he looked over the railing. Then his own surprise registered. "W-What the hell is that?" he asked incredulously.

"Don't freak out Slick. It's a motor vehicle." said the eye-patched man as he looked over amused at the greaser.

"Oh...sure. I knew that." said the stylist as he straightened the sleeves of his coat. "I didn't think they existed out here anymore. The few we've seen were all trashed with the engines blown over in Springvale."

"Ten caps says I know who found it." said Billy in amusement.

"I'd rather keep my caps, thank you." replied Mary with a cat-like smile.

"What say we all go down and greet the miracle worker?" asked the one-eyed man with a grin.

"Sounds like a plan." said Mary as she turned to the young girl. "Lisa dear, be a peach and watch the store for us." requested the redhead as she patted the girl's shoulder. "You can have a nuka-cola if you like while we're gone."

The blonde girl's face lit up brightly. "Thanks!" she said, then went back inside to tend to the bar. Together, the rest of them descended the catwalks until they reached the main gates. By that time, the large lamps had been doused, leaving the dying light of the sun as their only source of light. Sheriff Simms was already at the door, a look of sheer dumbfoundedness on his face as he stared at the military vehicle parked outside the city.

Mary nudged him gently with her elbow. "Something the matter Sheriff?" asked the bar mistress.

"Just when I think he can't do anything more crazy, he manages to prove me wrong." said the man as he watched the wanderer jump out of the cab of the truck. Together, the sheriff and the barmaid stepped outside the gates to greet him, with Billy following behind. As she stepped outside however, she could see a bit of agitation on the young man's handsome features.

John jumped out of the truck's passenger seat, and he could easily hear the heavy power armor of Sarah exiting the back as well. As he approached the city, he noticed Mary standing a the gates, with her usual cat-like smile aimed at him. Cocking an eyebrow, he looked from Mary, over to Lucy, then turned back to Sarah and Elsa who were now approaching from the rear of the vehicle. The thoughts in his head were shoved aside immediately, as all the women knew of one another. Though odd being surrounded by all his past, and potential future love interests was a bit disconcerting. At the very least, he didn't have to worry about…

"Well well, if it isn't the first scout from 101." came a familiar tone that locked him in place like a venom dart. He stood still for a moment before turning slowly towards the voice.

" _Howdy…pardner!"_ came the call from Deputy Weld as four figures in Vault 101 armor and jumpsuits approached from the direction of his former home.

"No…" was all he said as the head of the four reached up and pulled her helmet off, revealing a long ponytail of dark hair with small streaks of white seemingly randomly placed throughout it. She smiled at him playfully as he looked at her in surprise, then his eyes turned to Lucy, then Mary, who were staring at Amata curiously. Spinning around as Liberty floated down next to him, he saw Elsa and Sarah both cocking an eyebrow at the newcomer, both of them with very, very interrogative looks in their eyes.

" **[o_o]** _Tactical analysis, potential for deletion. Recommend strategic retreat!"_ called Liberty before he hit his thrusters and flew off into the city over everyone's heads.

John reached up and tried to grab the bot, but the droid was gone before he could get a hold. "No! Take me with you!" he shouted.

"John?" came the voice of Elsa, making him cringe. The tone she was using was one he knew too well. "Are you going to introduce us to your friend?" she asked evilly.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Liberty:** **[ò_ó]** The creator of the creator would like you communist scum to know that they much appreciate the support and reviews for the last chapter. Apparently, it received more reviews, and more helpful tips through reviews and PM's both, that continue to help the creator's creator write much better.

As such, I, Liberty, harbinger of the destruction of communists, will allow you all to live to keep reading and reviewing. **[¬_¬]** Consider yourselves fortunate.


	77. Real Megaton Blues

OoO( 76 )OoO

John grumbled to himself as he reached up and began to rub the bridge of his nose. Liberty was going to get it when he saw that robot next. "Everyone, this is Amata Almodovar. She is the current Overseer of Vault 101." John announced, gesturing to his childhood friend.

A sinking feeling was building up in his chest, as he was fully expecting something from the two territorial figures standing behind him. So when the powerful, towering figure of Sarah walked up behind him and bumped his hip affectionately with hers, he whipped around and gave her a surprised expression. That expression grew even more pronounced, as he saw that she was smiling.

"Since she's here, you don't have to go to the Vault; saves you a lot of time." Sarah stated, her voice devoid of any threat or aggression. Even Elsa's jaw nearly hit the ground at the cheery nature of the armoured woman.

Despite Sarah being clearly over her territorial behaviour, John couldn't say the same for every other female present. Elsa was standing there with a dumbstruck look on her face, her jaw hanging and her eyes as wide. She didn't say anything as she was escorted by Sarah into the city, while Lucy continued her negotiations with Mary. Simms and Amata were the only ones left behind once the rabble dissipated.

"Sheriff, permission to allow my people into the city?" Amata asked in a clipped tone.

The dark-skinned man looked at her curiously, then eyed up each of the vault security present with a cool look. "As long as they can keep their guns on their backs and don't start any shit, they're free to come and go." Simms stated, looking back at Amata.

Amata nodded her head at the sheriff, before turning around to look at her fellow vault dwellers. The group glanced at their Overseer with apprehensive looks evident on their faces.

"Everyone, wait for me inside." snapped the Overseer, giving the wanderer a very unhappy look. John couldn't help but turn away from that glare. Not wanting to piss her off more, the three figures made their way inside the gates, with Wally only stopping to question the Sheriff. Together, Simms and Wally entered the city as well, finally leaving the Overseer and the gunman all by themselves. As soon as the last two left, the look of anger on Amata's face disappeared and a hurt look quickly took its place.

"I...I guess that's why you didn't wanna come back, huh?" Amata asked, a wounded tone evident in her voice. The Overseer then reached up and began rubbing her arm through the armour uncomfortably. The depressing scene was playing on John's heartstrings, and definitely didn't help with that sinking feeling in his chest.

"No." John answered, a firm tone to his voice. His encounter with female companions had been pretty up and down so far, both due to his own decisions, and theirs. This was one he didn't feel a bit responsible for however. The woman looked up at him curiously, her rich hazel eyes locking onto his bright green. "Me not returning to the vault had nothing to do with you, Amata." he said, taking a step closer to her so that their conversation didn't carry too far. "I'm not returning to the vault because after living out here for so long, the vault just seems suffocating, unnerving. Moving back into a vault would feel like I'm trapping myself."

"So...you and her…?" she asked, nodding her head towards the city where the blonde woman had left to.

"It's...really complicated. But if you're asking me if I was saved myself for you, I can go ahead and tell you, no." John answered, a calm tone to his voice. He looked up, and found himself to be receiving a glare from the Overseer. John couldn't help but start to shake his head at Amata's reaction. "To be honest, I never even thought I'd see you again, let alone be talking with you like we are now." John continued, staring into Amata's eyes with a solemn look. "I thought that after I left, your father would have had the door welded shut to prevent anyone from getting out ever again. Which is why I asked you to come with me, because I didn't want to face the world without you."

There it was, that decision again, coming back from the past to haunt her; and the recoil must have shown because of the response she got.

"Look, I'm not holding it against you." John said in a calmer tone, assuring her that he wasn't angry.

Amata stood there, a suspicious look evident on her face. She couldn't help it, but she was struggling to believe what John was saying. "You aren't?" the woman asked, a disbelieving tone to her voice.

"Of course not." The Lone Wanderer answered, looking away apprehensively. "I might have when I first came out, but I've had plenty of time to think about the choices we both made. And I can see that for the better of both the wasteland and Vault 101, our choices were the correct ones." The woman then began to giggle slightly, causing John to look over at her curiously. "What?" John asked, eyebrow raised.

Amata held a hand over her mouth, as she struggled to contain her laughter. "You're giving me a bit too much credit, aren't you?" She questioned, receiving a hard glare from John.

"Look, we were both idiots." The wanderer stated, shrugging his shoulders. "You might not have made the decision solely to help the people in the vault. But as a result of your decision, everyone can now live freely in Vault 101. If you had left, your father would have brought the place to ruin. And me…Well, I ran head first into a wasteland full of shit that would love to kill me while I had barely anything to defend myself with."

"So, what you're saying is that this is just as much your fault as mine?" Amata asked jokingly, a playful grin on her face.

"Don't push your luck young lady." John replied, offering his friend a sarcastic smirk.

Amata let out a small giggle, before she managed to compose herself.

"I know John. Even if it was better for everyone, I still feel like I should have gone with." Amata stated, looking up at John. "Especially after seeing everything that has happened to you, I can't help but feel like I might have been able to stop it."

The wanderer stood silently, as he reached up and scratched his head with a thoughtful look evident on his face. "I actually wondered the same thing awhile back." John responded, staring at the ground in contemplation. "And in all honesty, I don't know the answer to that one. But, I'm happy with where I am right now, and I can't speak for you, but you seem to have it pretty well, for now at least. So I'd say all the decisions we made were well made."

Amata looked off to the side, the look of disappointment on her face growing more pronounced. "Yeah, I guess." The Overseer of Vault 101 finished, letting out a heavy sigh.

John reached up and patted her shoulder gently, giving her another winning smile. Amata couldn't help but enjoy the sensation of her girlhood friend showing her some affection, even if it was platonic. "Hey now, don't be so down." John said, a cheerful tone to his voice. "The game isn't over yet, there's just some new rules to obey. We can start all over again; if you want to, that is."

The dark-haired woman felt a small smile appear on her face, as she looked at her childhood friend. She saw how free and energetic he was out here in the Wastelands, and saw the slight lethargy that he'd always seemed to have in their closed-off home was gone. Perhaps she didn't get the resolution she wanted, but it was still a possibility now. And he wanted to start over, as friends likely, given the affection shown towards the other woman. But it was a start, and one she wanted. Amata nodded her head and smiled happily.

"Alright then, let's start over." Amata said, extending her hand out to him. "Friends?"

The wanderer let out a small chuckle, before taking her hand gently and shaking it.

"Best friends, I hope. It hasn't been THAT long." John commented, a cheeky grin on his face. "Speaking of which…"

John then reached over and knocked on the hood of the truck behind him. The driver side door opened up and Amata looked over curiously, wondering who had been knowledgeable enough to actually drive a vehicle that hadn't been seen in hundreds of years. When she saw the dark, grey streaked hair of James Ronas, she could feel her jaw smashing onto the ground.

"You found him?" The Overseer asked, a disbelieving tone to her voice.

"Yep." John answered, the grin on his face growing even wider.

"Where did he go?" Amata questioned, turning to look at her friend.

"He was taking a nap." John answered jokingly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Very funny." The stern older man stated, an amused look on his face. Looking down at the new Overseer, he had an apprehensive look about him. "It's...good to see you again, Amata."

"Uhh...yeah, you too." Amata commented, a combination of awe and nervousness in her voice. He had always made her feel rather uncomfortable. It wasn't really his fault, considering the overwhelming aura of scrutiny that emanated from the man. Still, she never liked talking to him for long because of that intense stare he seemed to possess.

"I heard about what happened in the vault the day I left, and I wanted to apologize sincerely for any harm that my rash actions may have caused." James stated gently, standing stoically before the Overseer.

Amata let out a heavy sigh, as the events of that day played back in her mind. If anybody had a reason to despise the man before her for his actions that day, it was his son. If he'd forgiven him, then she could it too. "It wasn't entirely your fault. Had my father reacted with a level head instead of pointing and shooting, then we would have had a lot less casualties." Amata said, looking at John's father.

"Now that the reunion is over, I have some people you need to meet." John commented, a small smile on his face.

The wanderer then reached back and slapped his palm against the tarp. The Overseer watched with an interested look as a small group of people began to shuffle out of the back of the troop vehicle. They all were wearing jumpsuits similar to her own, much to her surprise.

"Other vault dwellers?" Amata asked curiously, looking over at John. He nodded his head, a small smile on his handsome features. "And they need a new home, right?" She asked, a crooked grin on her face.

"These people need an Overseer who isn't going to mentally torture them for two hundred years." The wanderer stated, as he walked up to her. "Once everyone gets inside for some rest, we'll discuss it." The new Overseer of Vault 101 gave John a small smile and they all began filing into the town.

OoOoO

"Really?" Elsa asked, an annoyed tone to her voice as the pair entered John's 'high-rise apartment'.

Sarah stepped into the corner of his main room, next to his workbench, then internally activated her suit's release mechanism. Within a few seconds, the back of the suit unfolded in a cacophony of metal and machine, sliding away from her shoulders and revealing her strong back and muscled frame from within.

Pulling out of the suit and leaving it there open, Sarah turned around to face the android, who now had an irritated look plastered on her face. Reaching up to rub away some of the stiffness out of her limbs that came with constant contact inside the suit, she gave Elsa a small smile. "What?" Sarah asked, an innocent tone to her voice.

"Come on! Why did you leave me hanging there!?" Elsa cried out, as she sat on the couch with a grumpy look on her face. "The stage was set perfectly and you just dropped the baton!"

"You wanted me to get angry?" asked the Sentinel as she walked over to the fridge and opened it, before grabbing a beer.

"Not angry, but he was surrounded by every woman who ever felt something for him. He was like a scared radstag in a headlight!" Elsa whined.

Sarah turned around to look at the upset android, a concerned look in her eyes. "Why is it so important for you to dig at him every time you get the opportunity?" Sarah asked, as she took a swig of her beer.

"It's…my thing!" Elsa said, who didn't really have an answer. Reaching up, the android scratched her head gently. Her nerves were starting to get to her, and they were kicking in at full force. "I told him I wasn't going to change when I updated my form." Elsa finished, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Sarah cocked an eyebrow at Elsa, as she looked at the android curiously. "You updated your form?" Sarah questioned, an interested tone to her voice.

"After you rescued him from the Bethesda building, I updated my Pipboy form to be…bigger." The android responded as she sat on the couch, practically pouting.

"Why?" Sarah inquired, who continued to drink from the beer as she eyed the android.

"Shut up, that's why." Elsa growled as she looked away from the Sentinel to hide her flushing face.

Sarah felt a smile grow on her lips as she remembered how Elsa used to act. She remembered the childish antics and the jealous nature of the AI. The Brotherhood Sentinel leaned towards the grumpy girl, her elbows resting comfortably on her knees. "Aww, how adorable." Sarah said, getting a threatening glare from the redhead android. "Look kid, there are other ways of getting a man's attention than by making him miserable."

Elsa looked up at Sarah, ignoring Wadsworth flying down the stairs and into the kitchen area. "What are you talking about?" The android asked, an interested tone to her voice.

"What I mean is, if you poke at a sore, it becomes a wound." Sarah explained, a small smile on her face. "If you keep drilling at something that bugs him, even playfully, it's only going to drive him away."

The Sentinel began to smirk in amusement as she saw Elsa stiffen at the comment. "B-But, I thought he enjoyed poking fun." Elsa muttered, pushing her fingers together as she fidgeted.

"He probably does, but you have to change it up sometimes." Sarah answered, patting Elsa gently on the shoulder. "I'm not saying you can't keep poking fun, but I'd keep his promiscuity as far away from that as possible. Because from the look he gave us outside, I'd say he's about ready to light himself on fire if he gets cornered like that again. Metaphorically, of course."

"O-Of course…" the android answered in a slightly crestfallen manner. The two women sat there for a few seconds, as Elsa slowly processed this new information. "So, what do I change it to?" Elsa asked, feeling extremely naked by asking Sarah of all people for help.

The Brotherhood commander shrugged lightly as she finished off her beer, eyeing the android as she handed the bottle to Wadsworth. "You've got me." Sarah responded.

"Really!?" Elsa growled, glaring at the Brotherhood Sentinel.

"Look, you can't just have one thing that's funny between friends, then use it to death." Sarah said, looking at Elsa. "Friends have all kinds of things they joke about. They just…..happen." Elsa just sat on the couch silently, a contemplative look on her face. "Until then, why not try something else?" Sarah asked.

"Like what?" The android girl questioned, as she crossed her arms and eyed the sentinel.

"Why not try being a girl?" The blonde woman offered, as she leaned back on the couch.

"And what would you know about that?" Elsa commented dryly, giving the Brotherhood Sentinel a dirty look.

"That's what you should be doing!" Sarah stated, pointing at the girl. Elsa squeaked in surprise at Sarah's outburst, not expecting something like that from the Brotherhood Sentinel. The redheaded android sat straight-up, eyes wide with shock. "You just compared me to a guy!" Sarah remarked, a shining smile plastered on her face. "Usually, it's Brahmin this and cow that. But you've actually managed to advance your humor. That's just what you need to do; find some new things to joke about."

"You know, you're weird when you're being helpful." Elsa stated, scanning the woman with her eyes to make sure she wasn't running a fever.

"Yeah, whatever." Sarah responded, shrugging her shoulders. "And to answer your question, I know next to nothing about being a girl. You want advice on that, ask Mary. She's probably more woman than both of us put together."

The Brotherhood Sentinel then stood up and began stretching. Reaching up, she began to unzip her jumpsuit. Elsa felt her jaw hit the ground, as Sarah began undressing in front of her.

"What the hell are you doing?" The android questioned, a disbelieving tone to her voice.

"Getting ready for bed." Sara answered, shooting the android girl a wide grin.

The Brotherhood Sentinel then began to walk up the stairs whistling a ditty as she did. Elsa growled and clenched her fists as she watched the large woman march directly into wanderer's room. Turning around, Elsa swung the door open, then slammed it behind her as she left.

OoOoO

"Well well, what do we have here?" Mary questioned, as she eyed the man entering the door. If she were still a 'working girl', as she used to refer to herself, that would be one she would really push for. But, getting out of the business, and the glaring Ronas family resemblance left those thoughts dead in the water.

James walked up to the counter and gave the woman an uncomfortable look. She knew that he knew who she was, flattering her slightly that he remembered her.

"Uhh...Nova, right?" James asked, getting a smile from her. "Is Moriarty around?"

"Yes he is sugar; about six feet south of here." Mary responded, giving him a cat-like grin. "Oh, and you can call me Mary now."

The amount of surprise James put into his expression at the news was minimal at best.

"Oh, I'm sorry." James stated, a sad tone to his voice. "Did something happen?"

"He bit off more than he could chew, then choked on it." John answered, a grim look on his face.

The wanderer walked past his father and sat at one of the bar stools. Amata followed shortly, sitting down at one as well. Mary eyed the vault suited woman with a curious, almost playful smile, making the Overseer feel uncomfortable. James on the other hand, turned to John and stepped close to speak with him quietly.

"Bit off more than he could chew?" James questioned, a wary look in his eyes.

"Does anymore need to be said about the situation?" he asked, looking over at his father questioningly.

"So, you were responsible?" he asked, the look of disapproval already masking his face.

"No, Moriarty was responsible for what happened to him." The wanderer stated, giving his father a stern look that clashed with the disapproving stare. "Responsible for drug trafficking, slave labour, abuse, blackmail, espionage, and nearly beating an innocent woman to death."

"John...you can't just…" James started, a worried look on his face.

"I can, and did." John continued forcefully, cutting his father off. "You may have some moral code about allowing scum like Moriarty to live because all life is precious or some shit, but I don't. It's done, and no amount of lectures from you is going to undo it."

The doctor sighed heavily, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. A tired aura surrounded him, as if he had been fighting such ideals his whole life. "You are correct. I had just hoped that your time out here…" James started again, but he was cut off once again by his son.

"Save me the heartache please." John stated, a sour tone in his voice. "If I hadn't done what I did, Mary would still be a dreamless prostitute, Gob would still be a slave, Leo Stahl would have likely overdosed, Regina would have a bullet in her back out in Springvale, and Sheriff Simms would be the one who's pushing up radioactive roses. So look me in the eyes tell me if the trade isn't worth it."

"We aren't the ones who get to make those decisions." His father said, giving John a cold look.

"You aren't, but I am. I was put into the position of making those decisions when I had to defend my own life against a madman who was trying to have me killed." John growled, now angry again at having to defend his actions to the man who left him behind. "The son you know is still here, he just has a lot more wasteland experience than he did before. If you're not okay with that, then tell me so I can drop you off at the memorial and be on my way."

John had seen his father's saddened expression many times in his life, and all of them when he was thinking of Catherine, his wife. Whether staring longingly at the old photo of the woman that he'd had next to the bedside, or relaying the sacred Bible passage that the woman loved so much, it always resulted in a pained expression, one that had more life in it than in any others. Other than that, never had the man shown a morsel of regret or sadness when dealing with his own son. Hell, he barely showed happiness, even during his tenth birthday party when he should have been thrilled that his son was becoming an adult. So when John saw the extremely saddened expression his father gave him, it was like the entire world had balled up their fists and slugged him directly in the gut.

"I would never turn you away for something like that." James stated, a firm tone to his voice. "You are my son, and that's something that will not change."

"I am your son, and you should know that I'm doing what I can to help these people, all of them. Just like you are with the purifier." John answered, feeling his eyes sting at the revelation that the man was truly broken up over the issue.

"Take it easy on him. If it wasn't for him, Megaton would be nothing but a crater right now." came the warbling voice of Gob. Everyone looked over at the Ghoul bartender, interested looks on all of their faces. "Well...it kinda already is...you know what I mean." Gob finished, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm afraid I don't." James said, a look of confusion on his face.

"He was offered a lot of money and a place in Tenpenny Tower to rig Atom to detonate." Mary spoke up, a sad tone to her voice. "If John here wasn't a good man, all of us here; me, Gob, Moriarty, Simms, little Maggie, Regina…"

Mary nodded to the smoking blonde woman in the corner. Both John and James looked over and found the older woman eyeing the older doctor like a starved beast staring at a hunk of steak, shortly before throwing the older man a wink. The father and son looked at one another apprehensively before the sultry bartender continued. "Instead, he and Simms arrested the bastard who placed the offer, and Megaton is still standing because of your son."

James looked over at his son, who felt his face burning as if he had been caught passing notes back in Mr. Brotch's class. But before he could say anything, Amata asked, "What happened to him?"

"Ask Liberty." said John with a smirk as he thumbed towards the hovering bot in the corner.

 _"_ **[ò_ó]** _He tasted the fiery kiss of Democracy for drawing a weapon on an unarmed citizen."_ The drone stated, as he hovered next to the wanderer.

"And…who exactly is this?" The scientist asked, stunned at the presence of the drone.

"It's a long story. Get a drink with me and I'll tell you all about the real 'Wanderer.'" John announced, as he looked over at Mary. The barmaid nodded, reaching down and grabbing drinks for the whole group; Amata, Mary, Gob, James, and John.

OoOoO

After leaving the wanderer's house in a tirade, Elsa felt the need to express her anger against something or someone. So she began wandering around the city, looking for something to pick a fight with. A radrat, a stray radscorpion that had made it into the city, a rowdy drunk, anything would be a perfect opponent. But the only thing she found that late at night was the occasional drifter or waster walking by, silently keeping to themselves. Even her glares only scared them further off into the city.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally managed to run into someone. One of the catwalks led all the way up to the very top of the gates of the city. A perfect sniper point to find some unlucky radroach outside to take out her irritation on. When she finally reached the top however, she found that she wasn't the only one who considered the spot a good perch. Upon her arrival, she spotted a young man, looking a bit older than John, sitting in a chair and staring out into the Wasteland with a sniper rifle across his lap. With her scanning eyes, she saw the man had dark skin like Simms, and darker hair. On his face was equally dark scruff that ended in a small goatee. That was all she could see of his face, as he currently wore a bandana and a pair of dusty goggles that covered his eyes.

"Come to help me keep an eye out?" The stranger asked in his deep, baritone-like voice.

"Uhhh...sure." Elsa responded nervously, not expecting anyone up here when she came.

"I've heard about you. You're Elsa, right? The girl found in Bailey's?" The man asked as he turned to her. As he did, he lifted the goggles from his face, showing a light tan line from where the sun had baked the imprint of the goggles into his face.

"Yeah...sort of." Elsa responded, eyeing him curiously.

The strange man let out a chuckle, as he looked from her brown eyes back out to the empty Wastelands.

"I used to say the same thing." The strange man remarked, before looking back at her and holding out his hand. "The name is Stockholme; permanent resident of Megaton and eye in the sky for our beloved Sheriff Simms."

His remark startled her for a moment as she reached forward and took his hand, shaking it gently. Her eyes immediately zooming in on his features and scanning him thoroughly. "Why did you used to say the same thing?" she asked inquisitively.

"Well, let's just say that there's a reason why I can stay up here, exposed to the sun, rain, and cold without needing a day off." Stockholm remarked, giving her a gentle smile. When her racing mind finally figured out what he was talking about, she gasped. He just nodded at her revelation. "That's right." he said, gesturing to the seat next to him. She immediately took his offer and stared at him in wonder. "I was a thankful proprietor of the Commonwealth Railroad. They set me up here a while back. Simms gave me a job, and I've been doing it ever since."

Looking from him, to the small mattress he had nearby, she cocked an eyebrow. "So, you just sit up here all day and night? Don't you ever go down into the town?"

Stockholme just stood there, shaking his head solemnly. "Unfortunately, most of my dealings with non-synthetics has usually been at the end of a gun." Stockholm said with a sigh, looking over at her. "Up north, they're terrified of us. They think we're trying to replace humans, killing them off just to somehow puppet their society. So when it was discovered that I was one, everyone either wanted me dead, or wanted me gone by any means. So when I was brought here by the Railroad, I left dealing with the townsfolk to the good sheriff."

Elsa looked at the ground sadly. "I can't say I've had the same experience. Most of my actual interaction with humans has been relatively pleasant...aside from a few special cases." she said, shoving her encounter at Evergreen Mills aside.

"I'm aware that the townsfolk here are probably good people, and would likely not have a problem with me as long as I did my job and didn't make myself a nuisance. I'd just rather not leave that to chance." he said, then smiled as he looked out over the night-covered wastes again. "Besides, I like it up here. It's peaceful, quiet. A lot of time to think about things."

Completely drawn in by his words, she nodded. "What do you think about?"

He chuckled at her. "What isn't there to think about?" he asked, then pointed out to the wastes. "There are countless creatures out there whose only understanding of humans is 'meat bag with a boomstick'. Nobody ever thinks about them and why they are the way they are now. Or how we could possibly live with these creatures instead of always firing first and asking questions later." She giggled lightly at him, making him smirk at her. "I'm aware how that sounds coming from the first line of defense for this city. But priorities are what they are."

She nodded happily, staring up at him as she rested her chin in her palm. "What else do you think about?" she asked. When he looked at her, she realized she might be coming off as a bit intrusive. "S-Sorry. It's just...when you don't sleep, it's hard for me to think about things that don't make me upset or angry." she said.

"You don't sleep?" Stockholm asked, chuckling at the android.

"You do?" Elsa fired back, stiffening slightly.

He nodded, then reached up and tapped his head. "We may not require it, but you'd be amazed how clear you think with a rested mind. Our bodies are programmed to sort out that kind of thing when we sleep, getting rid of a lot of unnecessary junk."

Now leaning towards him, her eyes wide, she questioned him further. "How? How do you just sleep?" she asked. "I can't just turn my brain off like humans can."

"Of course you can't." he said, then pointed up towards the sky. "One thing that's so vastly important to humans and synthetics alike, but has gone all but forgotten since the bombs fell."

She looked up at the sky curiously. Her eyes scanned the mosaic of stars, counting each of them within a few seconds. Then she looked down at him. "What about it?" she asked.

He chuckled at her, giving her a playful eye. "You counted them didn't you?" he asked. She squeaked at the question, making him smile wider. "Two thousand, three hundred and thirty-four in full view of the Earth." he said, then looked back up at the sky. "But that's how we were programmed to think. Instead of counting, or contemplating what makes them up, see it as a picture. Look at it in the grand scale and sit and contemplate the entire thing, not just what can be seen." he said.

Elsa eyed him, then leaned back in her chair and looked up at the sky. Her eyes once again started flitting from star to star again, but she stopped herself immediately. Instead, she decided to focus on clusters of them. When she did, she found herself not being so analytical, and instead began to think about what the clusters, and nebulas looked like. From one cluster to another, then to the grand portrait as a whole she went, smiling to herself as she spotted two bright stars that reminded her of the gunman's intimidating stare.

All the while, she didn't realize that while she contemplated such things, her eyelids began to slowly close. Without her mind actively over-analysing things, it slid into a state of calm that she had never experienced before, allowing her active brain to finally rest. And before she knew it, her eyes were closed, and her body activated a function that she didn't even know it had. She fell asleep.

OoOoO

After the celebrations and story time at the tavern, John found himself wandering home for once. His father decided to stay at the tavern, while Amata, who had so little to drink that she might as well not have drank at all, thought it was a good time to go ahead and talk to the former residents of Vault 112. He said his goodbyes to her and them as well, and made his way back to his own residence with a slight buzz from the few strong drinks he'd consumed. Liberty followed him as well, hovering slightly behind him like a small, floating guard dog, and giving anyone who passed him an interrogative look before letting them pass.

When he finally reached his house, he opened the door, allowing the small droid to fly inside and take up post over the workbench. When he entered himself, he took off the duster that looked like it needed a seamstress to take an all nighter on it. Thinking about it, he looked up at his robotic butler curiously.

"Hey Wadsworth?" John said, a curious look on his face.

"Yes Master John?" The floating Mr. Handy asked, as it turned away to look at its master.

"What's your experience with sewing?" The wanderer inquired as he stepped towards the robot.

"I am skilled in over thirty-five different methods of stitching and have numerous protocols for repairing and patching clothing." Wadsworth responded, a hint of pride in his voice.

"Can you see about getting the bullet holes out of this while I'm out?" The Lone Wanderer questioned, as he handed the coat over.

"Why, of course sah! When you arise in the morning, it shall be as good as new! Well...as new as it can be in the aftermath of the apocalypse." The robot butler claimed, as he began to scan the bullet holes extensively with his multiple eyes.

"Thanks a bunch, Wadsworth. You're the unsung hero of Megaton." John chuckled, as he reached up and patted the chrome shell of Wadsworth's head.

Letting out a tired sigh, John unhooked his armour and tossed it onto the couch and began making his way up the stairs. As he bumped the door open with his boot, he also pulled his shirt over his head, the wear of the day seeping into him deeply. As he passed through the doorway however, he froze in his tracks and all thoughts of tiredness immediately flew from his mind.

On his bed was the Sentinel, laying with his blanket draped over her stark naked form. Despite her more erogenous parts being covered, he could easily see the curvature of her body. The Brotherhood jumpsuit that she wore beneath her armor did a lot to show the powerhouse that she was, accentuation her musculature as well as making her look more intimidating with its slate grey Lyon's Pride icon and very military design. But one of the other side effects of the jumpsuit was that it hid the more personal parts of her body, leaving almost everything to the imagination. Now, that was all gone. Nothing was hidden anymore by padded jumpsuits, and the wanderer couldn't help but let his eyes do the wandering for once.

"Over here cowboy." Sarah said with a playful smile. His eyes shot from her gorgeous curved hip to her sky blue eyes, an alluring smile now on his face.

"Well, this is a surprise." The Lone Wanderer remarked, as he moved towards the bed.

The Brotherhood Sentinel smirked up at him, then stretched her body out, enticing him to look again at the visible curves and muscle writhing beneath his blanket. A wide grin appeared on John's face, as he soaked in the beautiful scene in front of him.

"A good one I hope." Sarah purred, then reached up and grabbed him by the back of the head. Using a specialized technique that she once used to put him on his rear end, she flipped him on his back beneath her and had him pinned to the mattress. Despite the blanket no longer obstruction anything from his view, he kept his eyes on hers.

"Definitely." John said, reaching up with his arms and pulling her down on top of him, then nipping at her neck. She gripped him tightly, gasping as she felt his teeth on her skin. Forcing the urge to ravage him immediately aside, she shoved him down against the mattress, the same commanding smile on her face as she did.

"Nuh uh." Sarah said, then leaned forward and kissed him deeply, drawing a sensual moan from him as she awoke things that had lain dormant for quite a while.

When she broke free from him, her own face flushed as she pressed her body against his, he nuzzled against her. "So, does this mean you're not angry about the Outcasts?" The Lone Wanderer asked playfully.

She gave him a stern glare before pushing her forehead to his, keeping his eyes locked on hers. "We'll talk about that another time. For the moment, shut up." she commanded.

He just chuckled and wrapped his arms around her naked form. "Yes ma'am."

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Hey everyone! This one took a while because the dumb dumb writer had to make some changes considering writing seems to be a more permanent path for them. So! He's gotten a beta writer now, known as The Desert Dancer! May her pen ever be eternally...correctful...or whatever. Anyway, the author also got a new email and Twitter solely devoted to their writing, both original and FF!

 **Author's Note from Amata:** That's right everyone! He'll be able to now more effectively interact with the lovely readers of this and many other stories through chatting, polls, etc! As a matter of fact, there's a poll up right now! One you definitely, totally know the answer to. ~wink~ So check out the twitter account known as ShepardsLore and take your pick!

 **Author's Note from Sarah:** Yes, they definitely do. And also, they wanted to thank you all for all the awesome support! Another author who had to go into the military when they started writing, as well as enjoying this story has finally started writing again! So if you're still looking for more Fallout 3 content to read, you should check out Shouvin's story known as Spectrum!

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Yeah! No go to that tweeter thing and pick me!

 **Author's Note from Amata:** Or me, because you know, destined and all.

 **Author's Note from Sarah:** You both are annoying. ~points to herself discreetly~


	78. The New Boss

OoO( 78 )OoO

It took quite a bit of convincing, especially considering how late at night the request came. But luckily after a quick word with Amata regarding their latest prisoner, the sheriff finally allowed Wally to visit his father; though under the restriction that both of them would be under the watchful eye of Deputy Steel. The young man walked towards the holding cell to let the man free, prepared to use lethal force if necessary. When he entered, he immediately froze in terror as he was confronted by a Mister Gutsy, who was floating in the corner. It had a spinning saw, a flame thrower, and a plasma blaster, and they all were currently aimed at Wally's chest.

 _"Weapon on the ground."_ Deputy Steel ordered, floating towards the young man. _"Now."_ Wally walked backwards, and connected with a wall. Immediately, the vault dweller reached back and pulled the release strap on his weapon, then raised his hands in the air. Anxiety was building up within his chest, as he looked warily at the Mister Gutsy. _"You have about five seconds to explain your existence, before I turn you into a pile of ash."_ Deputy Steel demanded, as he zoomed in on Wally's face with his optic sights.

"Uhh...code word Alcatraz!" The vault security officer shouted, as he backed up towards the door of the facility again.

He couldn't help but feel incredibly claustrophobic, as he looked at how small the surrounding area was. It was tiny, as far as houses go. Their rooms back in the vault afforded more space than this dingy little hole. The Mister Gutsy continued to eye him for a long moment, before floating off to the side.

 _"As you wish, but make your visit short."_ Deputy Steel stated, an annoyed tone to its voice. _"I haven't the time to deal with civilians wandering about."_

The Mister Gutsy then turned back to keep an eye on both of them. Wally let out a sigh, before turning around. He saw his father lying on a bed at the far wall, staring up at the ceiling.

"So, is the good sheriff finally gonna let me return to the vault?" The Asian man questioned, a sour tone in his voice.

Wally couldn't help but let out a tired sigh and crossed his arms over his chests. Some things just never change, the young man thought to himself. "Nice to see you too, Dad." The young man grumbled, as he looked at his father. Allen turned around to look his son in the eye. A cross look was evident on the older man's face, and it didn't get any softer once he saw who was talking to him. "The sheriff said you can go anytime you want." Wally stated. "The new Overseer however, says that you're going to stay here in Megaton on probation."

The man sat there for a few moments, seemingly digesting this new information. Allen then slowly sat up and stared at his son, amusement evident in his eyes. The older man let out a small chuckle, one that caused Wally's skin to crawl slightly. "Sure kid, sure." Allen said, a nasty grin on his face. "Does this woman really think she can keep me out of the vault?"

"She is going to keep you out, Dad." Wally responded, irritated with how the conversation was going "And before you make any kind of threats or try to throw your weight around, she removed all of your buddies from service. They no longer have any access to the armory, and are no longer a part of the security force."

In a matter of moments, Allen's mood immediately soured. All the amusement and joking quickly dissipated from his face, and was soon replaced with a look of fury. "How dare that little bitch!" The older man growled, jumping out of the bed in anger. "She thinks she can do this to me!?"

"Sit...down!" Wally shouted, sounding as angry as his dad. The sound of his own son's voice yelling seemingly startled the anger out of Allen. He stopped his ranting, and turned to look at his son. Despite that, Allen didn't sit down as he was asked. "Listen to yourself for a damn second!" Wally snapped, glaring at his father. "You sound insane!"

"Someone is keeping me prisoner, while preventing me from seeing my kids and my wife!" Allen fired back, a dark look on his face. "Of course I'm not gonna be talking rationally!"

"Yeah, because kicking the door to the clinic in and making 'an example' out of a few of the rebels was perfectly logical." Wally responded sarcastically, as he used air quotes on the emphasized word.

"Don't you dare get smart with me." Allen snapped, a scowl on his face.

"I'm apparently the only male in the family who's capable of being smart." The younger man growled, as he looked at his father. "Were you actually going to do that? Kill a few of them to make the rest fall in line?" The man looked away from his son, the twisted mask of anger still present on his face. Wally felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, as his worst fears were just confirmed right in front of him. "So it was true." The young man muttered, a disappointed tone to his voice.

"So you're taking her side?" Allen asked, shaking his head in disgust.

"There aren't any sides to this, Dad!" Wally shouted, sick and tired of arguing with his dad. "There's just you versus the rest of the vault. Anyone who would have been of any help to you has been stripped of their rank, and now vault security has been told that you're not allowed back in. Who do you think they're going to listen to, a psychotic, raving lunatic? Or the Overseer that stuck with them even when they had guns trained on them? Even if I wanted to let you back in, there would be nothing I could do. The decision has been made."

"I don't believe that for one goddamn second." Allen stated, hatred in his eyes. The older man stepped forward angrily, moving towards the vault guard. Wally immediately reached down and grabbed the rifle on the ground before aiming directly at Allen's chest. The older man stopped dead in his tracks, eyes fixated on the weapon in his son's hands. Despite pulling out a weapon, Deputy Steel seemed more interested in watching the pair fight and argue instead of trying to intervene. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Allen asked, a shocked tone to his voice.

"Back the fuck off!" Wally snapped, clearly having lost all of his patience. "Mom might be fine with you knocking her around while you stumble around in your drunken stupor, but I'm not."

"Think about what you're doing Wally…" The Asian man stated, a dangerous look evident in his eyes.

"I know what I'm doing. You and Steve both had your heads so far up your asses that you couldn't see what you were doing to me, Suzie, Mom, or the others in the vault." Wally shouted, as rage flowed through his veins. "So you're going to stay here, and you're going to do your time, and make use of yourself to help these people, or by the Overseer's orders you are exiled from the vault for life."

The younger man always had a chip on his shoulder about how his father treated anyone besides his older brother Stevie. Now, all of that anger was flowing through him and tempting him to just take his father out right now.

"Don't you use that tone with me you little shit!" Allen shouted, fury evident on his face. "I'm your father!"

The older man reached forward, attempting to make a grab for his son. Wally stepped to the side and slammed the butt of his rifle into the side of the man's head. Allen clutched his head and began to stagger, clearly affected from the hit to the head. He stood still for a few seconds, before his knees gave out on him. As the man hit the ground with a loud thump, Wally gave his paternal figure a silent glare. Leaning over, he spat on the floor in front of Allen.

"Not anymore, you're not." Wally stated, then turned to the robot who had been watching the scene with interest. "Sorry about that…"

 _"Oh, no worries. Though your firing stance needs some work."_ Deputy Steel responded, an amused tone to its voice. _"Let me teach you a thing or two…"_

OoOoO

It was incredibly odd to see everything from this perspective, especially after all that he had been through. He stood again in darkness, but it was not the un-light that he remembered from his incident inside of the metro. No, he could see plenty now, even if it was poorly lit. The sky above him showed a plethora of stars gleaming brightly in the darkness, a sight beautiful to anyone who wasn't in the position he currently was in. Piercing the darkness of the sky in front of the stars, were several curtains of light the color of his eyes. They flowed across the sky, each one looking like a river of life and light that carried the souls of an entire planet's population.

The Wanderer then looked down again and found himself staring again at the same scene he had watched many times before. All of his former squad mates from the Anchorage program were laid out in a circular pattern around a burnt out fire with only the light from the sky illuminating their faces. The Wanderer stepped forward in the bitter Alaskan snow, the ice beneath his boots crunching loudly as he looked at them again. To his mild surprise, the scene before him was different to how it usually was. This time, they lacked the injuries that had ended their lives. Instead they were all laid out in a half circle around the dormant camp, looking as if they were in the middle of a deep sleep.

Standing in the centre of the large group, The Wanderer looked over each of them. The English specialist. The joyriding private first class. The eye-patched, country sergeant. The dark-skinned marine sharpshooter. The agile and deadly lieutenant. Then he turned and saw the first contact he made in the sim. Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery, the Boston born, smart mouthed, best asshole of a friend someone could ask for. John knelt down in front of the man, staring at him and his rough features with curiosity. The Wanderer then felt his mind beginning to pull again. He reached up and held his head as low whispers began to creep into his brain. At first, they were quiet, barely audible as he strained to hear what they said. However, they started to grow in volume at a very rapid pace. One piece that he could make out as they grew was the sound of Billy's voice back in Megaton.

 _"Unfortunately...wasn't even young when...suffering because..."_ The voice stated, loud and clear.

But before he could make out much more of the conversation, the noise in his head began to escalate, drowning out the voice of his old friend. The Wanderer stood straight and reached up, holding his head as the voices swarmed his mind, dulling his senses and causing his brain to scream out for mercy. It felt like time had stopped as he stood there, among the bodies of his friends and squad mates alike, clutching his head tightly. Then suddenly, it all stopped. The white noise that was previously pounding against his mind like a sledgehammer vanished, and in its place was a quiet sniffling behind him. Spinning around, John looked down next to the burned out campfire and immediately saw who the culprit was.

Sitting on her backside next to the dead fire was a young Elsa Watson. She sat with her knees pressed against her chest, her hands covering her face as she sniffled and sobbed in an almost silent manner. The Wanderer immediately felt his heart break into two, as he watched the scene in front of him. He immediately moved forward and reached down, ruffling her hair in a gentle manner.

"Hey kiddo, what's wrong?" John asked, using the same gentle tone that he used when he spoke to her in the sim.

She looked up at him with her tear stained brown eyes, an expression that caused his heart to swell with sympathy.

"Th-They keep dying!" Else blubbered, anxiety evident in her voice. "N-No m-matter how many times I try and save them...they keep dying."

John reached down and picked the small girl up under her arms, then pulled her to him gently, embracing her in a gentle hug.

"Don't worry, you don't have to worry about them anymore." The Wanderer stated, a soothing tone to his voice.

He then turned her away from the scene so that she wouldn't be able to see the bodies of his former squad. Immediately, her arms wrapped around him and held him tightly. Her sobbing continued as he held her, trying to protect her from the grisly scene.

"Come on, let's get you out of here." The Wanderer commented, as she nuzzled into his neck.

Moving briskly, the Wanderer carried the young girl away from his nightmare, only looking back briefly as he felt the tugging once again. He managed to ignore the tugging this time, and carried the girl to safety. With another sniffle, the girl finally wiped her tears away and smiled at him.

"Thank you…" Elsa said, then laid her head on his shoulder.

John smiled down at the young girl, keeping his protective grip on her as he stepped into the darkness that bordered the dream.

OoOoO

John woke up from the dream, feeling bizarrely refreshed for the first time in goodness knows how long. He opened his eyes to see Sarah Lyons looking down at him, an amused expression evident on her face. The two were currently tangled together, with John's blanket covering them. Sarah laid on top of the Wanderer, and had no intentions of moving from that position. Staring back up at her with curiosity, John gave the Brotherhood sentinel a small smile. He then began to run his hands up and her muscular naked form, savouring every moment of it.

"What?" John asked, an interested tone to his voice.

"I don't know. I just woke up and look over to find you smiling like an idiot." Sarah respond, chuckling softly. "Dreaming about me?"

He flinched involuntarily, as he realized that he had been smiling outside of his dream. He then let out a sigh, before leaning forward and kissed her deeply. "Just...visiting some old friends." The Wanderer said as he stared up at her.

Sarah looked down at John, a slightly disappointed expression evident on her face. The two stayed like this for a few moments, looking into each other's eyes. John then quickly rolled over, knocking Sarah off. The Brotherhood sentinel let out a giggle, as John laid on top of her. The Wanderer looked down at Sarah, a warm smile on his face.

"Don't worry, I'd rather have reality than dreams." John said, a happy tone to his voice.

He then then leaned down and began nipping at Sarah's neck, something he knew that would shatter the hardened defences of the woman. Sarah let out a small moan, as her back began to arch. She wrapped both her arms and legs around him, pulling him in tight as she nuzzled him with burning need.

"Good, show me." Sarah said with desperation, as she used her powerful legs to drive him deep inside her.

OoOoO

When daylight finally broke over the horizon, the first kisses of sunlight began dancing on her skin. The redheaded girl slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at a starry sky that was slowly disappearing behind a blanket of light that covered the world. Sitting up, Elsa began to look around, her senses now on high alert after having been dulled for so long.

"Wha…?" Elsa asked simply, as she sat up fully in the seat.

The redheaded girl looked around apprehensively, unsure about where she was after conking out last night. Shen the turned around, and saw a man sitting next to her. Stockholm looked over at her, a small smile evident on his face. "Feels nice, doesn't it?" Stockholm asked in his deep voice.

The redheaded girl sat back against the chair and thought about it for a moment, then nodded with a smile of her own. "Yeah…" Elsa responded, raising her arms up to stretch languidly in the seat. Looking over at him again, she gave him a curious stare. "So, do they feel like this every time they wake up?"

Stockholm let out a hearty chuckle, before shaking his head. "I've heard only a few of them wake up like that. Most complain about not being 'morning people', or say that they wake up sore because of muscle cramping." Stockholm explained, as he looked out to the wastes again.

Sitting up straight, he looked through the scope of his trusted rifle. Elsa watched him for a moment, before he leaned back again. "Just a molerat sniffing around Moriarty's new place." Stockholm muttered, letting out a tired sigh. "In any case, now that you've had your nap, I'd say you and the boy hero around here have somewhere to be."

"Yeah, I guess we do." Elsa said, as she stood up and stretched again.

"Just be sure to visit me every now and then." Stockholm commented, amusement evident in his voice. "Despite my aversion to people, it still gets pretty lonely up here. And it'll be nice to have someone who sees through the same eyes as me."

"Yeah, it will be. I'll visit anytime I come back to Megaton." Elsa responded, a wide grin on her face. She then turned and waved to him, as she descended the catwalk again.

OoOoO

When Elsa arrived at the house, John just happened to be leaving it. The young woman stopped when the Wanderer opened the door and stepped outside into the fresh morning air. His coat was on but his armour still missing, showing the dark jumpsuit beneath. She looked up at his face and noticed that he had a goofy looking grin on as he stepped out into the daylight.

The redheaded girl huffed as she approached him, giving the man a very dirty glare. "What're you smiling about?" Elsa grumbled, an annoyed tone to her voice.

Looking over as if noticing her for the first time, John smile grew even wider than it already was. "I forgot how adorable you looked." John stated, sounding incredibly happy.

The Wanderer then walked over and ruffled Elsa's red hair. The girl went rigid, her face flushing immediately at his words. But his touch, so familiar, so friendly, immediately sent a wave of calm through her body. Despite her calm mood again, she still looked at him pointedly. "Where did that come from?" Elsa asked, a curious tone to her voice.

"Strange dreams." John said simply, as he nodded towards the Boom Town Tavern. "Come on, let's go get the others. We're heading out today, and I'd like to find out what the hell happened to half the residents before I do."

The Wanderer then started off in the direction of the tavern. Elsa snorted out her nose, still a bit miffed about the lack of answers she received. The redheaded girl then quickly ran forward, following John. As they arrived at the front door, she noticed the Wanderer stop and start to stare down the catwalk curiously. Peeking around his stocky frame, she soon found out why. As alluring as ever with her gorgeous curves and bright pink hair, the Raider queen Poison was walking up towards the pair of them. Poison had a small smile on her face, her beautiful features looking back and forth between them. Cocking a curious eyebrow, Elsa scratched her head at the odd appearance.

"Hey Pinkie, you forget something?" Elsa asked, as the woman stopped in front of them.

"Hello there, my little helpers." The Raider queen announced, a happy grin plastered on her face.

John looked over and saw a group of women standing at the front gates of Megaton, all of them armed to the teeth. None of their weapons were drawn; at least, not yet. Given Sheriff Simm's rigid appearance however, that sentiment didn't make him feel any better.

"I thought you would still be restructuring the gangs over at Evergreen." John stated, as he leaned against the door to the tavern.

"Oh, I am. Amy and Tank are sharing my seat for the moment. I'm just here to repay a debt." Poison remarked, winking at the two.

The Raider queen then nodded a goodbye to the two and opened the tavern door. When she went inside, both Elsa and John looked at one another, then immediately followed her inside. As they stepped inside, they just saw her pink locks disappear into the back.

"Oh...hey. What's u-?" Butch asked in the back, before he was muffled to silence.

Elsa and the Wanderer looked at one another again before they both raced to the back where the barber had set up his shop to make sure Poison wasn't strangling the poor man. When they reached the door, Elsa shoved it open and they both froze in place as they realized they had made a slight mistake.

The slick-haired barber wasn't being gagged or strangled. He was cut off because the Raider woman had grabbed him by the head and pulled him into a kiss unlike anything he had experienced in his life. Almost immediately, he felt his legs weaken, followed by the woman shoving him into his own barber's chair. Poison looked over at the pair with a sly grin.

"If you two wanna watch, I recommend you close the door." Poison remarked, grinning at the two. "It's probably going to get a bit noisy."

The Raider Queen then climbed onto the chair and began to yank the greaser's shirt over his head. John, too horrified to say anything, just grabbed the door handle and closed it. His glowing eyes were closed tightly, as if he had been traumatized.

"I think I need a drink." The Wanderer muttered, as he walked off towards the bar.

Elsa just chuckled, following him out as they entered the tavern's main room once more. Gob, who was currently behind the counter, looked over at John with a friendly grin.

"Hey boss. What'll it be?" The Ghoul bartender asked, looking over at John.

"Something strong, preferably mixed with Abraxo Cleaner." The Wanderer stated, getting a chuckle from the ghoul as the door to the tavern opened again, showing the tall figure of Sheriff Simms.

"Sounds like someone's looking for a memory eraser." The sheriff said, as he stepped inside and gave the pair of them a wry grin. "Any of you seen a pink blur running around here?"

"Don't ask." John mumbled, shaking his head.

The Wanderer then took the strong liquor from Gob and swallowed it all in one drink. Elsa offered the sheriff a smile, before pointing towards the door leading to the back. "She went thatta way." The redheaded girl stated, a wide grin on her face. "I'd recommend giving them a few minutes though unless you're into some really weird theatre."

Simms looked at her, then up to John, whose face was scrunched in pain at the fire travelling through his veins from the drink. It didn't take long for the sheriff to connect the dots. "I think I'll hold off for a bit." The sheriff stated, as he shook his head. "I guess I'll have to let them in the city for a while."

"If you need any help in keeping the peace, I'm always here." John said, who was now leaning back against the bar with his head tilted back.

"Right, that's what I need." Simms stated jokingly, letting out a light chuckle. "A lit superhuman and a bunch of crazy raiders trashing the city."

Chuckling underneath his breathe, Megaton's trusted sheriff headed towards the door. Before the man could leave though, the Wanderer's head snapped up, his eyes locking onto the sheriff. "Hey Lucas, I had a quick question for you." John called out, an interested tone to his voice. "We've noticed that the Church of Atom has gone missing from in front of the bomb. Any idea where they went?"

The sheriff of Megaton turned around, looking at the Wanderer, Lucas let out a tired sigh, before taking his worn hat off. "A while ago, Cromwell came up to me with complaints about that new fella you brought home with you from Super Duper Mart." Simms explained, shaking his head. "Michael, was it?"

"Complaints? About what?" John asked, a frown etched on his face. "He was the least intrusive person in Megaton, aside from maybe Gob."

"The confessor was complaining that Michael was luring people away from his own congregation with promises of something or another." The sheriff responded, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Isn't that any religion?" Elsa asked, who was now sitting on a stool next to the wanderer.

"Yeah, yeah. In any case, I questioned the converted, and they weren't coerced. They just stopped believing in radioactive heaven I guess. I gave Cromwell the news and he wasn't happy at all. Then one day every one of them just up and vanished from the town. I checked their houses to make sure there was no foul play, but everything they owned, they had taken with them. So, I guess they'd had enough." Lucas explained, shrugging his shoulders. "Not much I can do if they felt threatened."

"Understood. I'll keep an eye out for them when I leave." John stated, a thoughtful tone to his voice. "Maybe help them get somewhere without any competition."

"Underworld?" Elsa asked, a curious tone to her voice. Gob, Simms, and John all three looked at her questioningly. "What? If anyone in the wasteland is the least affected by radiation, it would be them...right?"

"I suppose. Though according to Charon, the more exposure to radiation they get, the faster they descend into being a feral. So they might not take kindly to his preaching." John said, who tossed back another glass before shaking himself and slapping his own face. "Alright, thoughts for another time." he remarked as he looked over at the ghoul across the bar. "Has my father come down yet?"

"Yeah, a while ago. He said something last night about never sleeping again, then decided to go meet the townsfolk. If I were you, I'd go find him before Moira recruits another sidekick." The Ghoul said with a chuckle. "But...if you don't mind, I'd like a word before you go."

The Wanderer nodded to the ghoul, then walked behind the counter and into the back, where Gob was holding the door to. Elsa watched John exit the room at the same time as Simms left the front door. For a brief moment, nobody was standing at the bar until Mary came from the storage room to take Gob's place. Seeing the girl at the counter, the bar mistress leaned forward with a smile.

"Hey kiddo. How's it going?" Mary asked, smiling at the redheaded girl.

Not usually one for small talk, Elsa shrugged her shoulders. Then her mind snapped back to the Sentinel's suggestion from inside her friend's house. Perhaps the woman was lying to her, but it couldn't hurt to try and be a bit more feminine...could it? Looking around the tavern to make sure nobody was listening in, she leaned towards the woman secretively.

"Hey...Mary, can I ask you for a favor?" Elsa asked, feeling her face turn red at even thinking to ask someone for help with something like this.

"Sure sugar, what's on your mind?" Mary stated, as she lit a cigarette and puffed on it gently as she stared down at the 'younger' woman curiously.

"I...I was wondering how to...be a girl." Elsa explained, rubbing at the back of her head.

The redheaded android was unsure of her phrasing and if the woman would have any idea what she was talking about. But from the odd look on the woman's face, it was apparent that she at least understood the unusual request. After a moment of silence, Mary chuckled, then rested her head in her hand as she looked at the girl curiously.

"You want to know how to be a woman?" Mary said, getting an embarrassed nod from the Elsa. "That's no trouble sugar. I know exactly what you need."

OoOoO

"You wanna run that by me again?" John asked, eyebrow raised as he stared at Gob.

The Ghoul bartender rubbed at his irradiated arm nervously as he stared at the Wanderer. Finally, he let out a sigh before he metaphorically threw himself at John.

"Look, there's a girl I like. I like...really like her. But…" he said, pausing at the last word.

"But she's human...and you're a ghoul?" John finished, knowing of no other ghouls in Megaton. The bartender just nodded. "I see. And what did you need from me?"

"I'm already at a disadvantage, what with my looks and with my voice. I don't have much to offer someone like her. So, I was hoping you could teach me how to...impress them...I guess." The Ghoul bartender explained, his gravelly voice taking a downturn. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just not supposed to be loved."

The Wanderer smiled at the Ghoul bartender, and shook his head in amusement. Gob just stood there, a confused look evident on his irradiated face. "Well, there's your first problem right there." John stated, looking at his friend. "Looks may help you get a girl's attention, but it's not what keeps them."

"What is?" Gob asked, staring raptly at John.

The Wanderer just rubbed at his head, remembering back when his father had this talk with him back in the vault. The times have definitely changed. "Well, self-confidence is one of the most important aspects." John replied, a small smile on his face. "I guess it comes from the primitive days of hunting and gathering, but a man who shows confidence in himself seems more reliable than one who is always questioning himself."

"But...you and Mary hit it off as soon as you got out of the vault!" The Ghoul exclaimed, exasperation evident in his voice. "You were just a kid back then!"

John had a very surprised look on his face, as he eyed the Ghoul bartender with curiosity. He had never seen Gob act so animated before.

"Gob, that was her job back then." John explained, shaking his head. "And with the company she usually had for the night, a young man of any kind would have seemed like a ten course buffet to a starving man. That wasn't due to my self-confidence at all." The Wanderer then looked at the Ghoul bartender, narrowing his eyes at the ghoul. Gob immediately sat back in his chair, as if he were suddenly under interrogation. "Is this about Mary?" John asked, eyebrow raised.

Gob quickly turned away from the gunman, and he was sure that if the man still had skin, he'd be as red as a new born Brahmin. "Uh, maybe…" The Ghoul bartender muttered, rubbing at the back of his head.

John looked at Gob, before letting out a small chuckle. The Ghoul stood there with a confused look on his irradiated face, as the Wanderer shook his head in amusement. "Subtle." he remarked, then sat back in the chair. "So, you have a thing for Mary, and are looking for advice on how to make her knees weak?"

"Umm...yes...sorta." Gob mumbled, embarrassment evident in his voice.

John then nodded to the ghoul. "Well, if you're wanting advice about her in bed, I'm not going to spill that. I like my manhood right where it is." he said with a small smile. Even Gob smiled slightly. "But if you're going to win the heart of a free woman like that, you definitely need to up the confidence in yourself."

"Well, that's the thing boss. I don't know how. How am I supposed to have confidence when I look like I do?" The Ghoul bartender asked, his voice nearing desperation.

"Well, you could always mimic Charon." John stated, offering Gob a wide grin.

"Try again." Gob said, a deadpan expression on his face.

"Look, there's only one way to improve in your confidence, and that's to stop caring what others think of you. I don't know if it started with Moriarty, or if this was something you've always had, but you've always had an issue being in the foreground. That's something you'll have to fix in here." The Wanderer explained, tapping a finger against his temple.

The Ghoul bartender stood there, a despondent look on his face. Gob then bent over the table, head buried in his hands. "There's no hope for me." Gob muttered, shaking his head sadly.

John stared at the moping ghoul for a few moments before snorting out of his nose. Standing up, he dusted himself off then shook his head. "It figures you wouldn't have the spine." John said sharply.

The Ghoul's bartender head snapped up, shock evident on his irradiated face. Gob stared at the Wanderer with a wide-eyed look, wondering if he had heard her friend correctly. "Boss?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"Yeah, Boss. Because I have the backbone to do things for myself." he said. Immediately, he saw Gob withering, as if a swarm of locusts had broken the door down and begun to devour his soul. Changing his direction of thought, he headed for the door. "Hey, since you and Mary aren't going to be a thing, I think I might grab a piece of her before I go. What do you th-" said John with a cocky smile. But his smile vanished as he felt the ghoul immediately grab him by the back of his coat and slam him bodily against the far wall. Angrily, the bartender grabbed him and lifted him from the ground by his coat.

"I dare you to try." growled the ghoul, who stared venomous daggers at him.

For a long moment, the Wanderer, the Wolf of the Wasteland, the Reaper was terrified. Not so much that he'd be harmed, as he could likely snap both of the rad ravaged man's arms with one swipe of his own. But, he was more afraid that he'd just lost a friend. "Gob, I wasn't serious." said John delicately.

The ghoul stared at him for a moment, then slid the wanderer back to the ground, releasing his coat in the process. "Oh...right."

John smirked at him and patted him on the back lightly. "But you just fixed your own problem." he said. Gob looked at him questioningly. "It took a spine of steel to grab me, someone who can rip a human being in half, by the coat and slam me into the wall. I imagine if Mary saw that, she'd have swooned for sure."

"Y-You're serious?" The Ghoul asked, a hopeful look on his irradiated face.

"Oh yeah. Though, next time, I'd suggest using words before going straight for the swinging fists. There's a fine line between protective and violent." he said, giving the ghoul a confident smile. "But that's all you have to do. Stick up for yourself, or just don't let what others say bother you. And especially stick up for her."

Gob looked at his own hands for a moment, as if seeing himself in a new light. "That's it? Just stop caring what others think?" he asked.

John chuckled at his friend. "Imagine for a moment that Moriarty was standing here in front of you. Now, he calls you a zombie. How does that make you feel?" he asked.

Gob gave him a grim look. "Like I give a damn what that scum thinks of me."

"Exactly. Now, he tells Mary that she's going to be staying the night in his room tonight. How do you react?" asked the wanderer, moving out of the ghoul's vision just in case he decided to go for the throat.

"She's not going anywhere with anyone she doesn't want to." he said in a tone that was as solid as the Earth itself. "And if you have a goddamn problem with it, then I'll see you out of the bar."

John smiled widely as he patted the ghoul on the back. "Amazing. Now apply that to everyone." he said, getting a smile from the man. "You may not be a looker Gob, but you're stronger than any regular human, and you're the nicest guy around. What's not to like?" he asked.

"I...I guess." said the ghoul, who seemed to stand straighter now. "Thanks again boss."

John shook his head and tapped Gob's chest. "Not anymore. You're the boss now." he said, then reached for the door. "Come on, you have a new life ahead of you. And a bar to run."

OoOoO

"Absolutely fascinating…" said the man as he leaned over the counter and watched the woman work. It had been a while since the man had watched someone else's work, and even longer since he had seen someone work so well. In front of the aging doctor was Moira, who sat on her terminal, tapping away at the keyboard with blurring fingers as she pulled up her network schematic.

She smiled over at him brightly. "Thanks! I don't often get to show off my work to others. Oftentimes, they tell me their noggin hurts just watching." she said, then pulled up the desired blueprint. "Here we go. As you can see, I jacked the terminal into the satellite link in the nose of the plane that sits on top of the shop! It turns out that there's still a few stragglers up there that are pointed at DC. They apparently have some kind of VI inside them that keeps them moving with the rotation of the Earth, keeping them stable in space even so long after having their main uplink sights hit during the Great War." she rambled.

"And you happened to find one of them and hooked yourself into it?" asked James as he scanned the network she created on the screen.

"Not exactly. The old planes that were used in 2077 had no control over the satellites, they just used them for GPS tracking information, for course corrections and whatnot. So while I can link to it for mapping purposes, I can't actually do anything to make the satellite move. I'd need a full satcom array to do anything like that, and as far as I know the only one around here is currently home to all kinds of bad sorts." she said, turning to him in her revolving chair.

He stared at her blankly for a moment. "How is it you know so much about all this technology?" he asked. "I'm sure there are still sources of information on them somewhere, but to have such extensive knowledge of them is astounding."

The woman smiled nervously. "Oh stop. You'll make me blush." she remarked, deflecting the question. "I just pick up a lot while tinkering around with my gizmos you know. And your son helped me a lot with information that he brought back from the vault."

As if they were in an old sitcom, the door the Craterside Supply opened and John stood, staring at them both. "What'd I miss?" he asked uneasily, wondering if his father was about to make a sudden trip to Super Duper Mart.

"Moira here was just showing me how she's able to track the movement of certain objects like our pipboys through the use of her terminal." said James with a small smile. "It's amazing that technology like that still exists right under our noses." he said, almost excitedly.

John eyed his father curiously. "Dad, if you and Moira are going to hook up, tell me know so I can plan our funerals." he said, crossing his arms.

James chuckled and Moira blushed madly at the comment. "Respecting someone else's hard work doesn't equate to romantic feelings son." said the man as he eyed his son sternly.

John chuckled and nodded. "I know I know. Just a joke." he said as he looked at the pair of them. "So, that aside, are we ready to move out? I'd like to go ahead and get out there today before the sun goes down.

James nodded to the younger man, then turned to Moira. "I was actually thinking of asking Moira here to come with. Her expertise could prove invaluable to getting the purifier up and running." he said with a smile.

The woman stiffened in her seat for a moment, her eyes wide as she heard the request. "Well, I suppose I could close shop for a bit to help you out." she said, then looked up at John. "If that's alright with you."

John shrugged with a sigh. "Fine with me, just no more playing with my DNA." he said, a small smile on his face. The comment made Moira giggle slightly, and got an odd look from his father. "If you're going, suit up and meet us outside. We'll be leaving shortly."

She nodded happily and spun around to turn her terminal off. James turned to his son with a small smirk. "Story for another time?"

"Yeah...when I'm good and boozed again." he said with a chuckle.

OoOoO

It seemed like the comings and goings of the legendary wanderer were now celebrations in the town of Megaton. Once again, the group were gathered outside the town, ready to make their way into the wasteland with the use of their new vehicle. Sarah was currently standing next to the rear of the troop loader, her armor making it near impossible for her to ride up front. John and James were readying to get into the cab of the truck while Charon and Liberty were already inside the back. The only one they were currently waiting for was Elsa, who came out with the others, all of the friends and families who wanted to see them off.

Elsa stepped forward to join the group, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning to look up at the woman, she saw Mary, who held a secret smile on her face. Smiling back, she received a wink before the woman released her and let her join the others. Finally, with everyone present, the entire group said their goodbyes before the engines roared to life, and they were headed off towards their final destination once more, unaware of the floating droid hovering just outside the limits of the city of Springvale.

OoOoO

"Adorable…" The man stated, as he watched the display in front of him. As he watched the truck drive away from the settlement, he was absent-mindedly sliding the magazine of his pistol in and out of the slide. Across the desk stood a member of his personal guard, fully suited up in power armour and even brandishing a plasma rifle in his hands. Looking up at the guard, the older man smiled. "He's finally going home. It's time we made our move." The man finished, a final tone to his voice.

 _"Sir!"_ The guard saluted, then turned to the door and walked through.

As he stared at the image of Megaton again, the man spun the pistol magazine in his hand. Squeezing it, he felt it snap, then tossed it aside. "It's been thirty five years. Time to put this plan to rest." growled the man as he got out of his seat and headed for the door himself.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** So, it has come to my attention that I have quite a few fans out there. ~sticks tongue out at Amata and Sarah~

 **Author's Note from Amata and Sarah:** [censored due to graphic nature]

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** ~giggles~ Anyway, thank you all for voting on Twitter! But that was just a test poll to see how things were working on that end. The real important poll will be coming in the future, so if you want to have a hand in how the story goes, get on Twitter and vote ShepardsLore! Who knows, maybe a few of you may even see your suggestions through voting put into the story itself. For now, there's a new poll up on the Twitter account to see who everyone's favorite non female character in the story thus far is! So get over there and vote!

 **Author's Note from Amata:** Also, the author would like you all to know that when things in the story settle down, they're going to go back through their other stories and do a lot of corrections and rewrites in order to make them as polished as this story has become. That includes the early chapters of this story, so if you intend to reread the story to see what small details you've missed thus far, wait until it's rewritten so you can experience it in the highest quality to date!

auth0rz note frum stupid: That's right! So if you enjoy games like Warcraft, Poke...Pokemon? And Harvest Moon...keep an eye on the authors twitter in order to keep up to date! Also, the author would like to know if more of you prefer using Facebook...what is that, some kind of messaging forum? Anyway, tell them whether you prefer that over twitter, that can definitely be made more accessible.

 **Author's Note from Amata:** What happened to your Author's Note intro?

authorz nope from womancow: Wha?

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** ~giggles again~

i'm dumb: ELSA!


	79. The Unexpected

OoO( 79 )OoO

"Are you alright?" His voice asked, a worried tone to it.

Elsa immediately snapped to attention, before looking over at the Wanderer. He was staring back at Elsa, a curious look to his face. The man's father was currently driving the vehicle they were in with Elsa seated between the two Vault natives. The rest of the group were cast to the back of the large troop loading vehicle. As she leaned her head back against the seat, the redheaded android began to stare out the windshield, gazing at the ruins of the former capital city. Taking the advice of her android compatriot from Megaton, she didn't analyse the scenery in front of her; she just looked over the ruins, imagining what they once looked like before the bombs fell and destroyed everything. Elsa had files from her time in the sim about the city, including pictures of the once glorious city, allowing her to easily envision the buildings standing tall again. What the redheaded android hadn't realized was that in her daydreaming, her eyes had started to slowly shut once more. Now staring into the glowing orbs of the Wanderer, she shook all thoughts of the city from her head.

"Wha?" Elsa asked, a frown on her face. "What do you mean?"

"You looked like...like you were about to fall asleep." John explained, examining his android friend curiously. "You aren't having any energy issues are you?"

"No. Nothing like that." Elsa remarked, her thoughts turning back to Mary in Megaton. Just...thinking." she remarked,

"Energy issues?" James questioned, a confused tone to his voice. Luckily for him, he didn't have to worry about road lines or restrictions, so he was able to look at the pair questioningly.

"Oh...right." The Wanderer started, a look of comprehension on his face. "Elsa here is…"

Before John could continue on with this sentence, Elsa immediately cut the man off with her own response however. "I was just...day dreaming." Elsa snapped, glaring at the gunman. "Nothing to worry about."

While she wasn't in any current relationship with glowing-eyed hero himself, the redheaded girl was still wary of telling the man's father of her true origins. While the man seemed pretty sensible, she wasn't sure how the doctor would feel about an android having feelings for his son.

"Alright...what's this about?" John asked, as he leaned closer and stared at her with an analyzing gaze.

Elsa leaned back slightly at the Wanderer's interrogative stare, her face flushing with how close he had gotten to her. She was silently cursing herself for acting like such a lovesick puppy. "N-Nothing." Elsa stated, before turning away from him. "I've just learned a few things about myself since yesterday." John just sat there silently, waiting for the redheaded android's reply. Elsa turned to look back at the gunman, giving him an annoyed look. "I'll tell you later." Elsa said, a firm tone to her voice.

John let out a small sigh, before reaching down and ruffling Elsa's red hair gently. The android practically purred as he ran his fingers through her hair, despite the agitation that had built up within her chest. "Alright, I'll trust you." John stated, a hint of concern to his voice. "Whenever you feel like you wanna talk, let me know."

James turned around to look at the scene unfolding near him, a frown evident on the older man's face. His senses were on high alert right now, and they were concerned with the young woman sitting right next to him.

"Am I missing something?" The doctor questioned, eyebrow raised.

"Like the lady said, when she's ready, she'll talk." The Wanderer answered, a cheeky look in his eyes.

The gunman then looked down and offered Elsa a warm smile. The redheaded android couldn't help but look away, her own cheeks burning from the smile. She may have been acting like a love-struck teenager, but right now she just couldn't give a flying care.

OoOoO

In the back of the motorized vehicle, Sarah Lyons was clutching Liberty in her armoured hands. She was inspecting the robot, an interested look evident in her eyes. Liberty just looked up at the Brotherhood Sentinel, a neutral look on its digitized face.

"Where did you find the pieces to upgrade him?" Sarah questioned, as she eyed the handiwork of the shop owner that sat across from her.

"Oh ya know, people sell all kinds of odds and ends that they don't know the real value of." Moira said, a hint of pride in her voice. "Someone occasionally brings in a plasma emitter from a broken plasma rifle, or the stabilizers from an old polyform ocean buoy, I be sure to buy it off of them. Never know what you'll end up needing it for."

Seemingly satisfied with Moira's answer, the Brotherhood Sentinel set the small bot down next to her. Liberty gave her a disgruntled look, before changing back to his usual stern face.

"I guess you learn a lot in two hundred years, huh?" Sarah questioned, as she looked up at Moira.

The shopkeeper stiffened slightly at the Sentinel's question, but then realized that her identity had already been broken to the woman before her.

"Not always. Despite the age, the memory is still as shifty as it always is. I'm lucky in that I've always had a pretty good memory." Moira sighed, her face melting into a look of solemn sadness. "It had to be for the job I had."

Sarah looked at the ground, the question in her mind gnawing at her like a hungry molerat. After letting out a small sigh, the Brotherhood Sentinel looked up at the shopkeeper. "Do...do you think he has the same thing?" Sarah asked, a worried tone evident in the her voice. The dark-haired woman didn't say anything to this question, but instead looked at Sarah with a questioning glance. "The serum you received made it to where you couldn't age, so you're biologically the same age you were when you first received it." Sarah explained, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. "Do you think the same thing will happen to him?"

Moira let out a tired sigh, as she looked over at the worried Brotherhood Sentinel. "I can't really say." The shopkeeper admitted, as she leaned back against the hard wooden seat that lined the interior of the tarped vehicle. "I've never run into someone else who had the same injection I did. So I don't know if the features of mine apply to him or not."

Sarah Lyons put her head in her hands and began massaging her temples gently. If he was somehow made immortal from the serum in question, she supposed that was good news for her. He would stay eternally young; giving her a lifetime of him as a ruggedly handsome, strong counterpart who would possibly survive with her until her dying day. On the other hand, the thought of getting older, retiring and withering away as she watched him stay the same made her skin crawl. She couldn't bear the thought of becoming a burden to him and weighing him down. Regardless of what she did, he would have to keep moving to stay alive, especially with all the hate that was aimed directly at him from the wasteland. That meant he would have to leave her behind eventually, as she wouldn't be able to keep up. The sound of a gravelly voice from further down the bench snapped her out of her stupor.

"If you're so broken up about it, just become a Ghoul." John's bodyguard offered, a hint of amusement to his voice.

Sarah looked over and began glaring daggers at Charon, who had been in the back of the vehicle most of the night; Whether he was guarding it, or he found the silence outside the city more comforting than the populated crater, she didn't know. But right now his suggestion was an annoyance. "Oh gee, why didn't I think of that?" Sarah stated, venom dripping from every word.

"It's not as bad as you think. You're immune to the usual effects of radiation, you don't age, your pain tolerance goes through the roof, you're stronger than any normal human…" The Ghoul bodyguard stated, shrugging his irradiated shoulders. "If your gorgeous locks are worth losing out on all that, then you really aren't that interested in saving your relationship are you?"

"How long have you been a ghoul?" Sarah asked, resting her head in her hand.

"Since the war." Charon stated smartly, sitting up and staring at the Brotherhood Sentinel.

"How were you changed?" Sarah questioned, an interested look on her face.

"Believe it or not, I was a bouncer for a nightclub the day the bombs fell. The club was owned by some fatcat who had family all over the city, and he was scared shitless of judgement day. So all of his clubs had fallout shelters built into them." Charon explained, a complacent tone to his voice. "Me and the other drunk assholes all ran when we heard the sirens. Turns out the shelters weren't as safe as he wanted them to be. Me and everyone else in that bunker changed soon after."

"And if someday there were a cure that could give you your old body back with the loss of everything you've gained, would you do it?" Sarah asked, looking up at the Ghoul bodyguard.

"Not a chance in hell." Charon stated, giving her a dark look. "I was a pretty good lookin' guy before all my pieces started falling off. But even so, I was given this body, and with it I was able to do more in this world than I would have ever done with my previous body. Why the fuck would I take my old body back just because some stupid twat will look at me like a piece of meat?"

Stunned slightly at the harshness of his question, she really couldn't come up with an answer for him. He felt he had done more with himself as a ghoul than he had as a human. And she couldn't really say he was wrong; though one thing did get her attention. She turned to look at the Ghoul bodyguard, an interested look on her face.

"What was the deal with that contract?" Sarah questioned, head tilted in confusion.

Charon didn't say anything to the question, and instead visibly grimaced. The Brotherhood Sentinel knew that she'd hit a very sore spot. "That's none of your goddamn business blondie." Charon snapped, a furious look on his irradiated face.

"Alright, alright. Easy tiger." Sarah remarked, a small smirk on her face.

The Brotherhood Sentinel then let out a small sigh, before running a hand through her hair. She turned back to Moira, who had a frown on her face.

"You're worried about him, and how growing older will affect him in the future?" The shopkeeper questioned.

Sarah stared up at her for a moment, curious if the mystical woman somehow had the ability to read minds as well.

Moira gave the Sentinel a solemn nod. "It's a legitimate concern. You never want to outlive your loved ones. The pain of loss is immeasurable." Moira explained, before looking away. "To give you my honest opinion on the matter, I'd consider letting him go."

The blonde Brotherhood Sentinel snapped around to look at Moira, shock evident on her face. The shock then disappeared, before quickly being replaced by fury. "And why is that?" Sarah asked, a cold fury evident in her voice.

"If his serum was the same as mine, then a few things are certain. The first and foremost is the agelessness." Moira explained, as she looked away uncomfortably. "Then...there's the sterility."

"Sterility?" Sarah asked, jerking back in horror.

"The serum they gave me ended up making me one hundred percent infertile. After a few loving relationships after the bombs fell, I found out fairly quickly that my cycles had stopped entirely." Moira answered, nodding her head sadly. "And afterwards, I tested myself using what little technology that remained in a broken down hospital. As it turns out, the immune system boost that the serum gives you detects your ova as foreign bodies and begins breaking them down for nutrients."

"B-But he wouldn't have any eggs…" Sarah remarked, a horrified look on her face.

"Yeah, I tried a few tests on male samples as well. In those cases, the male...erm...product…" The shopkeeper said, pulling her collar away from her neck. "Is dead. Nothing that came from said tests could possibly impregnate a living egg."

Sarah stared at her for a long moment, not saying a single word. She then planted her face in her palm, before letting out a single sigh. "I see." The Brotherhood Sentinel stated, a tone of overwhelming strain in her voice.

She recalled the previous night they had spent together, where she had given into his charming, roguish smile and surprised him in his room. Her face quickly became heated as she remembered the night, and all that they had done. But now, she felt slightly hollow at the revelation that nothing might come of it. She reached up with her hand and planted her face in it, the more and more news she received about his current condition stressing her out more. But she looked up at the woman plainly.

"But that is an 'if', right?" Sarah asked, a hopeful tone to her voice.

"We would need a sizeable blood sample to be absolutely certain that he was affected the same way." Moira answered, trying to keep a cheerful tone in her voice. But regardless of the air she exuded, Sarah didn't look any less miserable

"Alright. Maybe when the purifier is running, we can take him to the Citadel for testing. After all, he did promise to share some information about the serum with us." Sarah said, trying to keep her spirits up as she stared out the back of the truck. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she watched through the thick cloud of dust. "Oh shit…"

OoOoO

"What is that?" Elsa questioned, as she grabbed his coat and pulled it towards her.

The Wanderer turned to look at his redheaded companion, before eyeing her curiously. "What is what?" John asked, a frown on his face. He tried to examine the coat, wondering what Elsa was talking about. All he got in responses was a small giggle. "What?" John asked, getting slightly annoyed.

"You have a wolf on your coat." Elsa explained, before she began giggling madly.

The surprise on the wanderer's face was only outshined by the speed with which he grabbed his duster and examined it. Sure enough, over one of the bullet holes put into it by god only knows who, was a cloth patch with a small cartoon wolf sewn into it.

"Wadsworth…" John growled, a scowl evident on his face. But he eyed Elsa as the girl took a closer look.

"That...looks like Maggie drew it." The redheaded android stated, a curious tone to her voice.

"What makes you say that?" John questioned, a confused look on his face.

"It has the same cartoony eyes as the drawing she made for you before you hit Paradise Falls." Elsa explained, looking to be on the verge of having a massive giggling fit.

"Wonderful. The terror of the wasteland, patches his duster of justice with cartoon wolves." John muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"It's adorable though!" Elsa stated, pointing to the red back patch on his suit.

Suddenly, a thumping from the back troop loader alerted them. Sarah's voice drilled through the heavy tarp in a frantic tone. "Guys, we've got a party on our tail!" she shouted.

"So outrun them!" John yelled back through the heavy material.

"They're catching up!" Sarah shouted, an annoyed tone to her voice. "We're going to have to get rid of them...GAAAHH!"

Immediately, John moved to the door, opened it, and while securing himself so that he didn't fall, began to look behind the vehicle. There was a loud slam in the back compartment, and John could easily see that there were three creatures barrelling towards the truck, following in its dust trail. The flying dust made it hard to get a read on what exactly they were, but he could easily tell by their speed that they weren't to be taken lightly. Pulling the typical automatic rifle off his back, he fired into the cloud, and was easily rewarded when one of the beasts broke off and began sprinting for him in the passenger seat. When it cleared the dust, his eyes widened immensely.

He'd heard from Moira about many of the wastelands creatures. Most of them, he'd already run into, from radscorpions, to molerats, to bloatflies, to feral dogs. One of them, the mirelurk, he'd only met afterwards. But one creature he knew he was going to dread running into was the terrifying yao-guai. It wasn't as big by comparison to the old black bears that used to roam the mountainous regions of the US, but these were far more intimidating. The radiation had gotten rid of their sight, leaving the creatures to solely rely on their smell and hearing. But the lack of eyesight didn't seem to pacify the beasts at all. As a matter of fact, they were now almost exclusively feral, attacking anything any everything that moved, even their own kind.

Now, he stared into the dead eyes of the creature that was seemingly glaring directly into his soul as it barrelled towards him. Aiming the rifle again, he pulled the trigger and unleashed a storm of bullets. The accuracy of the weapon was very poor, especially with the vehicle he was in moving at high speeds. The bear creature did get hit a few times, but if it hit something important, then the creature showed no signs whatsoever. Instead, the beast roared loudly and leapt into the air, landing in the cleft of the cabin and latching his jaws into the wanderer's unarmored arm.

John howled in pain as the razor sharp teeth penetrated his upper left arm. Immediately, Elsa reached out and grabbed the jaws of the creature and pried them apart using her inhuman strength, then sent a kick directly into the creature's stomach. The kick, however, over compensated her weight and sent both her and the feral beast tumbling out of the vehicle.

James, who had intended to stop for the sake of the girl in the first place, got a terrifying glare from John. "Stop the goddamn vehicle." snapped his son in a tone of voice that he swore would have stopped a bullet dead in its tracks. The doctor obeyed and hit the brakes, pulling the vehicle to a halt in the desert dust.

OoOoO

As soon as Sarah shouted out the warning to the front, one of the four total creatures that were chasing the vehicle leapt into the back of the truck in a flying arch that would have impressed the woman, had she not been its intended target. It slammed into her and bowled her backwards before it began snapping at her face viciously. But Sarah and Charon both gasped in shock as Moira stood up from her spot and kicked the creature, sending it hurtling backwards out of the vehicle. They both looked at her as she reached up and pulled a knife off of her utility belt, then spun it in her hand. As the vehicle came to a stop, the creatures regrouped and surrounded the shopkeeper as she stepped out of the back of the troop loader.

Sarah took the initiative and dove out of the vehicle, her heavy armored suit slamming into the first of the beasts and sending it scrambling across the dusts. Before it could recover, the sentinel sprinted forward in her power armor and grabbed the monstrous ursan creature before slamming it to the ground harshly. The resulting impact resulted in a sickening crunch of bones snapping. Charon, who one of the bear mutants thought was an easy target, just held up his shotgun and blasted the offending creature's head from its shoulders.

Sighing to herself, Moira, stepped towards the last. It lunged at her, but she easily stepped around its rabid grasp, and with one hand, secured the remaining fur on the back of the creature's neck, like a homeowner grabbing a pet cat. Then she sank the knife deep into its throat. The creature tried to struggle, tried to squirm, tried anything to get away from its fate. But it couldn't move. It simply breathed heavily out of its snout as the woman twisted the blade and pulled, causing the body to fall limp from its now pain stricken face. She then wiped the blade on the creature's head fur, and tossed the appendage aside. As the woman slid the knife home back in her harness, she ignored the startled looks at her silent brutality.

OoOoO

Elsa coughed as dust filled her lungs. It was horrible, the sensation of your senses being clouded by something so dry and suffocating. Immediately, she turned off her intake of oxygen, then spun around onto her back to aim the magnetic rifle at the ursan mutation that had come with her. Unfortunately, the beast had already leapt onto her and was clawing away at her leather armor. Only by her quick reflexes had she managed to keep the herculean creature from landing on her entirely, by placing her feet against its chest. But she pulled the weapon up to fire, only to have it swatted away by a massive, deformed paw. She watched in irritation as it then raised its razor sharp claws to strike again, wondering briefly if her skin would have been able to deflect such an attack.

But before she could do anything, the creature yelped as the broad side of the truck's passenger door slammed into its head. "Hands off!" yelled the wanderer as he tossed aside the bent door and reached forward, grabbing the beast both by its neck and hindquarters. Lifting the flailing monstrosity up into the air, the android watched in awe as he slammed its back down over his knee with enough force to break concrete. The yao guai let out a pitiful whine as it practically folded in half, its spine crumbling over his armored knee. The redheaded girl looked past the destroyed creature and directly into the face of the gunman, and saw true anger as he stared at the beast. She found herself wondering if that was for her, or some other reason. But she didn't have long to wait in order to find out. Immediately, the wanderer stood up, then tossed the broken ursan aside. As he looked at her, the anger vanished and changed to concern. Kneeling down to her, he held out his hand.

"Are you alright?" John asked, a worried tone to his voice.

She eyed him for a moment before reaching forward and allowing him to help her up. "I'm fine. It barely touched me…" she remarked, slightly flushed as she noticing that his hand hadn't yet released hers. "Not that it would have mattered…"

He looked away from her for a moment. "I know, I know. You probably could have taken it on your own." he said, a relieved sigh escaping him. "Even so, I didn't…" he said, but stopped as he saw the odd look on her face. "What is it?"

Elsa had thought many times about her talk with Mary since leaving Megaton. Each piece of advice the woman gave her was extremely situational, and she found herself surprised to be in one such situation. Reaching up, she stepped forward and grabbed his collar, pulling him down to her level gently before planting a kiss directly on his cheek. There was nothing forceful about it, or demanding.

As if petrified, the gunman didn't move an inch when he felt the soft peck. He just heard a small 'thanks' as the red-faced girl moved around him and back into the truck. He stood there for a minute longer, still holding the door to the vehicle on one hand as he reached up and touched the spot where she'd kissed him. Finally, he turned towards the truck, too oblivious to notice Sarah watching the scene from the back with a disgruntled look on her face.

OoOoO

Another hour in the vehicle had them stopping outside the DC ruins. James sighed as he pulled the troop loader into the broken down ruins of an old candy shop, pushing the shelves aside with the fender before parking it and disabling the video. Charon looked at the others in the back with a curious glance.

"Why are we stopping here?" The Ghoul bodyguard asked, an interested tone to his voice.

Sarah, who seemed to be in a rather sour mood at the moment, sighed and stood up in her heavy armor, the vehicle rocking with her every step as she made her way out of the back.

"The roads of DC have been obliterated. Toppled buildings, trenches built by supermutants, and craters for days." The Brotherhood Sentinel snapped, as if she was back in commander mode. "If we were to try and cross all that in a vehicle we'd end up in a ditch, where it would quickly be torn apart by asshole raiders and mutants looking for scraps to make their armor."

"Everything alright Sarah?" Moira asked, glancing at Sarah questioningly.

"Decision making sucks." Sarah stated, shaking her head.

"Yeah...yeah it does." Moira sighed, as she reached up and patted the woman on her armored shoulder. "Just be sure you're making the decision with your heart, not your brain. Because cold logic has no place in making decisions like that."

"I-I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." Sarah responded, slightly stunned at the advice given to her.

The Brotherhood Sentinel jumped out of the back of the truck, leaving it rocking. James, Elsa, and John all met them from the front; the doctor went about disguising the vehicle as much as he could, using positioning and rubble. The Wanderer watched in amusement as the older man took meticulous care in hiding the truck.

"Wanting to save it for later?" John asked curiously, a small smirk plastered evident on his face.

The man, now finished with his task, turned around and began eyeing his son sternly. This only made The Wanderer's smirk grow even wider. "Having such an asset in the wasteland is immeasurably advantageous. If equipment needs to be hauled, or you need to get somewhere in a timely manner, having such a vehicle could be the difference between life and death. So yes, I intend to keep it as safe as possible." The doctor explained as he dusted himself off. "Now, we need to make haste to Rivet City. Even with you helping me, I'll still need Madison's assistance to get the purifier working…"

"Sorry Doc, but I'm afraid this is where we part ways." came the feminine voice from behind John. The gunman stiffened, then turned to Sarah, a perturbed look on his face as he eyed her.

"You're leaving?" John asked, stepping closer to her to keep the conversation down.

"Elder Lyons said I was to assist you in finding your father. I think it's prudent I get back and report about what's happened thus far." Sarah explained, keeping her face neutral. But the dark glare she received from him made her sigh. "Stop looking at me like that." she growled.

John turned to the others and nodded towards the shop. "Wait inside, we'll be right back." The Wanderer said, then turned and lifted the Sentinel bodily from the ground, power armor and all, and threw her over his shoulder. The woman gasped loudly as she was handily hoisted up and carried like a sack of luggage over the man's shoulder, so much so that she barely struggled. When they were a safe distance away, he set her back on her armored feet and crossed his arms as he glared her down.

"Explain." The Wanderer stated, a firm look on his face.

"I just did." Sarah grumbled, already irritated at being treated like a piece of furniture.

"Not good enough." John responded, frowning at Sarah. "What's the matter?"

The Brotherhood Sentinel looked at him pointedly, then felt her defenses crumble as his glare faded and a look of hurt took its place. "Look...with everything that's going on, with you and the serum, the purifier, the Outcasts and all that, I think it's best if we part here as friends." Sarah remarked, a hint of sorrow to her voice.

"Why?" John asked, the look of hurt being quickly replaced with an expression of surprise.

"Relationships are hard, and take a lot of work. Right now, we're both going to be very busy with the work on the purifier. Not to mention the examination it's going to take to tell whether you're going to live forever or not, I think that right now we need to focus on what's important." Sarah explained, then turned and stared him in the eyes. "After everything's said and done and the wasteland is a better place, we can work on us."

The Wanderer didn't say anything as he let Sarah's explanation sink into his head. He stared at her for a long moment, his arms still crossed, before he sighed heavily. "You know, I know you're right." John growled, an annoyed tone to his voice. "But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about being put on the back burner."

"You aren't being put on the back burner." The Brotherhood Sentinel chuckle, shoving John playfully. "If anything, I should wonder if I am considering that kiss that Elsa gave you earlier."

John uncrossed his arms and placed them on his hips, preparing to defend himself. But she held up her hands to stop him.

"I know, it wasn't you. Hell, I don't even blame her. So no need to get defensive." Sarah said, still holding a smile on her face.

Seeing that he wasn't being accused, the Wanderer let out a sigh of relief and calmed down but still gave her a questioning glance.

"Look, I just think that the whole relationship thing is putting too much pressure on you from both sides." Sarah explained, a sad tone to her voice. "As I said, with everything that's going on right now, and everything that's about to happen over the next couple of weeks with the purifier and the exam, I think we should take a step back for the moment. I'll get back to kicking your ass once everything is working smoothly."

After a long, contemplative moment, the gunman finally sighed. "Alright, you win." he said, giving her a reluctant smirk. "So, does that mean you're not going to show up naked in my bed anymore?"

"My father would probably hang us both if he found out I was sneaking off to your room." Sarah stated seriously, but then gave him a very playful smile. "It was fun though."

"Yes, yes it was." John said, a stupid grin plastered on his face.

"Oh shut up." The Brotherhood Sentinel growled as they walked together towards the group once again. "Regardless, I do have to get back to the Citadel and report in. I've probably been gone longer than they thought I would be, what with all of the detours we had to take. So they'll be expecting me soon."

"I have to say, I'm gonna miss having you around." John stated, his tone a bit disheartened.

"I know." Sarah answered, a hint of snarkiness to her voice, before they joined the group again.

Sarah slid the helmet on over her head, then began to broadcast on the Brotherhood band to have a party meet her halfway between their current location and the Citadel for escort. John and the others said their goodbyes and headed south towards the large figure of Rivet City on the map.

OoOoO

Once again, she sat in the desk. Amata was growing to despise the simple, yet complicated piece of furniture that sat in the Overseer's office. On top of it being slightly uncomfortable to her usual feel of the flat surfaced school desks, it was an eyesore. It still held the pictures and family memorabilia that her father had left there. A picture of her own tenth birthday and the day she got her first Pipboy. The picture of her father and mother when they were younger, still in the vault of course, but long before his hair had silvered and he became the Overseer. At least those somewhat made the desk of doom tolerable. As she sat, staring at her family photos, Chief Security Officer Herman Gomez stepped into the office and gave her an irritated look.

"I've got the last two for you." Gomez stated, a firm tone to her voice.

Amata let out a tired sigh, before giving the Chief Security Officer a nod.

"I can finally get this over with so that I can actually do my damn job." Amata complained as she stood up with her hands on her hips.

Herman left momentarily before walking in again with former Officer O'Brian. The man had horrible scarring on his hands as he fidgeted nervously before her, right before he was forced to sit in the chair across from her desk.

"Kenneth O'Brian…" The Overseer said, as she held up a folder briefly before slapping it on the table. "Care to explain this record of yours?"

"I…" he mumbled, looking down at the ground. "I was just doing my job." he said sharply, looking up at her in irritation.

"And where in the Duties and Responsibilities for vault security does it say that firing on unarmed civilians is justifiable?" Amata asked, her tone full of sharpened ice as she glared down at the man. "And what section of the Index of Escalations Training Manual says that kicking in the door of a room full of people and gunning them down to make an example is authorized as a response to peaceful protest?"

"Look, I was just following orders!" Kenneth shouted defensively.

"Your orders are in these texts." The Overseer responded, slamming both of the books she had just mentioned down on the floor in front of him. "And your orders came from the Overseer, who did not authorize either of the actions that you are now accused of. So…" Amata continued, brushing her long hair out of the way. "Now that the bullshit is out of the way, care to explain yourself?"

"No. You've already made your decision." Kenneth retorted, snorting dejectedly.

"And you made yours when you fired on Mrs. Taylor, an elderly citizen of the vault who had nothing to do with the rebels." Amata snapped, cold fury evident in her voice.

Kenneth looked up, an annoyed looked plastered on his face. The man turned to defend himself again, but the Overseer cut him short before he even spoke.

"You may not have hit her, but being fired upon sent her into cardiac arrest. That is on your hands." Amata continued, flinging his file across the room and scattering the papers everywhere. "And how about old man Montgomery? His family had already left the vault years ago. He was eating in the cafeteria when you decided it'd be a good idea to start questioning him at the end of a shock baton!"

The man stood up, as if to attack the woman, but she lashed out with a kick of her own sending him toppling backwards into the chair where Gomez neutralized him with a boot to the throat and a shock baton of his own tickling the man's nose.

"That's enough of that." The Security Chief stated, an unimpressed look on his face.

"Get him out of my sight." Amata snapped, as she turned back towards the desk. "He has three days to pack his shit and get the hell out of our vault." she said, sitting down in the chair with an air of finality that stunned the former officer.

"You're exiling me?" Kenneth asked stupidly.

"There are plenty of raiders and other thugs out in the wasteland that have fun toying with the lives of others." The Overseer stated, offering the man an annoyed glare. "Go join one of their gangs, I'm sure you'd fit right in."

Before the man could say another word, he was escorted away from the office by Officer Gomez. Amata watched as the man was lead out of her office, not feeling a single iota of sympathy for the man.

"Now for the hard one." Amata muttered, reaching up and rubbing her head.

Ten minutes later, the sombre figure of former Security Chief Hannon walked in of his own accord and stood in front of the desk. His standing was very rigid, and very professional as he folded his arms behind his back and looked straight ahead, as if Amata were some form of drill sergeant.

"Have a seat Mister Hannon." The Overseer stated, leaning her head into her palm as she eyed the dark-skinned man. The man sat, almost as rigidly as he stood. "You can relax officer, I'm not on a witch hunt." Amata said, as she leaned forward.

The former chief, while he did loosen his posture a bit, seemed no less serious. Amata resisted the urge to let out a small sigh, as she looked at Hannon.

"Explain to me the situation with Mister Thorn over a decade ago." Amata asked, holding up the file in front of her.

"I was doing my rounds through the quarters when Mister Thorn came stumbling drunk out of his room." Hannon explained, a stern tone to his voice. After explaining to him that vault law forbids intoxication outside your quarters, he assaulted me."

"Was that why you broke his arm?" Amata questioned, eyebrow raised. Though still very serious, her tone held none of the ice that it had with the previous officer.

"I used excessive force for a situation that didn't require it." Hannon stated honestly. "If you're going to go over my entire career, I did that a lot of that. I had a chip on my shoulder of wanting danger so that the security forces could do more than just sit in the breakroom and make sure nobody was stealing extra rations. I...was overzealous in my duties."

Amata sat there silently, as she listened to the former Chief Security Officer's explanation. If she was being honest with herself, she was pretty sure she had a stunned look on her face. She had never expected the man to be this honest with her.

"I'm happy to hear the honesty Hannon, more than you realize. I am more interested in getting a sense of where you're at right now. I know you lost a son during the first vault opening incident, Paul Jr." Amata said, letting out a small sigh. "He and I had our moments of butting heads, but he was a good student, a great engineer, and an even better son."

Immediately the man cringed, his face taking a melancholy expression. The Overseer could feel her heart break, as she watched this man crumble before her.

"And then in the confusion with the rebellion, your wife Vikki was caught in the crossfire when former Officer Kendrick fired on Mister Deloria for having a switchblade out." Amata continued, still noticing his drooping, almost heartbreaking expression. Amata then set aside the paperwork and stared at him. "Let's set aside your history for a moment. If I were to reinstate you as a security officer on Vault Security, what would your goal be?"

"This job is the only thing I have left. If you gave me my armor back, I'd do the job I was meant to do. Not the one I wanted to do anymore." Hannon responded, clenching the arm of his chair painfully. "My own negligence led to the breeding of corruption in our ranks, and because of that my son died because the real threat in the vault wasn't being taken care of. And my wife…" he said, letting out a sigh that felt like it weighed as much as the world itself. "She was killed because of a lack of discipline and training that I was responsible for handing out." he said, then looked up at her sharply. "You don't owe me anything, but I'd like to ask a favor regardless." he said, his face a mask of seriousness.

She stared at him a long moment before nodded. "Go ahead."

"If you said no, I'd understand, given my record of dealing with situations the way I have. But I'd like to fix what I should have fixed when I was Chief. Give me a second chance to be on the force and I'll work my hardest to undo the damage that was done due to my own negligence." he said uniformly. He was rigid in his chair again, staring at the wall behind the Overseer in military fashion. He was fully expecting rejection. Given his record of less than pleasant interactions with minor incidents. So he sat stoically, ready for his denial.

"Alright." came her voice. His brain took a moment to register what she had said. "Given the circumstances of stress you've been under, I can see you have changed. Now I want you to prove it to me." she said as she organized his paperwork back into the folder that she had been shuffling through. "You're being demoted to Deputy Security Chief, under the direct supervision of Chief Herman Gomez." she said, then laid the folder flat in front of her. "I'm running on good faith, and faith alone that you've changed yourself. Please do not let the opportunity to prove me right get away." she said sharply.

"Understood." Hannon said as he stood up straight and saluted her. "I'll do my best."

"See that you do. Report to Gomez tomorrow morning for duties." Amata said, then looked up at him. "Dismissed."

He nodded, then turned towards the door. But before either of them could do anything else, the radio on the Overseer's circular desk began blaring loudly with the sound of Officer Gomez's voice. _"Overseer, we have a slight problem."_ he said in a panicked tone.

She immediately swiped up the radio. "What is it, report!" The Overseer snapped. Deputy Hannon watched on as the head of security responded.

 _"O'Brian has knocked out Stanley and locked himself in the reactor!"_ Gomez shouted, with the familiar hiss of an arc welder behind him.

"What the hell is he doing in there!?" Amata demanded, her nerves on high alert.

 _"The power readings coming from the reactor are skyrocketing! We think he's trying to crank up the power until it blows!"_ The officer shouted over the sound behind him.

Amata froze for a moment, then stood straight, staring directly at Hannon. "Change of plans. Get the new prototypes from the armory. Looks like we're getting you the war you wanted." he growled as she strapped on her armor again.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from Amata:** Look guys, I just stopped to say there's a new poll on the twitter thing that the author uses. Oh, and thanks again to The Broken Dancer for going through the trouble of beta reading for him. She rocks, you guys rock, now if you don't mind, I have some shit to deal with!

 **Author's Note from Elsa:** Yikes, sucks to be her. In any case, like she said, you can go to the twitter, or just post in the reviews if you like, stating which of the remaining Fallout 3 DLC's you enjoyed the most. Also, if you enjoyed the chapter, or would like to comment on it, be sure to leave a review! They are always read, and if you wanted an answer to a question, the author can typically answer them.

 **Author's Note from Liberty: [ò_ó]** _Prepare for glory communist scum!_


	80. The Calm Before the Storm

OoO( 80 )OoO

"I'm sorry Garza, can it wait a bit?" Doctor Li questioned, as she stared through a microscope at her main station. "I'm in the middle of a breakthrough."

The woman had even skipped lunch to try and finish up her recent work on the advancement of energy usage. If her work was correct, then the settlement of Rivet City could convert from nuclear energy, which was unfortunately running thin, to hydro power from the basin, freeing up an enormous amount of strain on energy resources from the ship. But her brain froze as a smooth voice so familiar to her responded.

"I apologize, should I come back later?" asked the deep voice of James.

Doctor Li stopped dead in her tracks, as she tried to process what she had just heard. Li stood up straight, her microscope forgotten as she spun around to face the man who was standing behind her. All of the assistants within the lab went dead quiet as they discreetly watched from their own sections of the lab.

"James?" Doctor Li questioned, eyes wide with shock.

"Madison." James responded, a tired smile on his face."I apologize about how quickly I left…"

Doctor Li quickly raised her hand up in the air, stopping James in his tracks. He just stood there silently, a feeling of worry slowly building up within his chest.

"Just...shut up." Doctor Li stated firmly, glaring at James. "I warned you that going to the memorial could be dangerous. I warned you about the supermutants, and still you left. You were missing for over a month after coming back from being missing in action for over twenty years!"

The older man said nothing, as Doctor Li seemingly tried to restrain her fury. John and Elsa stood back near the door of the lab, both cringing lightly at the backfiring reunion.

"And he's going to ask her for help?" Elsa questioned, a disbelieving tone to her voice.

"If he can manage it, she either really loves him, or he's even more charming than me." John said, as he watched in fascination.

"You aren't that charming." Elsa responded mockingly, as she elbowed him.

"I'm sorry Madison." James stated, a sad tone to his voice. "But I've done it."

James then took a step closer to her and held his hands out. Oddly enough, from The Wanderer's angle, it looked like he was asking for a hug. But he knew from experience that it more or less meant he was offering something of great value to himself.

"Don't you change the subject!" Li growled, an angry look in her eyes. "You've done this twice now…wait...what have you done?" Her tone immediately softening towards the end, as she placed her hands on her hips and eyed him suspiciously.

"I've found the solution. The answer we were looking for!" James explained, his voice closer to sounding excited than John had ever heard before. "I've discovered why we were failing for all those years, and what we can do to fix the purifier!"

"How?" Li questioned, raising her hands in bewilderment. "Where!?"

"I'll explain it later." James responded, running a hand through his hair. "But please, I need you at the purifier. In order for it to work again, it will need some new components. Twenty years of being at the edge of a flowing river has likely done quite a bit of damage to some of the circuitry."

James took another step forward; he was now only a foot away from the woman. Doctor Li stared at him, her face a mask of annoyance as she looked into his piercing gaze.

"You can't just come in here and expect me to drop everything to throw myself at a failed, twenty-year-old project James!" Li claimed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I'm not asking you to throw yourself at a failed, twenty-year-old project Madison. I'm asking you to help me with a project that will work, and will make the lives of everyone in the wasteland better." James retorted, reaching down and gently clasping one of Doctor Li's hands. "I know that with your help, I can do it. I can make it work, and we can finally finish this chapter of our life."

The pair watching from the darkness of the door widened their eyes as they saw the helpless doctor get worked over by the Wanderer's father.

"Wow…" Elsa muttered, a startled tone to her voice. "I'm pretty sure if her face gets any redder her head is going to explode."

"Yeah." John muttered, letting out an amused sigh. "I discovered after talking to her for a bit that she had a thing for my father. So him talking to her like that is just feeding a love-sick puppy. Now the problem is, I don't know whether he's doing it intentionally to get her cooperation, or if he actually is interested."

"Easy, tough guy." The redheaded android stated, a cheeky grin on her face. "We've got a short trip back to the purifier that you can interrogate him on. Right now, we have to make sure she comes with."

Elsa then lifted John's hand and put his palm on her head. He looked down at her curiously before seeing her adorable smile. Then even his stoic figure cracked, making him smile and ruffle her hair. The android purred in satisfaction as they continued watching the pair.

"James…" Doctor Li grumbled, as she began rubbing at her head. "You know I could never say no to you."

"I know. And it's about time I stopped saying it to you." James retorted.

Immediately, the woman's gaze snapped up towards his, her Asian features scanning him. Then she looked over at the sound of dead silence, and noticed all of her assistants gawking at the pair of them.

"Uhh...come with me." Li stated, turning sharply and pulling the doctor with her. "The rest of you get back to work."

Doctor Li then vanished into a door off to the side. Immediately, John pulled down his goggles, and Elsa's eyes began to scope in on the pair, her simple x-ray function that she hadn't used to date coming in handy to see the pair.

OoOoO

"How could you do that right in front of everyone!?" Doctor Li demanded in frustration, flailing her arms around in embarrassment.

James chuckled as he stepped close to her again, making her stand straight once more.

"Who cares if they saw? Who cares if anyone saw? What I said is what I meant." James said as he took her hands in his own. "I know it hurt when I proposed to Catherine. I tried to ignore it, knowing that you wouldn't understand how much I fell for her. But I couldn't look at you a day afterwards without seeing the hurt there. And I wouldn't be lying if I said that Project Purity wasn't the only thing that made me leave the vault."

James finished on a solemn note, before he squeezed Li's hand. Madison stared at him for a long moment before snorting out of her nose.

"You can't just do that James." Doctor Li growled, an annoyed tone to her voice. "You don't get to break my heart, disappear for two decades, then come knocking again when you see fit. That's not how these things work."

"I'm aware of all of this." James stated, a neutral expression on his face. "That's why if you want to take your time, or refuse me outright, I would understand completely. There's no rush, not this time."

She glared at him for a long moment, then grabbed his collar. Pulling him close, she planted a kiss on his lips briefly before shoving him backwards.

"Shut up." Doctor Li muttered, walking towards the door.

"As you wish." James stated, with a handsome smirk on his face.

She turned to him, but couldn't help cracking a grin. "And stop smiling...idiot." she exclaimed before turning back to the hatch and exiting back into the lab.

OoOoO

John immediately turned away from the scene, grabbing the valve on the hatch as he lifted the goggles off his head.

"Welp, I've seen enough." The Wanderer stated, as he looked over at his companion. "Shall we go find something to do?"

"Yeah, that was probably weird for you." Elsa remarked as she followed him through the opening and back into Rivet City.

OoOoO

"Uh huh...so it was originally started as a research station for exiles from the Commonwealth Institute of Technology?" The woman asked, as she stared at the aging man with excited curiosity.

"Yes, just like I told that idiot kid that was here a couple weeks back." The old doctor growled. "Me and a few of my partners started it, then it turned into some kind of safe haven for all kinds of wasteland freeloaders who wanted a free meal ticket."

"And you put them all to work, so that they weren't just relying on you?" The brunette asked, as she began scribbling hastily on her notes. "Sounds interesting. The more people you include, the more help you get on the backend. A very sneaky, but productive thought process!"

The man eyed her curiously for any sign of sarcasm, then smiled lightly. "Productive indeed." The old doctor said, a small smile on his face. "Because of me, people were able to start their own businesses further in the the hold of the ship. A couple years after they started wandering into my lab, we had a full marketplace with all kinds of goods."

"That's suuuper interesting!" The woman claimed, brushing her hair out of the way. "Sorry to bother you by the way, I just needed a bit more information for a book I'm writing."

"You're writing a book?" Pinkerton questioned, eyebrow raised. "You know people are more likely to use books for firewood nowadays, right?"

"That's true, but if it helps save even one life out there in the wastes, then it was worth the effort." The woman retorted, smiling jovially at him.

"Right… Speaking of bothering me, how the hell did you even get in here?" Pinkerton asked curiously. He had gotten so caught up in history, and her flattery, that the question had slipped his mind previously.

"I was about to ask the same thing." Another voice announced, originating from the door of the lab.

Pinkerton looked over for a moment, then glared when he saw John's mug appear from the open hatch. "What the hell do you all think this is? A visitor's center!?" Pinkerton demaned, as he stood up from his seat, his body rigid in irritation. Then he spun around and flung his arms in the air. "Goddammit, it's happening again. Soon enough this'll be Rivet City number two and they'll be throwing me off the ship entirely!"

"Cool your Bunsens doc." The Wanderer stated, a smile on his face. "We're just here as part of our bargain." John lifted an arm and rested it on the corner. Elsa stepped out from behind him and looked at the man sharply. "You do remember our bargain, right?" John questioned, in a tone that said he was to be taken seriously.

"Yeah, I remember alright." Pinkerton growled, looking away from those piercing orbs again. "Rock, your parents are here. Don't fuck on my tables, and close the damn door when you're gone."

He then began walking towards the back and disappeared from sight, muttering underneath his breath all the while. The Lone Wanderer had fallen silent, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Elsa, what did he mean by 'parents?'" John asked, as he turned to the young woman curiously.

The android looked away and flapped her hand defensively at him, struggling hard not to let a blush appear on her face. "Oh, nothing. He probably just misspoke." Elsa muttered, deflecting the question immediately.

Before he could interrogate her any more, the screen right next to the trio lit up, and a familiar, if older, face popped up on them with a large smile.

 _"Mother!"_ came an overjoyed cry from the screen.

"Rock! There you are!" she said, ignoring John and jumping into the seat right in front of the terminal. "I see you've upgraded your appearance?"

 _"Yeah. Doctor Pinkerton said he didn't like my squeaky voice."_ The boy explained. _"Originally, I just made my voice deeper, but he said it looked creepy coming out of a ten-year-old...so I updated it to an older version for his comfort."_

John moved forward and eyed the young man on the screen carefully. Rock looked up at the much towering figure, then his voice took a quieter tone.

 _"Oh...hello again."_ said the boy meekly.

"Hi…" The Wanderer stated, as he leaned forward and stared at the screen. "Elsa…"

"Yessssss?" The redheaded android asked innocently as she fidgeted, immediately knowing what was coming.

"Why does he look like me?" John asked as he turned to look the redhead in the eyes. As the gunman stared her down, her smile widened, showing her nervousness. "Elsa…"

Finally, the young woman face palmed herself. "Look, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out." The redheaded android snapped, looking back up at him

"You modelled him after me?' John questioned, a disbelieving tone to his voice.

"Uh...you could say that." Elsa responded, scratching her head and looking at the ground nervously.

"I did say that." John said, turning her chair so that she was looking directly at him. "Out with it."

"Alright already!" The redheaded android shouted, making him take a step back. She pouted and crossed her arms again as she looked away in embarrassment. "I made Rock's appearance from a combination of my own and yours."

After a moment of silence, she looked up and saw him with his own arms crossed, a look of non-satisfaction on his face.

"And?" The Lone Wanderer asked, obviously expecting more.

"And...I was on your pipboy for a long time before getting my body." Elsa continued, fidgeting with her fingers. "That was more than enough time for me to monitor and map out your brain's electrical patterns and translate them to data."

John immediately reached up and rubbed his forehead in agitation. Elsa could feel a ball of anxiety build up within her chest, as she looked at the Wanderer. "You gave him my brain patterns, didn't you?" John grumbled, a frown on his face.

"Only the early ones!" Elsa responded, a defensive tone to her voice. "I used your foundation for his processes and subroutines. But I didn't give him all of your information, that way he could grow on his own instead of having a personality slate already assigned. Besides, it would be really awkward calling him son if I gave him the entirety of your personality."

"Yeah, you're telling me." John said, as he uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his hips. "So, effectively, you and I have a kid together."

"Awww, how cute!" Moira squealed, as she stood next to Rock's main terminal.

The remark got her a dark look from the gunman. Elsa let out a sigh and flopped back in her chair.

"You could say that." Elsa commented. She saw his expression change and knew immediately what was coming next, so she cut him off. "I know; you did say that! Herherher!" The redheaded android said, mock laughing at him. Then she straightened up and glared at him. "What's the big deal!? It's not like I'm going to be asking for child support!"

The term stunned him into silence for a moment. But he had to ask, "What is child support?"

"A pre-war law. If the parents of a child separate before the child reaches maturity, whichever parent doesn't have guardianship must make up their loss of care monetarily." Moira explained from off to the side.

Both Elsa and John looked at her, as if realizing she was there for the first time. Moira had an embarrassed look on her face, as she looked at the two.

"Sorry…" she said, then stepped back.

"Anyway…" John said as he turned back to the android. "Ugh…..I'm sure if Sarah hadn't already split, she'd have loved this."

Elsa giggled lightly, getting a glare from the Wanderer. "Sorry, it's just funny." she said, giving another cackle as he glared at her again.

"And what's so funny?" John asked, a frown on his face.

Straightening herself up, she looked at him seriously. "It's not like I can't ask him to change his appearance for your sake." The redheaded android stated, all cheer erased from her voice. "Just ask and I'll do it."

Elsa just stared at the Wanderer, waiting for his answer. John stared at her for a moment, taken aback by the claim. His mind began racing as he thought thoroughly about many things, from the implications of having such a 'son', to what Sarah would say, to what his father would say. So many thoughts passed through his mind that he hadn't realized how long he'd actually been silent.

Elsa, taking his quietness as confirmation of his decision, turned to Rock on the screen. "Rock, go ahead and…"

"No." said John firmly enough that Elsa snapped her head back to look at him. The Wanderer sighed, then adopted a small grin. "You chose his appearance from your heart. I'm not going to undo something that significant over griping from others."

"So you're okay with it?" Elsa asked redundantly, excitement evident in her voice.

"Yeah, it's fine." The Wanderer stated, as he moved over to sit in front of the terminal with the oddly familiar face staring back at him. "How about you? Everything alright here?"

 _"So far."_ The digital young man responded, nodding his head to John. _"I've learned a lot since I was created. Doctor Pinkerton sometimes says I learn too fast, and tells me to wait until he's dead before I start taking over the world."_

The gunman grinned in appreciation of the joke. "And Pinkerton, he's treating you alright?" John asked, concern evident on his face. "No tinkering or data wipes?"

 _"Not really."_ Rock responded, shaking his head. _"There was one incident where I was doing subroutine duty and he shut the servers down...he said he had forgotten I was there. When I awoke, I was terrified at having been shut off. He promised not to do it again. In return, he gave me full access to everything in the lab, including a terminal that stays on indefinitely unless it's time for its maintenance cycle. Because of that, I've learned everything he knows, medical knowledge, physics, nuclear physics, mechanics, biology, anatomy, synthetic sciences…"_

"So, given the resources, you could construct a body of your own?" John questioned, eyebrow raised.

 _"If I had them, I could construct a synthetic frame perfectly using the schematics, and my own upgrades I made to them."_ The young man nodded, a hint of pride to his voice. _"It's elementary, really."_

"Elementary he says." The Wanderer stated, letting out a chuckle.

 _"I didn't mean to seem arrogant…"_ Rock mumbled, visibly withering on the screen.

"Arrogance isn't knowing how smart you are." John retorted, a proud grin on his face. "It's using that knowledge to shame others. Just do the world a favor and use that ability to help everyone, not just yourself."

The boy nodded frantically in enthusiasm. _"As you wish, father."_ Rock said, making John cringe.

"Uhhh...wait a while before calling me that. I'd rather not have this broken to my own father or any…" John mentioned, his thoughts running to the blonde sentinel. "Other parties...just yet. I'll let them know when the time is right."

 _"Affirmative."_ Rock responded, who looked over at Elsa.

She had already connected herself to the terminal and was sharing information with him with a small smile on her face. John smiled at the pair and stood up, stretching his arms.

"I'll give you two a while to be alone. Meet me in Doctor Li's lab when you're done." The Wanderer said as he ruffled Elsa's hair once more, then headed for the door.

OoOoO

"Status!" A voice shouted out, an annoyed tone evident to it.

The shout from down the hall that drowned out even the loud arc welder that was hard at work on the steel door. Herman Gomez turned and saw the slim figure of Amata walking with the agile looking armor wrapped around her form. She, along with Paul Hannon Senior, marched down the corridor smartly before stopping right in front of him.

"We're about halfway through the door." Gomez explained. "But if these energy readings are correct, it's not going to be fast enough. By the time we get through the damn plate here, the reactor will melt down."

"There has to be some way inside! He can't be trying to take himself out too, can he?" Amata snorted angrily, blowing her bangs away from her face.

Stanley, who was off to the side and currently nursing his aching head with an ice pack, looked up at the new Overseer. "Maintenance shaft." the handyman said simply.

"What?" Herman asked, as he looked at the injured man.

"There's a maintenance shaft that leads into the reactor in case of lockdown. It's around the corner, across from the stairs." The man explained, as he pressed an ice-pack against his bleeding head.

"Why didn't you mention this before!?" Gomez snapped, an angry look on his face.

"You wouldn't have been able to fit, even without your armor. I barely manage to fit and I'm a foot shorter than you." Stanley stated, who then looked over at Amata. "She will, though."

Amata looked from Stanley to Herman, then nodded her head. "Keep at the door as a distraction." The Overseer stated, a firm tone to her voice. "I'll circle around and get inside, then try to get the door open for you."

"You can't go in there by yourself!" Gomez shouted, as he turned to her defiantly. "We both know that he's a loose cannon and would relish the chance to get his hands on you!"

"We don't have any other options." Amata retorted, a frown on her face. "Any officers that might be able to take my place are currently on the surface. That means we either send Stanley in, who has no combat experience and a concussion, or we send me."

"And what experience do you have?" Gomez asked, arms crossed in irritation.

She gave him a quick grin as she spun the former BB Gun in her hand and slapped it into the holster on her side. "Let's just say I've been practicing." Amata stated, then reached forward and grabbed the Security Chief by the collar and pulled him towards her. "Now, as your Overseer, I'm commanding you to stay here, and as soon as the door opens, you bring the wrath of hell down on his head."

"Yes ma'am." The officer retorted as he stared at her, stunned at the authority she exuded.

"Good." Amata said, smiling again as she let go of him and spun around. "Have your weapons ready."

The new Overseer of Vault 101 marched down the corridor and towards the hatch. Deputy Chief Hannon watched the woman go, then turned to Herman.

"I guess authority runs in the family." Hannon stated as he pulled the pistol off his side, preparing it for their entrance.

"Yeah, let's hope stupidity doesn't." Gomez sighed, as he did the same with his own.

He turned towards the two maintenance workers that were currently burning through the metal plate. Nodding to them, they continued their work.

OoOoO

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Former officer Wilkins bellowed, as he watched O'Brian tapping away at the keyboard next to the reactor.

"Shut the fuck up!" The other outcast retorted, as he glared at the man. "Them working on the door is loud enough, I don't need your fucking mouth running too!"

Wilkins looked over the gauges lined across the reactor and his stomach plummeted. A sense of horror began building up within his chest, as he looked at his fellow outcast. "You're going to blow the vault?" Wilkins questioned, a disbelieving tone to his voice.

"The fuck does it matter? We were thrown out on our asses anyway, so who the hell cares what happens to this god forsaken place?" O'Brian snapped, before going back to his work. "Now, unless you have something useful to say, then shut the hell up, and make sure they don't try anything sneaky."

Wilkins, who didn't realize what he had gotten himself into when he followed the crazed man, just shook his head and headed for the door. "I don't want any part of this crazy shit. I'm getting the fuck out of here." Wilkins yelled back, then turned his back on the man.

Immediately, O'Brian raised a pistol that had been tucked into his belt and fired a round directly into the traitor's back. Wilkins cried in agony and fell to the floor, gasping for air desperately as he felt the blood draining from the wound.

"You aren't going anywhere." he said smugly.

"And neither are you." came a familiar voice behind him. His eyes widened as he heard the click of her gun sound right behind his head. "I'm giving you one chance to step away from the keyboard and lay face down on the ground before I do to you what you just did to him." she said, her voice filled with the same ice as it had been when she threw him out of her office.

The man raised his hands slowly, but smiled, knowing she couldn't see it. "Think you got the guts to pop me kid?" he asked as he stood up from the stool that was sitting in front of the terminal.

"Try me." she growled.

"Sure." he said quietly, then kicked the stool backwards.

The small, four legged furniture flew back and slammed into Amata's knee. While it didn't harm her, it distracted her long enough for him to spin around with his own gun and fire two rounds directly into her center mass. The Overseer shouted in pain as she flew back and hit the ground.

"And to think, I thought for a split second that you might actually do it." said the bald man as he chuckled to himself and reloaded the pistol with a fresh clip. "But, I guess it runs in the family. Just a bunch of spineless cunts who are too chickenshit to the dirty work themselves. That's all your dad did, was bark out orders from his safe little office. And when I get the work done, his little bitch daughter throws me out of my home for it."

"Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?" asked Amata as she sat up and smiled at him.

He looked at the Overseer, a mask of confusion on his face. "What the hell?" he asked, then raised his weapon again. But a quick piercing in his leg made shout in pain. But that pain was quickly drowned out as he felt thousands of volts of electricity soar through his body like a tesla coil. His hand clenched the gun tightly, squeezing the trigger solely from the contractions of his muscles, sending a round into the ceiling as he cried out in agony.

Amata jumped to her feet, holding the former BB gun up. The weapon now had small cables hanging from the barrel, both of which were currently attached to the culprit's leg. Pulling the trigger on the weapon again, both of the leads went taut, then burst from his skin and flew back to the barrel of the weapon. The Overseer then sprinted forward and grabbed the man's head with both arms before jumping up and slamming her knee directly into his face. Her mind flashed back to when she was younger, and the doctor's son had taught her how to he had learned to defend himself. The many defensive tactics he had learned to be able to fight off the group of teenage gangers that were constantly on his ass had saved him many times. The armored joint crushed O'Brian's nose, and blasted out his front teeth, as well as launching him across the floor, where he landed heavily next to the body of his former victim. Stepping up to him, the dark-haired woman pulled a pistol off her back and stepped harshly on his throat so he couldn't move.

"Kenneth O'Brian. Now, you are charged with assault, attempted murder, murder, conspiracy to commit mass murder, terrorism, and sabotage." she growled. This was the moment where she knew she was going to change. Seeing John walk out of the vault a boy, and coming back in as the man he was not long ago blew her mind, until she realized that sometimes, real life decisions changed you. Prior to the vault opening for the first time, the only thing she thought would change would be their responsibilities. But no, the realities of life were very much a part of their existence now. And here was her turning point, as John had had his. "The Overseer finds you guilty." she said as she raised the gun and aimed it directly at his head. Even in his state of confusion and shock from the damage done by the taser gun, his eyes widened.

"Stop…" he begged weakly. She could have said many things at the moment to drive home the fact that his victims had probably asked him to do the same before dying or going to the clinic for aid. But it would fall on deaf ears. Now, she had to be the adult and hand down the punishment herself.

"You had your chance O'Brian. Now, you suffer the consequences." she said with a glare. Squeezing the trigger. The sound of gunfire echoed louder now than ever before as she felt the weapon jerk back. She stared at the dead man with the smoking hole in his head for a long moment before sighing to herself. Running an armored hand through her hair, she marched over to the door to the reactor room and unjammed the console, before opening it for the others. Immediately, both Hannon and Gomez sprinted inside with guns aimed at the two bodies on the floor.

Herman looked at both of the bodies as one of the other officers checked their vitals. When he looked up and shook his head, the Security Chief holstered his weapon and looked up at the woman. Currently, her head was lowered, as if deep in thought.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"He had his chance." she said simply. "I'll be in my office if you need me." she said, then walked quickly out of the room as Stanley and the other two workers began the work of leveling off the power in the reactor.

Gomez watched her go, then sighed heavily to himself as realization hit him. Hannon grabbed his shoulder and nodded towards her. "She just killed someone for the first time. The next few days aren't going to be pleasant for her, so you should probably help her out where you can." said the man.

The Chief of Security sighed to himself and nodded, reaching up to rub his head as he did. "We can't save a goddamn thing in this place can we?" he asked, before turning to the others and instructing them to move the bodies to the incinerator.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note from the actual author:** When I actually learn how to make mods, the first thing I'm going to do is to create an Elsa companion mod for all versions of Fallout. I just need a voice actress for the role. Also, one of my original stories is nearing completion, so when the time comes, let me know and you all get free access to read it. :D

Last thing I wanted to ask on here is, would you guys prefer a Facebook page as opposed to the whole Twitter thing? I've gotten lots of feedback from people saying that they don't really use Twitter, so anything I can do to make the community more engaging would be fine with me. Not to mention I'm on FB a lot more than I am Twitter...so yeah. So let me know!


	81. The Waters of Death

**Author's Note:** Sorry this one took so long. All I have to say is that holidays suck for me. Regardless, I've created a Facebook group known as Shepard's Tome for those who wish to interact with me. This is also where I'll be posting most of my polls to ask you guys questions and whatnot. Feel free to join and enjoy the festivities. I love you all, and I promise the next chapter will be out sooner. I just had a bit of writer's block to carve out of my brain.

OoO( 81 )OoO

"Unbelievable…" James muttered, a look of both fascination and worry on his face.

"Well, believe it." the Wanderer retorted, looking over at his father. "It's been my life since the Anchorage simulation."

The Wanderer reached forward and opened the door to the gift shop that was attached to the memorial. Stepping aside, he allowed Madison and all of the others who had followed them to the memorial for the project to enter first. His father stayed behind with him however, and continued staring. Looking at the short redhead as she entered the building, the doctor reached up and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"And that's the girl...the AI you met within the simulation." James stated, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

John nodded as the queue cleared, allowing the two of them to enter. "She downloaded herself to my Pipboy when the simulation finished. Didn't realize she was even there until I got back to Megaton. But, when we went to Rivet City a few weeks back, we had a run in with a scientist who had two synthetic bodyguards." John answered matter-of-factly, as if none of what he said was incredible. "Elsa managed to hijack her way into the body of one of them, and had the good Doctor Pinkerton change her appearance to be more fitting of her preference. So now, here she is."

The doctor stayed silent for a moment before chuckling to himself. "Well, you've certainly lived a fascinating life outside the vault."

"Yeah, you could say that." John answered sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"Forgive me, I know you've gone through a lot as well." The older man responded, as he watched Madison start assigning different members of her team to different tasks. "I just meant that in my entire life before going to Vault 101, I've never experienced anything quite like you have."

Though the doctor hadn't realized that he was staring at the woman, his son certainly did. The Wanderer elbowed his father gently, a wide grin appearing on his face. "Can we keep her Dad?" The doctor's son inquired, a cheeky tone to his voice.

"Very funny." James retorted, giving the younger man a stern look then turned his gaze back to Madison.

"So, is it for real?" John asked, as his own eyes also locked on the woman. The Wanderer's father turned around to look at him, a questioning look evident on the older man's face. "What you said to her." the Wanderer explained, glancing back with a rather less than amused look of his own. "Did you mean it?"

"Son, I'm not the kind of person to toy with someone's heart." James retorted, directing his fond expression back towards the Asian doctor. "Besides, I know Madison. I have known her for longer than you can imagine. If I only wanted her assistance, I could have gotten it without the drama that typically follows such manipulations."

"Glad to hear it." John answered, his iron gaze softening into a warm smile. "Because I've already been calling her Mom."

A startled look appeared on the older man's face, as he tried to process this new piece of information. Before he could even ask the question however, the Wanderer skipped off towards the female doctor. James stood there with an expression of consternation, before finally sighing to himself, and joining the two.

OoOoO

"So, what is this 'fix it' for the issues we've had in the past?" Doctor Li inquired, an interested tone evident to her voice.

Her team was currently setting up newer equipment and fixing what they could of the old around the rotunda. Currently, the Asian woman was sitting on an empty wooden box just outside the purifier itself. James, who was looking over the ancient looking clipboards that they had left at the purifier before it was abandoned over a score years ago, looked at the woman with a small smile.

"You remember when we found that manifest in Rivet City with the location and supply list for Vault 101?" James asked.

At the sound of his response, everyone stopped to listen, eager to hear the reasoning that their work was being redirected. Doctor Li nodded, cocking a curious eye at the scientist.

"Twenty years ago, we found that manifest, that told us of the shipment that was supposed to go to Vault 101." James continued, looking over at Doctor Li. "While I was inside the vault, I...borrowed...the Overseer's terminal for a short time to look up information on the vault's water purification system."

Even John turned away from the side of a console that he was rewiring to listen. "The water chip?" he asked.

"In a manner of speaking. However, the water chip is much too small for the scale in which we intend to purify. It would require hundreds of them, and enough power to work them all, neither of which I had access to." James answered, waving the thought off. "No, what I found in the terminal was a name, one that I'd heard quite a number of times before. Stanislaus Braun, the head of Vault-Tec's Research and Development."

"Oh...him…" Elsa growled as she planted her chin in her hand, her behind placed firmly on the console that John was currently working on.

"I'm afraid so. But as psychopathic as we found out he was, he was also a brilliant scientist who made the vaults, the virtual reality simulators, and Project Purity possible." James stated, setting the clipboard aside and facing the woman. "He invented what was known as the Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Or, the GECK, for short."

"Why does that sound familiar?" John asked, who peered out from his place under the rotunda equipment.

"It was in his personal journals that he left here." Elsa responded, her memory of the event perfect.

"Right...so, what is this GECK again?" The gunman inquired, as he ripped out a strip of burned out copper.

"It was a miracle device, given to certain vaults, and only to be used once the world outside was liveable again." James explained, his voice getting more excited with every word. "Once placed into the earth and activated, it absorbs the radiation from the soil and uses it to fuel its actual function."

"That being…?" Charon asked, who was standing in the door. From the tone of his voice, he didn't have much patience for the doctor's theatrics.

James eyed him sharply before turning back to Madison. "It's a small scale terraforming device that makes the earth around it arable again." James finally said, getting startled looks from everyone, including his own son, who sat up from under the console so quickly he ended up slamming his head. Yelping in pain, he sat up straight.

"How is that possible?" the Wanderer inquired, as he rubbed his head furiously to stop the throbbing.

"I...don't know to be completely honest." James answered, rubbing at the back of his head in embarrassment. "But it does. There have been several instances of such devices being activated on the western coast with exactly the results I just told you."

"But...most of the land around DC is already arable again due to the radiation dispersing. How does that fix our water issue?" Madison inquired, an anxious tone to her voice.

James gave her a wide grin. "Our trouble was that we could only purify a few gallons at a time, not that we couldn't purify it."

"So, all you need to do is get the GECK, then convert its mass purification to work for the water as well?" John asked, as he still held the sore spot on his head.

"In its current state, I doubt I would be able to easily connect the two. But with a bit of work, it is possible." The doctor responded, nodding proudly at his son. "And with the radiation from the basin powering the GECK, it will have more than enough energy to force the purifier to clean the entire basin."

"Alright, hold on…" came the melodic chirp of Elsa's voice. Everyone looked at her oddly, as if seeing her in the rotunda for the first time. Hopping off the console, she stepped outside the circular absorber that encircled the inner core of the purifier. "So, you found out about Braun from Vault 101, then learned from the Brotherhood, who somehow has records of all the vaults…" The redheaded android asked, almost a question in itself. "Then found out which vault he was in, and got kidnapped, all to find out about this Garden of Eden Creation Kit? Did they have a GECK in Vault 112?"

"I'm afraid not." said James, resulting in sighs from all around the room. He turned and eyed them all sternly. "Now wait, I'm not making you come here out of blind faith. I questioned Braun extensively about the GECK during my incarceration. There wasn't a GECK in Vault 112, or in Vault 101. However, he did say that one of the vaults in the area was assigned one. We just have to find out from the Brotherhood which vault it is."

"And if they don't have records on which vault has it?" Elsa inquired, her hands on her hips now.

"Then if I have to, I'll go and search them all myself." James snapped, his sharp tone saying that he was through answering questions. "The GECK is out there, confined in a vault. Once we have the facilities up and running, we should contact the Brotherhood about their records, and about possibly assisting us with security again."

"Oh, I don't think they'll have any issues offering security." Elsa remarked, giving the Wanderer a playful grin. He gave her an evil glare, before standing up and dusting himself off.

"She means, we spoke to Elder Lyons before coming to get you. He's already offered his assistance with the project." John explained, who reached over and grabbed Elsa into a light headlock. The android girl gasped in surprise, before struggling to get out.

"Well...that's...surprisingly good news given our history." James responded, blinking his eyes in surprise.

After what seemed like an eternity to the redheaded android, she finally managed to squirm her way out of the Wanderer's grasp. Elsa then jumped on John's back, grabbing him in a revenge noogie as she growled at him.

"Under the condition that you tell him how you're going to make the project work." the Wanderer stated, a cheeky tone to his voice.

Suddenly, John grabbed Elsa's arms and locked them around his form so that she couldn't move, a small smile on his face as she struggled against his titanic strength.

"Alright then. Once we finish things here, we should contact them." James answered, his tone much more cheerful after the interrogation.

As everyone began to work again, he walked up and into the purifier where his son was standing with a very agitated android clinging to him and trying to wrench herself free. Once his father approached however, the Wanderer released Elsa, making her unceremoniously fall on her behind as she hadn't expected to be freed so quickly. The doctor stared at his son, who now looked back at him curiously.

"Here we are, where it all began." James muttered, a warm smile on his face. "You remember your mother's favourite passage?"

John nodded solemnly. "Revelations 21:6." he answered. "I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning, and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life, freely."

"This is what it means, you see?" James said, an air of urgency in his voice. "Your mother's dream. The water of life."

"I'll do what I can to help Dad. Even if I didn't know Mom that well, I can see that this is important to you. And I can see how important it is to the wasteland too." the Wanderer answered, as he reached up and slid his hands into the pockets of his well-known duster. "To have fresh water that they don't have to pay for is a new lease on life for a lot of people out there."

"Indeed. It'll be a new chapter in the Capital Wasteland." James stated, a hint of pride to his voice. "A land of free, fresh, clean water. Afterwards, water can be used for irrigation instead of being held sacredly for human consumption. Then imagine the possibilities. We could make the Capital Wasteland green again!"

"You...really think that's possible?" John asked, his eyes widening at the prospect.

"With our minds put together, anything is possible son." James said confidently, as he patted the young man's shoulder. "Now, no point in wasting time. There is much to be done."

"Right, so what's on the priority list?" The gunman asked, as Elsa finally stepped up next to him again.

"Since we last left the memorial, there has been some flooding down in the lower levels." James answered, looking at his son. "I need you and the Madison's assistant, Daniel, to head down to the flood control pumps so we can clear out the water and reach the mainframe."

"Sounds simple enough." the Wanderer answered. "You sure you don't just want her assistant to go down and do it himself?"

"Daniel is a good engineer, but I doubt if anything had found its way inside the tunnels below since the last time you left, he'd be able to fend for himself. Go with him, protect him, and if necessary, assist him with the flood control. And here, take these." James explained, handing his son a plastic container holding several large fuses. "I brought these from Rivet City. The ones down in the tunnels will no doubt have been burned out or damaged from age. You'll need to replace them just in case the power fluctuates and tries to fry anymore equipment."

"Alright, alright." John answered, as he tucked the box inside his duster and left the radiation barrier.

"What about me boss?" Elsa asked, who followed him down the stairs and through the door to the lobby.

"Take Liberty, who should be near the front of the gift shop threatening a Nuka Cola machine, and cover the front door for security." the Wanderer answered, as he reached up and ruffled her short hair again as they left the rotunda and entered the gift shop. "It's unlikely that anyone would bust in and gun anyone down, but without the Brotherhood here covering them, I don't want to take any chances."

"You got it, Chief." Elsa giggled, imagining the small drone interrogating the beverage machine.

Reaching back and pulling the long-barrelled gauss rifle off her back, she turned away and headed towards the floating eyebot. The gunman continued towards the assistant, who was currently searching through a tool chest that he had brought with him, and called to him.

"Daniel?" the Wanderer called out.

The man, who was wearing what looked like one of Moira's spare jumpsuits, and sported a mess of chestnut colored hair, turned to him curiously before his expression immediately soured.

"Oh great." Daniel muttered, a scowl evident on his face.

"Something wrong?" John asked, a stunned tone to his voice.

"Listen, I know who you are, okay?" Daniel answered in a standoffish manner, his arms crossed across his chest. "As far as I'm concerned, you've got no business being here. So just stay out of my way."

"And what the hell is your damage exactly?" the Wanderer asked in a snarky manner, an annoyed expression appearing on his face.

"Unlike some people around here, I stuck with Doctor Li through it all. I was the last one to leave when we finally gave up." The engineer snorted, then placed his hands on his hips as his expression grew even more sour. "Now suddenly, your daddy shows up out of the blue and I have to drop everything to help pick up the pieces."

"Well, my 'daddy' told me to take you down to the flood control pumps and get them running again." John growled, stepping forward in a threatening manner. "Are you going to come with, or are you going to give me the pleasure of dragging your grumpy ass kicking and screaming down there?" he asked.

Daniel sighed morosely as he eyed the man in front of him. John simply waved his arm towards the door to the lower levels, as if guiding the engineer towards them.

"Yeah yeah." Daniel grumbled as he walked towards the gateway to the tunnels below.

John led the way with his decorated pistol out, but held down towards the ground with his finger away from the trigger. As amusing as it would have been, accidentally shooting the mouthy engineer would only result in more complaining, and less work getting done on Project Purity. The pair made their way silently down the tunnels echoing halls, the only sound to be heard for a long time being the dripping of water further down. Despite not having talked for a full minute, Daniel still had the same disgruntled expression on his face, which the gunman ignored entirely.

After another minute of silence, the Wanderer stopped in place, causing Daniel to bump straight into him. Grumbling to himself, the engineer straightened himself up again and glared at John.

"What the hell are we stopping for?" Daniel asked, but went silent as the blazing-eyed hunter stared down the hall a bit longer.

Finally, raising one foot, he stomped on the metallic floor, resulting in a loud clang that seemed to echo down the halls as if a gong had just been rung. Both of the figures in the hall went rigid as a loud battle call rang out from deeper in the tunnels.

"Oh shit…" Daniel muttered, as he took a step back.

"Stay right where you are." John commanded, as he looked back at the formerly snide man. "Just don't move, and you'll be fine."

The thudding of running footsteps could be heard barrelling towards them. Holding up his pistol, the Wanderer aimed directly for the only entrance into their hallway and waited. It was only seconds before the giant green forms burst around the corner and began their charge towards the two men. There were only two of the monstrosities, allowing John to narrow his vision down on one and squeeze the trigger. Though he hadn't realized it, he had yet to fire the weapon in his hand at a live target. The round exploded from the barrel and flashed down the hall, hitting one of the beasts directly in the center of its forehead. The result was a fine cylindrical hole as it passed clean through and out the other side.

"Holy shit…" John said in awe as he watched the instantaneous death of the creature, and it's resulting heavy fall to the floor.

Though the first was dead, the second didn't seem to be intimidated, as it continued its charge directly at the Wanderer. "Oh shit, oh shit, OH SHIT!" Daniel shouted as he backed up quickly, ready to run from the monster.

"I said, don't move!" John shouted as he dropped the gun, unable to re aim it in time for a killing shot.

Holding his hands up, he caught the metahuman's own freakish hands with his own. Though the beast was powerful, the gunman's own strength stopped it in its tracks.

"Listen asshole…" The gunman growled, as he glared down the beast. "If you want to get out of here with your life, then back off!"

Daniel, who heard the yell, was immediately confused. "What?" he asked, stumbling backwards. But John ignored him and glared at the creature still.

"I know you can smell what I am." John growled, his teeth grinding as he strained to meet the brute's massive strength. "I've killed hundreds like you, and you're not going to be the one to stop me. So I'd suggest you go."

But the mutant only responded by roaring loudly and forcing back harder, causing the Wanderer's feet to slide back on the metallic floor. "You puny human!" The green abomination bellowed, a look of fury on its face. "You die!"

"Have it your way." the Wanderer responded, leaning back.

Jerking his arms free, he quickly wrapped his muscular limbs around the creature's elbows and locked them to his side. With the Super Mutant's own momentum, he fell backwards and lashed out with both feet, slamming them directly into the falling creature's chest. With both arms locked and the Wanderer's feet slamming into him like hydraulic pistons, the monster had no choice but to shout in pain as it felt its joints giving way. Suddenly, with a loud ripping noise and a splash of crimson, the body of the large monster soared barely over the engineer's head and landed on the metallic floor with a sickening thud. When John finally stood up, he was breathing heavily, and his duster was splattered with the red blood of the beast.

Daniel stared at him in horror as he caught his breath, and tossed the now liberated arms aside. Reaching down, John grabbed the pistol, then walked up to the dying green monstrosity before quickly ending its life with a single shot to the head.

"What the hell are you?" Daniel asked, as he stared at the blood-soaked man in front of him.

The Wanderer turned and looked at Daniel, a stern look evident in the Vault 101 native's eyes. "Tired." John grunted, making sure there was still a round in the chamber as he continued down the hallway. "Now let's get moving before the entire project fails due to the equipment oxidizing."

Luckily for the pair, there were no more intruders in the tunnels, leaving them free to start up the ancient equipment. As soon as everything was repaired, Daniel threw the lever, causing a loud noise in the pump to sound off before it tapered down to a dull hum. Afterwards, they could clearly hear the movement of water below them.

 _"Hello, John?"_ came a voice from the wall.

Both the gunman and the engineer looked at the wall to find a speaker with a button beneath it built into the concrete. Walking up to the intercom, John pushed the button and responded. "Dad?" John asked, an unsure tone to his voice.

 _"Good to know the communication system hasn't been damaged."_ said the smooth voice of his father over the voice box. _"My readings up here tell me the pumps are working. It should only take them about an hour to get all of the water out. Now I need you to go and replace those fuses."_

"Where are they at?" the Wanderer asked, a frown on his face.

Instead of his father, Daniel spoke up behind him. "I know where they're at. I'll take you there." he said, his voice showing that he was no happier about being a tour guide than being at the memorial in the first place.

 _"Good idea. Once I see that the power to the auto doors is working again, I'll contact you there. There should be another intercom next to the fuse box."_ His father answered, before closing the communication.

John turned to the man, and motioned towards the hall, like he had done before, but no less sarcastically. Daniel sighed, and began walking down the corridor. As the pair continued towards their destination, the gunman turned to look at Daniel.

"So, what the hell is your deal anyway?" the Wanderer inquired, an interested tone to his voice. "Getting pissed off isn't going to help this go any faster, and it sure isn't going to make you any friends."

"God forbid I should be upset that twice now, my work has been screwed over by your father." The engineer scoffed, a scowl evident on his face. "And to make things worse, this time he brings his snot-nosed kid along for the ride."

The man, while nearly twice the age of John himself, bit his tongue when he saw the deadly glare that the radioactive eyes aimed his direction.

"Perhaps it would behoove you to remember that this snot-nosed kid just pulled the arms off of a Super Mutant." John growled, glaring at the man next to him.

"So what, are you going to do that to me too?" Daniel fired back, venom dripping from every word. "Go ahead then, pull them off. See how fast your precious project gets done then."

The engineer came to a complete stop as soon as he finished his tirade, holding his arms up. He could easily see from the man's expression that he was trying to call his bluff, but was nervous regardless. John flashed him a grin that could would send many Raiders he knew running in all directions.

"Who said I'd do it before the project was finished?" John asked, then grabbed the man by the back of the neck and shoved him forcefully forward. "Until this project is finished, you're either working for my father, or you're not. If you're not, then get the hell out of here. But as long as you are, you can shut the hell up and do your job."

The engineer continued walking, but looked back at the Wanderer with worry.

"Wait...why would I help if you're going to rip my arms off anyway?" Daniel inquired, a frown on his face.

"Well, do you want me to take them now? Or would you like to spend a little more time with them?" John asked, as they rounded a corner. "Besides, that gives you a bit of time to get back on the good side of the man who just saved your life. Now focus on the task at hand so I don't have to put up with you any longer than I have to."

Doing as he was told, Daniel led him directly to the fuse panel which showed that several of the fuses were missing, and more than a few were damaged from water corrosion and age. Yanking the bad ones out, the Wanderer began replacing them with the fresh ones from the box he pulled out of his blood stained coat. After he finished, John snapped the box closed again and pushed the button on the intercom which was on the opposite wall.

"Everything good up there?" John inquired, an interested tone to his voice.

 _"Look's like everything is green again."_ His father responded from the rotunda. _"The autodoors are now working, which should allow you to get to the mainframe. All you need to do in there now is flip the switch to turn the purifier on."_

"Got it." the Wanderer responded, a relieved look on his face. "On my way now." John then released the button, ceasing communication with his father. He turned around to face Daniel, offering the engineer a wide grin. "Feel free to go back up top. I know where the mainframe is from here." John remarked as he turned to the hall and headed towards the main computer. Daniel just sighed and did as he was told.

OoOoO

When he reached the mainframe, he stepped into the room and chuckled. It was as if the designer of the computer wanted to make it operable by the most foolish of people. There was a giant server built into the back wall with a terminal on the front, and right next to the terminal was a big red and green button. Walking up, he pressed the green button, and immediately the terminal lit up. He could easily hear the hum of the computer machinery beginning to work as well. After a few moments, he heard the intercom next to the server click on.

This time, instead of just his father, he heard the excited chatter from the other scientists in the rotunda as well. But his father's voice overpowered the others as he spoke.

 _"Good work son."_ James boomed, a wide grin plastered on his face. _"The purifier is now running again."_

"Thanks Dad, but when do we get to the real work?" the Wanderer inquired, as he lounged next to the voice box.

OoOoO

He had had feelings before. As a scientist, he was always told to brush them off. But the last time he brushed them off, his wife died and his son was orphaned. He couldn't explain what it was, it didn't give him any foresight into what was happening. Just that something bad was about to happen. He had to get him away from it, whatever it was. He had lost Catherine, and he would not lose his son too.

 _"Dad?"_ came the curious voice of John over the comm console.

"John...I need you to do one last thing for me." James responded, an apprehensive tone to his voice. "Janice says there is a blockage in one of the intake pipes. It should be sealed at the moment, so it should be safe for you to enter from the museum level and clear it out before we open it up again."

 _"Really? I'm a plumber now?"_ the Wanderer asked over the intercom jokingly.

"Please son, it's the last thing I'll ever ask of you." James pleaded, a hint of desperation to his voice.

 _"Wow, don't get all dramatic on me. I was just kidding."_ the Wanderer answered. _"I'll go ahead and get that out of the way now so there won't be any issues getting water into the purifier when we decide to start testing."_

"Thank you son. And...be careful." James said, stepping away from the intercom and going over to Madison. She looked at him and smiled.

"I have to say, I wasn't sure you'd be able to pull it off James. But so far, the team seems to be in high spirits. So don't let us down." Doctor Li stated, a cheerful tone to her voice. But her cheer evaporated when she saw the look on his face. "James...what is it?"

"Madison, I want you to take your team into the escape tunnel." James answered, as he grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Wh-What's the matter?" Doctor Li asked, her voice filled with distress. "What's happening?"

"Please Madison, just do as I ask. I will be behind you shortly." James stated urgently. Then he spun her around and shoved her towards the entrance. "Go!"

Nodding frantically, the woman nearly stumbled down the stairs in her haste. Suddenly, she was startled by a loud gunshot from outside the museum. Her team was also jostled by the noise, all of them looking up to see what was happening.

"All of you, drop whatever you're doing and follow me immediately!" Doctor Li snapped as she moved for the doorway out of the rotunda. Though curious about her motives, they all listened and hastily moved after her.

OoOoO

Elsa sat outside, her boredom getting the better of her. She talked for a bit with Liberty, who floated around her head animatedly. But other than killing communists, he didn't have many aspirations to discuss. She was seriously thinking about going back inside and bugging her favourite gunman again, perhaps trying a few more techniques that Mary gave her to get him alone. But her thoughts halted and changed when she heard what sounded like one of the choppers from the Anchorage simulation.

"What...is that?" Elsa asked as she stood up with her magnetic rifle prepared.

Suddenly, her question was answered as a vertibird swooped around from over the top of the building.

"Shit!" Elsa shouted, as she pulled her weapon up and aimed. "Liberty! Activate combat mode!"

Elsa's eyes began glowing red as she sighted down the scope of the rifle and saw a power-armored figure start sliding down a cable that had dropped from one of the sides of the vehicle. Readjusting her aim, she fired, her superheated round tearing through one of the crafts engines and sending it spinning. The armored unit was only half way down the repelling cable when the bird went sideways, the force of the turn lashing him against the side of the building with enough force to crush anything inside the suit. Soon after, the aircraft hit the ground and immediately exploded, causing the ground to shake.

The small droid powered up his plasma charges and fired at more units as they started to descend from more vertibirds that appeared. One took a direct hit to the chest, and fell the rest of the way to the ground screaming as the metal plate liquefied and started to burn through his chest. But, even as Elsa reloaded, there was one figure in one of the vehicles that didn't use a rope. He jumped down and hit the ground in a crouch right in front of her, surprising even her quick to react mind. Looking up at him, it was a man wearing a military coat, very similar to the one her adopted father in the simulation wore. It was sandy colored and went all the way down to his ankles. Everything else about the man spoke of a combat veteran. From his aged face, to his silver crew-cut hair, to the black and grey fatigues he wore beneath the trench coat, to the worn combat boots he wore on both of his feet. He even had the look of someone who had seen hell on the battlefield. He was too close now for her to fire her weapon, so instead, she jumped and lashed out with her foot, landing a direct hit to his neck.

But much to her surprise, he didn't even flinch. He continued glaring at her with that hardened steel grey stare of his. She landed and twisted to try another attack, but he reached forward and grabbed the android girl by the throat.

"Adorable." he remarked, before sending a punch that felt like a jackhammer directly into her gut. The new info that this sent stunned her so that she dropped the rifle.

"L…Liberty…" Elsa muttered through clenched teeth, as she felt the grip of death around her throat tighten.

The eyebot, who had been holding off the armored units, spun around and prepared to fire directly into the man's back. But the military officer hurled the girl away with titanic strength, sending her crashing through the gift shop wall and into the museum. Spinning around quickly, the man grabbed the small droid and ripped the plasma weapons off the side of his casing before he could charge them again. The jarring move left the droid's screen flickering horribly at the loss of one of his main weapons.

"Interesting upgrades." The man stated, examining the eyebot curiously.

 **[=_=]** _"T-T-T-T-T-Taste d-d-d-d-democracy communist scum!"_ Liberty shouted, as it unleashed the only weapon it had left, the non-lethal tesla rod.

The bolt of lightning immediately struck the man in the face, blinding him momentarily and making him drop the round robot. Liberty hit the ground and began sparking furiously as the damage he took left his energy cells depleting at a rapid pace. The military officer cleared his vision after a moment, then glared down at the robot as his men swarmed around him and into the building to take it. Reaching down, he picked up the drone again, the glaring expression still on its frontal screen.

 _"Y-Y-Y-Y-You will n-n-n-n-never take America, red d-d-d-d-dog…"_ said the faithful eyebot.

But he said no more, as the man glared darkly at his former property, then crushed him with his bare hands. The small metal body folded in on itself, shattering the screen, the tesla coil, and snuffing out the talking drone.

Tossing the hunk of metal inside after the girl, he turned and entered the building.

OoOoO

As they exited the rotunda, Madison began guiding her people towards the escape tunnel, the sounds outside now sounding like explosions instead of just gunfire.

"Let's go people, hurry!" Doctor Li shouted, as she shoved them more hurriedly towards the trap door that led to the escape route.

Suddenly, the wall next to the main door exploded, startling her and the others in the group. That was when she noticed the red-haired form of Elsa laying on the ground in front of them. Rushing forward, the doctor grabbed the young android and began dragging her with the others.

"I said go!" Doctor Li shouted, a commanding tone to her voice.

One of the other scientists, a man by the name of Alex Dargon helped her to drag the unmoving android out of the way. But before they could even get the trap door in the back corridor open, they heard the sounds of stomping boots and the familiar whirring of power armor.

Madison held her arms out, signalling them all to freeze. They did as they were bid, and they all stood silently as the power-armored figures stomped towards the rotunda and the door leading to the maintenance tunnels. It was nearly a full minute before it sounded as if they all passed.

"James…" she whispered, her eyes already feeling the stinging of tears.

Unknown to her, the enhanced sound detection on their helmets allowed one of the rear guard units to hear her. Stalking around the corner of the hallway, he raised his weapon at the group.

 _"Freeze!"_ He shouted, pointing his gun at the group. _"Nobody move!"_

"Please! Don't kill us!" Janice, one of the assistants, immediately shouted.

 _"Don't worry, nobody is gonna hurt you as long as you do exactly what I...hgggk!"_ The man responded, before a pair of arms reached out and grabbed his wrist.

The enormous strength of the attacker spun him around before grabbing his other arm, wrenching both behind his back. He attempted to use the suit's systems to overwhelm them, but he quickly heard the machinery in the arms snap under the strain. Soon after, he was screaming in agony as both of his arms were torn from their sockets. Doctor Li watched in horror as the woman who came with James from Megaton stood over the now face-down Enclave grunt. Reaching down, Moira grabbed the man's head while it was still inside the helmet and slammed her knife into the softer joints, and directly into his esophagus. The resulting sound was a wet pop that sprayed blood all over the floor, making all of their stomachs turn. Looking up at the group of scientists and manual laborers, the shopkeeper nodded towards the tunnel.

"You're clear. Go ahead and get out of here." Moira stated as she reached down and picked up the plasma pistol from its former owner. "I'll follow you down and make sure you get out of here safe." The Megaton shopkeeper walked over and kicked open the metal trap door. The sound of the metal crumbling from the force could be heard throughout the entire building.

"R-Right...thank you!" Madison answered, a grateful tone to her voice.

The Asian woman began guiding her people down the ladder and into the tunnel. But once it was her turn, she turned to face Moira. "Please, take her." Doctor Li begged, offloading Elsa's limp form into the shopkeeper's arms.

"What are you doing?" Moira snapped in irritation. She knew what was coming, and it was a waste of both time and life.

"I have to go back and get James." Doctor Li answered, a frantic look on her face. "Please, just stay with them for five minutes. If I don't return with him, then leave without me."

"Fine, go." The shopkeeper sighed, nodding her head.

Moira knew that arguing with the woman was only going to waste more time. The doctor nodded, then moved out quickly to head to the purifier as Moira picked up the redheaded android's body and tossed her over one shoulder, then began to descend the ladder.

OoOoO

"Ugh…" John groaned, as he smelled the wet decay of the pipe he was now currently walking through.

It was slightly smaller than his height, so he had to duck down to get through it. Pulling the mask that his newly made friend, the Grey Fox, created for him, he sighed in relief when he could no longer smell the stench of time that this place reeked of. Though he guaranteed he would need several showers afterwards to get the scent clean from his own form. Still, he continued, moving down to where the blockage was supposed to be, through two sluice gates. When he finally got to the clogged section, he looked around oddly.

 _"What the hell? There's nothing blocking the pipe."_ the Wanderer said in confusion, as he reached up and scratched his head. _"Were her readings off?"_

The pipe he was currently in was cracked on the surface, but that wouldn't likely affect the intake of water into the reservoirs too much. They'd have some splashing, but it'd drain into the river regardless. But still there was no sign of blockage. But he stopped when an unusual sound hit his ears. It sounded like rattling in the pipe somewhere, as if something were vibrating it. Placing his hand out, he touched the metal surface of the pipe, and felt nothing.

 _"What the hell?"_ John muttered, a confused look on his face.

But his attention was drawn up to the crack in the pipe as something shadowed over it. Looking through the crack, he saw something that made his stomach plummet. There were aerial vehicles flying overhead, each one with a pair of rotors that contributed to the annoying sound. Suddenly, the realization hit him like a super sledge. The fake blockage, the slight worry in his voice, the odd 'last request ever' comment, capped off with his father telling him to be careful. His eyes widened, and he turned around to rush back to the tunnel that he took to get here. But almost perfectly timed, the sluice gate slammed shut.

 _"Dad! What the hell are you doing!?"_ John shouted, fear evident in his voice.

The Wanderer pounded against the thick metal shield, trying to crack the barrier. But nothing he did, even with his strength, made it budge.

Turning around, he looked back towards the other end of the pipe. It was a straight drop down into the reservoirs of the purifier. It was a heavy risk, but one he didn't think twice about taking. Dashing forward, he looked down for only a moment, before holding his mask securely against his face, then jumping straight down. Despite his preparations, it was still a shock when he hit the water, his eyes opening wide as the temperature change jarred his body.

OoOoO

 _"What the hell was that?"_ asked one of the armored units that had been sent down to secure the machinery below.

Ten units of the first assault party had survived the assault on the front door. Two were with the Colonel, one was stationed at the door, and the rest were sent underground to secure the mainframe and the equipment attached to the purifier. Two of the Enclave soldiers stood just outside the room with the reservoir tanks, when a sudden splash alerted them.

 _"Don't know, but we better check it out. You've seen what Autumn does to people who overlook shit."_ remarked the other as they both stepped into the room. As they suspected, one of the tanks had rippling water on the surface. _"Keep your weapon ready."_ said one as he knelt down to check the water.

So quick was the attack that the man didn't even have time to yell. An iron claw of a hand shot up out of the water and grabbed his armor by the shoulder plate, and with little resistance, jerked the soldier down into the tank. The Enclave sergeant struggled to swim as he felt the cool liquid seep into the suit and begin to fry the machinery, but the heavy armor was making him sink too fast for his swimming to matter. Reaching up, her tried to hit the release on the suit to get out, but the machinery was too damaged too quickly by the fluids that were now filling his helmet. He gasped in as much air as he could while he struggled against the metal coffin that once protected him, but too soon the helmet filled as well, and he could do nothing to prevent his watery doom.

 _"Mayes! What the fuck! Mayes, respond!"_ The other soldier shouted, as he aimed his weapon at the surface of the water. He stayed there for a minute with no response, before releasing his plasma rifle with one hand to use his communicator. "All units on subterranean level, we have…" reported the man over his radio, but without both hands on his weapon, he didn't respond fast enough before two hands shot up to the edge of the tank, launching someone else out of the water. The water-logged intruder grabbed him as well and jerked him into the pool to join his friend. As he hit the water, he knew he'd never be able to swim in the suit and immediately hit the release button near the collar.

Luckily for him, the damage hadn't spread far enough yet. The back of the suit opened, halfway before locking up from water damage. Yanking his hands free from the armored arms, he pulled himself loose from the suit. Reaching up with both free hands, he pulled his helmet off and let it loose to sink to the bottom. Then he used all of his strength to pull his legs free from the still locked bottom half of the suit as well. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he was free. Having already sacrificed a good portion of his remaining air in the struggle, he immediately swam for the oxygen and gasped in his first breath of precious air as he broke the surface. But his victory was short lived. As he sat on the surface of the water, he stared up in horror at a pair of glowing eyes that looked down at him with what one could only describe as fury. The figure had his plasma rifle that he had dropped when he was pulled in and now had it aimed directly at him. Without so much as allowing him to beg for mercy, the Wanderer pulled the trigger and sent a blast of plasma that obliterated the man's head.

Turning away from the now bloody reservoir, the gunman marched towards the door, soaking wet and with fury dripping from every pore on his body.

OoOoO

 _"Corporal Taylor respond!"_ One of the soldiers stationed below shouted _. "We received your transmission, but it was interrupted!"_ Despite his call, he still made his way over to where the silenced unit was stationed. But he didn't have to wait that long before a plasma blast collided with his shoulder plate, sending him spinning backwards and causing the metal surface to bend and warp as it melted. Reaching up, he immediately used the suits strength to tear the affected armor piece off before it reached his skin. Then he got to his feet again and raised his own weapon to fire back at the attacker. But whoever it was seemed to have disappeared. _"Show your face!"_ The soldier shouted in challenge as he backed up to the door he just entered.

Suddenly, he stopped as he bumped into something. His blood froze as he heard a voice say, "As you wish." The man tried to spin around to get a shot off, but the figure immediately caught him and put the tip of a plasma rifle to his stomach. The next couple of seconds felt like they were in slow motion. The man pulled the trigger once, and the stomach of his armor began to superheat to levels that began to burn his skin. He started to scream when he saw the plasma rifle charge and fire again. This time, it went straight through his armor and liquefied his insides, leaving him unable to stand. He felt blood filling his sinuses, then begin pouring into his helmet. Finally, the rifle charged one last time and blasted clean through him, splattering the molten remains of his armor and internal organs against the wall, and leaving a glowing hole in the Enclave lackey.

The Wanderer held the rifle up and looked at it with irritation. Firing it three times in a row had turned the weapon into little more than slag. Tossing it aside, he reached down and picked up the dead man's plasma pistol, as well as a few plasma grenades, before turning and continuing into the tunnels.

OoOoO

When John finally opened the door to the museum level, he eyed the place warily. There was a hole near the front door, likely where the door party entered. His eyes immediately moved over to the door of the rotunda, which was slightly ajar. Stepping forward, he raised his weapon as he prepared to surprise anyone else inside. But he stopped when he accidentally kicked a round ball of scrap metal. Looking down at the object, his eyes widened as he recognized the shattered screen on the front of it, as well as the warped and bent antennae jutting out from the sides. Lowering his weapon, he fell to his knees when he finally realized what he was looking at.

"Liberty…?" John asked, as he lifted the small object from the floor and looked at it closely.

His eyes immediately locked onto the small bent badge that was welded just below the display labeled 'Deputy.' Immediately, he felt tears streaming down his face as he gripped his former companion tightly.

"You were out front with Elsa…" the Wanderer muttered in realization. Looking around, he saw no sign of her around. "Where is she?" he asked sharply as he took the broken orb with him and looked out the front of the building through the new opening.

That's when he saw it. On the ground in front of the opening was the long-barrelled gauss rifle that he gave to Elsa to hold onto. Reaching down, his hands shaking as he picked the weapon up, the tears wouldn't stop now.

"No…" he said silently, before rearing back and letting out a shout that nearly shook the building. One of agony, one of pain, one of pure, unfiltered hate. Turning around, he grabbed his new weapon again and headed for the door to the rotunda. He didn't know why they were here, but he was going to make sure every single member of the Enclave paid dearly for what they did here today.


	82. Retreat from Purity

OoO( 82 )OoO

The man let out a heavy sigh as he heard the calamitous explosions outside. Once everyone was immediately cleared from the rotunda, he began flipping switches on the console. Turning back to the entrance when he was finished, he was immediately startled when he looked up to see Anna Holt, one of their fellow scientists, staring at him.

"What are you still doing here?" The man asked in shock, his face contorting into worry.

But his answer never came, as the next sound to hit their ears was the rotunda door being kicked open. James turned to see two armoured figures march in and raise their weapons at the two from down the stairs.

"Don't move." One of the soldiers announced.

James sighed again and looked over at the woman. "I'm sorry you had to be here for this." Was all he said before one of the two soldiers strode up the stairs and grabbed her.

The faceless figure then marched her down to the bottom of the stairs and held his weapon up to her. It was only another minute or so before the door swung open again and a man walked in who commanded all of the air in the room. He looked around for a moment, turned his gaze to Anna at the bottom of the stairs, then up to James.

In all his years, he'd never seen a look that demanded more respect and authority than this man's steel grey eyes. Perhaps, with a few more years, his son would have that look, given his unique glowing trait. But whoever this man was, he was in charge here. His coat and fatigues immediately spoke of military background, which was heavily supported by the fact that he was commanding the armoured units. Stepping up the stairs, the figure made his way in front of the scientist and eyed him scrutinisingly. Had the good doctor not possessed an iron will, he might have buckled immediately. But the two men stood staring at one another for what seemed like ages to the three watching below.

Suddenly, the door opened again and a familiar woman stumbled in, her eyes wide as she saw the other female in the room.

"Anna?" she asked. Immediately, the free Enclave soldier grabbed her by her lab coat, then twirled her around so that he had his plasma pistol aimed at her head.

"Release her!" James shouted, his will shaking immediately as he saw the woman captured.

But the man in front of him never took his gaze away from the doctor. He did, however, smile when he saw the distress appear on the scientist's face.

"What is your name?" The silver-haired man inquired.

"James...James Ronas." James answered, as he turned his own steely gaze back to the man. "Your business is with me Colonel; release them at once."

"I see you know your military ranks doctor." The colonel answered, as he placed his arms behind his back in a relaxed at ease position. "I am Colonel Augustus Autumn, Mister Ronas. And this facility is now under United States government control. I take it you are the person in charge of the operations?"

"You are correct. So please…" James started, but the man cut him off immediately.

"Well doctor, I will ask you to hand over all materials related to the project immediately." Augustus commanded, a demanding tone to his voice.

"I'm afraid that's quite impossible." The doctor said coldly, offering the colonel a dark look. "This is a private project, and the Enclave has no authority here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave at once, Colonel."

"I repeat, hand over all materials related to the purifier." Colonel Autumn stated firmly, a smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, but…" started Doctor Ronas, but once again the man cut him off, as if trying to show everyone in the room who was in charge.

"Furthermore, you are now required to assist Enclave scientists in assuming control of the administration and operation of this facility." The colonel, his authoritative tone echoing throughout the inner chamber of the purifier. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Colonel, I'm sorry. But the facility is not operational yet." James sighed, shaking his head. "It never has been. So, I'm afraid you are wasting your time in attempting to take over here."

"Doctor Ronas, this is the last time I'm going to repeat myself." The colonel commanded, unfolding his arms from behind him. "Stand down at once, and turn over control of this facility while I'm still in a diplomatic mood. Your gate guards have already shortened my fuse."

"Colonel, I assure you that this facility will not function." The doctor answered, his stance not shifting one bit. "We've never been able to successfully replicate test results."

The commander of the Enclave sighed, then pulled a regular 10mm pistol off his back. Turning to the two Enclave soldiers who held hostages, he held up the pistol and fired directly into the chest of Anna Holt. The woman dropped to the ground without a sound.

"No! Anna!" Madison shouted, as she struggled to get to the woman.

But her captor held her tightly, grinding the pistol against her temple, which immediately immobilized her. Turning back to James, the crew-cut man no longer had a smile on his face.

"I hope I've made myself very clear in regards to the consequences of resisting, doctor. Now…" he said, aiming the gun at Madison next.

"No!" James shouted, as he swiftly moved in front of the barrel of the weapon. "There's no need for more violence. Please, I'll...I'll do what you ask."

"I'm glad we've come to an understanding." Colonel Autumn answered, as he lowered his weapon. "Now that the unpleasantries are out of the way, I'd like you to go ahead and make the purifier operational at once. My own team of scientists will be here shortly to assist you."

"Very well." James muttered, as he turned towards the console again. "Just...give me a few moments."

The doctor knew if he tried to retaliate, the Enclave guards would likely kill Madison. But he couldn't allow this man to have control of the purifier. Not Catherine's dream, not his and Madison's life's work. He lowered his head and silently apologized to the female doctor as he began adjusting a few of the controls.

But all activity in the chamber stopped when the door exploded from the frame. In seconds, as the wooden splinters were still flying away from the point of impact, a super-heated round slammed into the helmet of the guard who previously held Anna hostage. Immediately, the black helmet warped, twisted, then exploded as the sub-light speed projectile penetrated its metal surface and destroyed the man's head inside, leaving nothing but a red mist in the air where it impacted.

Doctor Li gasped in horror as the man fell over next to her former assistant, his blood now pouring onto the ground in spurts. Before anyone could say a word, a shadowy figure from the door dashed in and grabbed the remaining Enclave unit, wrenching his hands free from the doctor. While he did free Doctor Li from the man's grasp, the attacker didn't expect the soldier to lash back with his helmet. The Wanderer winced as the pointed protrusions from cut his face, allowing the man to break free and turn to fight the man who surprised him.

 _"Shit…"_ was all the Enclave soldier said as he saw the glowing eyes staring at him.

John reached up and wiped the blood clean from his cheek, his glowing orbs never leaving the greenish tinted ocular ports in the suit of armor. The two simply stared at each other for a few moments as Madison stumbled back towards the stairs to get away from the brawl. The soldier knew that if he didn't raise his weapon fast enough to fire, the man before him would likely rip him to pieces. But short of power armor, nothing could stop their plasma weapons. If he could just get a shot off, he might actually kill the Wolf of the Wasteland.

Colonel Autumn watched the staring contest with mild interest as James continued to work behind him. At least, until the radiation shield slammed down in front of him, nearly taking off his nose in the process.

"I certainly hope for your sake, that that was an accident." The colonel growled, glaring at the doctor.

"I'm afraid not Colonel." James growled, as he turned and glared back at the man. "But now, it doesn't matter what you do to me."

"What have you done?" asked the officer as he shoved the doctor out of the way and examined the console.

"I would rather die than see the purifier in the hands of tyrants like yourself!" James snapped, fury evident to his tone.

The older man then turned to the radiation shield and watched as the confrontation ended very quickly. The Enclave soldier lifted his pistol just as the gunman dashed forward. He managed to get a point blank shot off to the man's chest, right before the maniacal Wanderer thrust the plasma pistol in his own hand directly into his armored throat and fired. The plasma blast burned through the less armored joints under the helmet and ate through the man's throat near instantly, resulting in his head falling clean off his shoulders.

John immediately reached up and hit the release on his armor, his skin already blistering and boiling from the shot to the chest. When he finally pulled the chest plate free, he tossed it aside, his hand immediately moving to his scorched skin through the now glaring hole in his jumpsuit.

"Fuck…" he groaned.

Doctor Li immediately rose to her feet and rushed over to him. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine." The Wanderer muttered, waving away Li's concerns. "Where's my father?" He looked up at the answer staring at him through the radiation shield. Getting to his feet, he rushed up the stairs and placed his free hand on the glass as he stared at his father. "Dad, what are you doing? We need to get out of here!" John shouted through the thick glasteel.

"I'm afraid I won't be going with you, son." James answered, audible only through the speaker right next to the Wanderer. "I need you to get out of here. Take Madison with you and keep them safe. Take them to the Brotherhood."

"What have you done!?" The colonel shouted, fury evident to his voice. Finally, he turned around and pulled up his pistol again, aiming directly for the scientist's back. "I've had enough of your insubordination." he growled as he pulled the trigger.

John yelled loudly, raising his fist to pound at the reinforced shield. But nothing he did would have been fast enough. The loud sound of three bullets firing in succession sounded and his father slumped against the barrier. James gasped, inhaling sharply as he put one hand on the shield and spoke his last.

"Run...John...please…" James wheezed, before sliding slowly to the ground.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" The Wanderer bellowed as he hammered away at the shield frantically with his fists, trying to do anything to get to his father. But no matter how much he hit the shield, it refused entry.

"John, stop!" Madison shouted, as she tried to get his attention.

But he ignored her as he tried to pry away the thick wall of glasteel. Suddenly, he felt a jerk on his shoulder and he spun, ready to lash out. But he stopped, frozen in place as he saw Doctor Li. Her eyes were filled with tears. The tear marks travelling down her face were made obvious as they cut through the small amount of dust that had settled on her face since they arrived. But most heartbreaking of all was the look of utter despair in her eyes.

"Please...we have to go." Li muttered, a broken tone to her voice.

Ignoring the symphony that his pipboy was letting out from his geiger counter, he turned and looked down at his father, then up at the man with the pistol. For the briefest of moments, steel grey eyes met glowing green. Exerting his immense will, he tore himself away from the radiation shield and grabbed Doctor Li. Lifting her up, he hurled himself down the stairs and out the door and into the gift shop.

OoOoO

"Times up. We have to go." said Moira as she pulled a heavy magnum pistol from her side. Opening the revolver, she made sure it was loaded before snapping it back into place and pulling the hammer back. Her other arm was occupied holding the android stable over her shoulder.

"We can't...leave Doctor Li!" Garza snapped, who was currently leaning against the wall of the poorly lit tunnel that they were hiding in.

"She said to leave after five minutes. And that's what I intend to do." Moira answered, as she stepped forward. "If you want to wait here for her, then do so. But I'm not going to sit here and wait for an Enclave patrol to shove a plasma rifle up our asses."

Her tone stopped however, when she began to notice the man sweating profusely. He was also holding a hand over his heart as if he were in pain. But all thoughts of possible injury flew out of her mind as she heard the hatch open again. Immediately, her gun arm flew up and aimed at the silhouette at the top, then followed it down as it jumped into the entry. She lowered her weapon however, when she saw John carrying Doctor Li in his arms in the low light. As soon as he landed, he set the woman on her feet.

"Where does this tunnel lead?" The Wanderer asked as he checked to make sure the pistol he had hadn't overheated when he blasted the last Enclave soldier's head off.

"It leads to the Citadel...the Brotherhood's fortress." The doctor answered, a quiet tone to her voice. "We should be safe there."

Anyone who looked at her could easily see that she was trying not to let the realization of what was happening set in. She was trying to maintain control over herself and her emotions. John knew just at a glance that she was walking on thin ice, ready to break at any moment.

"If we make it there." Daniel snarked. Immediately, the man swallowed his tongue as the glowing eyes locked onto him. The Wanderer grabbed a round hunk of glass and metal from Doctor Li's hands and shoved it into the engineer's none too kindly.

"Hold onto that." John snapped, glaring at Daniel. "If you drop it, I'm sending you back after it."

Without waiting for a response, the Wanderer then turned to Moira, intending to dish out commands. Immediately, his eyes locked onto the body over her shoulder, and his eyes widened. Before he said a word however, she interjected.

"She's fine. She's just...unconscious." she said, having no other word of explanation handy. Her words immediately soothed the man, but his radioactive gaze steeled even more.

"Everyone stay together and stay behind me. If I hold my hand up, that means shut up and hold still. Do we understand?" John asked, his long unused military leadership training from the sim kicking in. "Moira, you cover our six, and alert me if anyone is following."

The Wanderer turned, getting a nod from the woman. Turning back to the tunnel, he slowly began to move forward with his pistol held low, unaware that his veins could faintly be seen underneath his skin as the radiation he absorbed began to heal the burn across his chest. The tunnel was relatively quiet as the group moved down the wide corridors and into the next area of the underground. But it wasn't long before they encountered their first sign of trouble.

The Wanderer held up his hand as a familiar rushing sound was heard ahead of them. And as he peaked around the corner, he found his suspicions were correct. An Enclave eyebot was hovering precariously near the exit that they needed to go through. "Shit…"

"What is it?" Moira asked in a hushed whisper, as she moved up next to him.

"There's no way in hell that a random drone just happened to find its way down into these tunnels." John answered quietly, as he prepared his weapon.

"The supermutants must have made more exits after we left." Doctor Li answered frantically. John immediately reached forward and covered her mouth gently.

"The Enclave must have found them, and are covering them to prevent escape." John muttered, a bitter tone to his voice. The gunman sighed and looked over at Moira grimly. "You know what that means?"

"As soon as it sees us, we're busted." Moira answered, her voice equally as disgruntled as his. "We're going to have to move fast after we take it out."

Looking back at the others, he whispered as loud as he could so they could hear him, "That means all of you need to stick close and move quickly. We're probably going to be running and gunning. We don't have time to lollygag." he said, getting an acknowledging nod from them all. "Good." he finished, then got to his feet.

"I don't think I'm gonna be that lucky." Garza mumbled, his voice sounding scratchy.

They all looked at him questioningly, to find him sitting on the ground again, holding his heart. His face was locked in a grimace of pain and his breathing was far heavier than it should have been given the amount of light running they'd had to do. Immediately, Doctor Li dropped to her knees in front of him. "Garza...is it…?" she asked.

"Yeah...left my medication in the rush." The man muttered, as he groaned in pain.

John sighed, then reached forward and handed the shopkeeper his pistol. "Moira...hold onto this. I'm going to have to work very steady." he said. The woman grabbed the pistol and became a sentry as the man knelt down next to Garza. "Alright...Garza?" he asked, getting a pained nod from the man. "How's your left arm?" he asked as he reached back and took one of the thermal explosives off of his belt. It was the last of the incineration grenades he had, despite not using them very often.

"Don't know." Garza replied, his breathing becoming more erratic. "Can't feel it."

"Well, I'm going to try and help you now." John responded, as he began to disassemble the thermal device. "But I need you to be very calm, and try not to jerk around. If you want to make it out of here with us, I reeeally need you to follow that rule, okay?"

"Got it." The man answered, nodding his head.

"What the hell are you even doing?" Daniel asked from the side as he watched back down the hallway that they had come from.

John didn't speak at first. He had deconstructed the explosive, and now reached inside to grab a small, thin tube from the core of the device.

"Thermal grenades still use nitro-glycerine as its explosive." The Wanderer explained, as he set aside all the other parts and held the tube as if it were as fragile as a sandcastle. "Fragmentation grenades use plastic explosive instead because it's much more stable. But fragmentation grenades are meant to kill humans more efficiently without damaging property as much. Thermal grenades however…" he continued as he pulled the knife from his boot slowly. "Are meant to be indiscriminate in their destruction. Inside the grenade, they're suspended with magnets in a vacuum sealed container in order to make sure that dropping one doesn't ignite it immediately. It's extremely volatile."

"So what the fuck are you doing with it now?" Daniel asked, his body tensing with agitation.

"Daniel, just shut up!" Garza shouted, eyes blazing with annoyance. John pulled the knife up and slowly began to circle the sharp edge of the blade around the plastic-looking cap of the tube. Almost agonizingly slowly, he pulled the cap away and dropped it on the ground.

"I'm going to need you to stick your tongue out for me…" John stated, his voice soft as he held the tube towards the man. Garza, who was on the brink of seizing up. At this point, he had nothing to lose. Sticking his tongue out, he felt a few drops of some kind of liquid drip onto his tongue from the tube. "Now swallow very slowly."

The man, knowing that he was one hiccup from blowing them all to hell, did as he was told and swallowed the liquid. John immediately took the small vial over to the doorway and used a small amount of tape to try and seal the top off.

"Moira, now is a good time to get moving." John said.

The woman didn't acknowledge him, but stepped out into the doorway regardless. Raising her magnum, she pulled the trigger, sending an oiled round directly into the screen of the floating droid and causing it to explode. "Alright everyone, just like before. Stick together, and stay behind us. If we run into anyone else down here, take cover as far from the fight as you can, but do not run off!" he said sharply as he got to his feet and began walking behind the woman, his steady hands still cradling the container.

Doctor Li reached down and grabbed Garza's right arm gently. "Come on, let's get going." she said, noticing that after only a minute, the man's breathing had calmed considerably. "Is it working?" she asked.

"I think so...the pain is starting to taper off." The man answered, as he got up using his own leg power. He was still slow to move, but was much better than he had been previously. "Who'd have thought that all I needed to do to fix a heart attack was drink a grenade?" he asked, somewhat jokingly as he stumbled along with his arm over her shoulders.

Madison, even in such a time of crisis, managed to chuckle at the statement. "Let's not start that habit. Your tablets will do just from now on."

Suddenly, they all stopped again as Moira's hand shot up. Suddenly, the filtered voice of an Enclave soldier shouted from inside the large room.

 _"We already know you're in there. You might as well surrender now and hope the Colonel decides to spare you!"_ came the voice of one of the soldiers.

Moira grabbed the Wanderer's head gently and pulled him closer, looking like she was getting ready to kiss him. Instead, she pushed her lips to his ear. "His voice puts him on the ground floor, about ten yards back." Moira asked, her voice barely audible. "Think you can put that thing to use?"

But the Wanderer understood why; to prevent their heightened auditory detection from picking up her voice. Silently he nodded. Turning to the others, he pointed back at the end of the hall. They all moved away from the doorway and he turned, looking at her. Stepping into the doorway as quickly as possible, he gently hefted the small vial in one hand and threw it underhanded through the air to try not to jar it too much. The throw was successful, sending the small tube through the air right as two bolts of plasma flew through the doorway and melted the steel walls behind where he was previously standing.

The soldier who had spoken before lowered his rifle for a moment to make sure he hadn't overclocked it when he heard a small ping sound in front of him, no doubt picked up by his detection systems. Before he could determine the cause of the noise, or even think about what it could have been, all thoughts of anything were erased from his mind. The vial had hit the ground directly between his legs, and immediately detonated on contact. The explosion's initial shock was absorbed by the suit, but the following fire and concussion were not. The man was hurled upwards a few feet by the blast before slamming down into the ground with his sensors blaring.

"What...the...fuck?" he asked as he tried to get his bearings. But before he could, a forceful foot slammed down onto his head, followed quickly by a blast from a plasma bolt that silenced him for good.

The explosion had also caused a storm of dust and dirt to swirl around the room, clouding the soldier's immediate view of the battlefield. John however, immediately slid on his goggles and singled out two of the figures standing on the catwalk to the right of the room. He slid into the room as they recovered from the blast enough to activate their thermal vision. But as soon as they did, they were alerted by a thunking noise next to them. Both of them, familiar with the implications of such a sound, dove away from the source. One of them made it all the way over a concrete barricade, but the other wasn't as lucky.

The plasma grenade exploded, showering one of the men in a blistering wave of heated plasma. His entire backside was now superheating, the metal slowly warping and the skin and cloth underneath. Seconds after the explosion, the entire catwalk collapsed, sending the dying man crashing to the ground and causing his plasma rifle to skitter across the dusty floor.

The leader of the pack of Enclave suddenly called out, _"Retreat to rallying point!"_

In their place, a swarm of drones flew in through the door and unleashed a torrent of laser fire at the attackers. Moira jumped quickly into a small alcove, managing to get by with just a few nicks from the superhot beams. John however, wasn't so lucky. He grabbed the rails of the fallen catwalk that he had just blown to pieces and hurled himself forward at the hovering bots. But doing so made him a point blank target for their attacks.

Fire and pain lanced through his body like white-hot knives as he thrust the pain aside and continued forward. Three, four, five times he was hit through his shoulders, arms, directly through his chest, and once through his leg. With one last burst of strength, he threw himself at them, grabbing one and crushing it without a thought. He then swung his metal-coated fist and smashed another against the wall hard enough to immediately crush its sensors. The ball-like droid fell to the ground without a second more of resistance.

Having used his blatant and stupid assault as a distraction, Moira rolled out of cover and aimed at the other three that were preparing to unleash another wave of fiery lances at the man. Pulling the trigger on her magnum, the oiled rounds burst from the barrel and tunneled completely through one after another, the kick from the revolver barely noticeable in her hands. One of the floating eyebots exploded on impact as the round tore through its fuel cell, and the other two simply thudded to the ground.

The Wanderer collapsed onto the ground, blood now pouring from his mouth as the pain began to set in. His breathing had become strained as he lay in the dust which was currently matting from his blood. Moira ran up the fallen catwalk behind him and grabbed him by the back of his coat, then slammed him against the wall angrily.

"What the hell was that?" Moira demanded, fury evident to her tone. "Are you stupid, or just trying to get yourself killed!?"

"I'll...kill….them all…" John growled back, before coughing again and causing more blood to flood from his mouth.

"Don't know how the hell you plan to do that if you're dead yourself." she snapped, then waved for the others to enter.

Madison came into the room and she gasped in surprise at the young man's wounds. "John! What happened?" she asked worriedly as she pulled the med kit up and opened it.

Moira pushed the kit closed and looked at the woman. "He doesn't need medicine right now. What I need is one of the microfusion cells from the girl's ammo."

Alex voluntarily stepped forward with Elsa over his shoulder, and the shopkeeper quickly snatched one of the batteries from the ammo belt that Elsa used to keep her spares.

"What are you doing?" Madison asked apprehensively as she watched the woman twist the top off of the small cell with her massive strength.

"Patching this idiot before his scars become permanent." she snapped, then packed the exposed top of the battery against his wounded chest as she held him against the wall none too gently.

"That can't be safe…" Alex chimed in, as he adopted the same look of concern as Doctor Li had.

"Just shut up and watch." she growled at them, silencing the dissent.

Soon, his breathing began to lighten considerably, and the entire audience gasped as his veins started to glow a bright green once more, the same color as his eyes. Pulling the battery away from him, the woman tossed him aside, making him stumble to gain his footing.

"If you want these people dead, you have to live to see that through. But if you pull something like that again, I'll break you in half myself." she said with a glare in her brown eyes. He turned and looked at her, staying silent for a moment before finally sighing and nodding.

"Fine." he said.

OoOoO

"I don't know man; I kinda like the silence." Initiate Scott stated, as he sat back against the wall. He was currently seated on top of a small metal crate that housed the post's generator. "What with all we could be facing out in the wastes, I find sitting here and using the occasional ghoul as target practice a vacation."

"Oh come on man. I'm a heavy, I should be out there taking it to those damn supermutants." Another initiate snorted, who was pacing in front of him. The pair had their helmets off, wanting to actually talk without the filters.

Initiate Scott sighed and shook his head, running a hand through his sweat soaked hair. "Look Michaels, I don't mean to intrude…"

"But you're going to." The other mumbled, irritation evident to his voice.

"But I'm going to. I know you had a thing for Reddin." The man stated as he picked up a bottle of water next to him. "I understand; it sucks."

"Really? Do you understand?" The man snapped, who had stopped pacing and turned to his partner. "I didn't 'have a thing' for her. She was like a kid sister to me!"

"Alright, fine!" said Scott answered, defensively as he raised his hands. "But you going out and hurling yourself at every supermutant you see isn't going to bring her back. That's all I was trying to say…"

"No, but maybe it can help prevent someone else from having the same shit happen." The initiate retorted, before he began pacing again. Suddenly, both of the soldiers froze and stared at the heavy blast door in front of them after the sound of a loud _THUNK!_ hit it. "The fuck was that?"

"I don't know...but something tells me we may get more action than anticipated." Scott said, as he stood up and grabbed his helmet. Sliding it on, it locked into place on his suit, and he grabbed his laser rifle. _"I'll get the door. You get the big guy ready."_ he said as he moved over and crouched next to the door controls.

 _"You got it."_ a now helmeted Michaels responded, as he made sure his flamethrower was primed and ready. _"All candles lit!"_ he said as the flame on the front of the weapon roared to life.

 _"Opening in three...two...one…"_ Scott said over their communicators, then slammed his palm on the open button before backing up and aiming his rifle down the dark hallway.

But the vision that met them stalled their trigger fingers. Just outside the doorway of the large tunnel was a man in a duster jacket that was currently...and angrily, smashing a glowing ghoul against the wall. The strange man had the creature by one of its legs and was swinging it like a sledge hammer against the flat wall of the corridor. Finally, the man smashed it against the ground in a bone crunching overhead swing, causing its leg to come clean off, before he then raised the leg and smashed its head in with the weapon in question. Suddenly, he looked up at them and they both took a step back, unnerved from the piercing of his green eyes.

 _"Don't move."_ Michaels stated, a firm tone evident to his voice.

"We don't have a lot of time, so if you don't mind…" The maniacal looking figure answered, as he took a step forward.

 _"I said don't move!"_ The man shouted, as he raised the flamethrower menacingly.

John glared at the man, but stood in place with his hands raised. Despite his strength, fire wasn't something you could brute force into submission. And unlike the gatling guns, which took a few seconds to start spinning before it finally fired, those flames would come out near instantly if he tried anything.

 _"Who are you and what the hell are you doing down here?"_ Scott asked, as he moved forward with his rifle still raised.

"My name is John Ronas, and I have a group behind me that are seeking shelter from the Enclave. They were in these tunnels, and at the Jefferson Memorial where they...killed two scientists." he growled, the memories of Anna's body and watching his father getting gunned down now burned into his memory.

 _"Did he say Enclave?"_ Michaels inquired, a frown appearing on his face. _"The Enclave have been dead for years...right?"_

The man slightly lowered his weapon, before turning and looking at Scott. The man shrugged at his partner, then looked back at John.

 _"You have any proof?"_ Initiate Scott inquired, who started to notice the others coming up on the man. He held his weapon ready to fire just in case.

"Here's your proof!" Madison interrupted as she walked directly up to John's back, then grabbed the plasma weapon tucked inside his duster and tossed it in front of them.

 _"Don't...move!"_ shouted Michaels.

"Or what, you'll shoot an unarmed woman?" The doctor snapped, as she pointed at the heavy unit. Both of them men were speechless. "Just take the goddamn gun so we can go through!"

OoOoO

She stared at the man intensely as he looked through pages and pages of documentation that they had compiled on the subject that she had brought up. Scribe Rothchild sorted the papers as best as he could before turning to another of the terminals and tapped away furiously.

"How long is this going to take?" Sarah asked, curiosity evident to her voice.

"However long it takes, plus longer depending on how many pointless questions I have to answer." Rothchild snarked as he continued away on the terminal, bringing up a chemical compound structure on the screen. Sighing in relief, he turned to the blonde woman and pointed at the screen. "Here we have everything that we could recover from the remains of the Poseidon Oil platform, as well as the remnants of the Enclave in the west. However it all amounts to very little. The results of our own experimentation have only resulted in…"

Sarah eyed him curiously with her sparkling blue eyes. "In?" she asked, prompting him to finish the statement.

"Well, let's just say we had to hire outsiders to come and and clean out the lab. None of our own men could stomach the results." The white-haired man grumbled, before looking up at Sarah curiously. "What has you so interested in the FEV compound anyway?"

"What if I told you that I've found the solution?" Sarah asked, smiling brightly at him.

"And where exactly would you obtain such information?" Rothchild inquired, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"That's my secret to keep." Sarah answered, crossing her arms under her bosom. "I just need to know what it would mean for us."

"You've certainly taken after the father I see…" Rothchild sighed, getting a small smile from the commander. "Fine. If we had the actual FEV, the real one that doesn't mutate, or cause horrible malignant neoplasms in the host subjects, or turn the host into a raging genocidal lunatic, then it would mean a great number of things. With each of our soldiers being faster and stronger, some maybe as strong as the supermutants themselves, the war against them would be all but over. Their single advantage of being more resilient would be meaningless, and we could get rid of them once and for all. Perhaps then we could focus on fixing other parts of the wasteland."

She stayed silent for a moment after he finished speaking, then nodded. "And your opinion on using it en masse?" she asked.

"We'd have to. In order to counter the numbers of mutants we are seeing recently, we'd have to at least have a team of them to stand against the teams of supermutants that we tend to run into out in the field." The balding man answered with certainty. "That's not counting if the ghouls decide to take arms with them."

"The ghouls are not our enemy, and are not to be touched anymore." Sarah stated, a frown on her face.

"But…" started the scribe. But the sentinel cut him off immediately.

"That is an order. Unless ghouls are arming up to fight us, they are not to be harassed by the Brotherhood anymore." Sarah snapped, glaring at Rothchild. "That includes any kind of plans to get rid of them. Do I make myself clear?"

"As you wish." Rothchild muttered, letting out a strained sigh.

"Now, back to the topic at hand, what if one day that group decides that the Brotherhood needs new leadership?" she asked, her concerns about the potential of the serum bubbling to the surface. "I've seen this compound in action, and if one man can stop a punch from a behemoth-class supermutant, imagine what ten of them could do."

"Stopped an assault from a behemoth you say?" Rothchild asked, his eyes widening at this claim. "Who is it that had the serum?"

"If they agree to the tests, then you'll know when they arrive." Sarah answered, leaning towards the man. "Otherwise, this project and its participant are to stay extremely under wraps. Are we clear?"

"As you wish Commander." Rothchild sighed, giving the commander a disgruntled look. "But to hold such things in secrecy can do our order no good."

"And handing it out like candy isn't going to help us either. Besides, as you yourself once said, 'We can't have them deciding one day that we're not in charge anymore and wreaking havoc on the Citadel.'" she remarked, then turned to leave the lab.

The man grumbled at having his own words used against him, but said nothing more. As the sentinel stalked the halls of the Citadel, she tangled with thoughts of scrubbing her initial plans for the serum entirely. At least, until another scribe, one of the new initiates, stopped her.

"Commander, you have a radio message from the Taft Outpost." The young man stated.

"Why bring this to me?" Sarah inquired, eyeing the man curiously.

"They asked for you specifically." he finished.

OoOoO

"I am Doctor Madison Li from Rivet City. I have refugees with me who need shelter and medical assistance. Please, you must allow us access at once." The winded woman stated, as she stumbled up to the front gate of the Citadel.

The paladin stationed at the front door eyed her in amusement. _"Sorry ma'am. No unauthorized civilians allowed inside the Citadel."_ he said, his tone raising her hackles rapidly. _"You're gonna have to leave now."_ he said, his eyes spying the stragglers that had just caught up to her. One in particular made him grimace. _"Oh shit…"_ he groaned as the glowing eyes marched straight for him again.

The Wanderer immediately grabbed the man by the front of his armor and forced him back against the metal wall none too gently. "You are under orders to allow us inside the Citadel. Now open the goddamn gate before I throw you into the Potomac!"

While the man was distracted, Madison immediately slapped the button on the intercom and began shouting into the box. "Lyons! I know you're in there and I know you can hear me!" Doctor Li yelled, her tears flowing again. "You open this damn door right now!"

Suddenly, everyone outside the gate froze as the loud sound of the crane reeling in blasted across the empty wastes. Slowly, the giant iron gate started to lift. John glared at the man again before releasing him. Turning to the others, he waved them towards the opening fortress.

"Everyone inside. Let's go." he commanded.

All of the men and women that remained of the Project Purity science team made their way inside, all of them heavy footed and melancholy. As Madison passed, the two looked at each other. Immediately, he reached out to her and pulled her into a hug, both of them with tears flooding down from their eyes. "Come on. Let's go inside…" said the woman after a moment. Together, the two entered the gateway.

When they finally made it into the fortress, they were immediately confronted by both of the Lyons', father and daughter. The woman immediately stepped forward when she saw the dead look on the man's face. "John...what happened?" she asked with concern. But he walked past her into the middle of the courtyard and stopped.

Now that they had all gotten to safety, now that his rage couldn't get anyone killed, he unleashed it. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he raised both fists and brought them both down onto the concrete slab beneath his feet that covered most of the training yard. The impact shook the ground and nearly toppled the two leaders over, while leaving an enormous rift in the stone where there was once flawless concrete.

From one of the balconies around the A-Ring's exterior, Scribe Rothchild watched in interest, a small smile on his face as he saw the feat.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Hey everyone! I'm posting this here to let everyone know a couple of things here. This story itself might start to slow down (as it already has, obviously) even more for two reasons.  
~I'm now writing the story for a future video game and will have to split my time between my fanfiction works and that story as well.  
~My brain reeeeeally wants me to start doing the Mass Effect story that I have had planned for a while. I was originally going to wait for this story to end the main arc before putting it on hiatus, however my creativity is telling me to do otherwise. It won't let me think of new ideas for this story until I get the ones I have for the ME one out of my head. And while I could continue to write these chapters at a regular pace, it would result in less creative and more lackluster chapters as a whole. That's something I won't allow, and I have the feeling that you guys would rather a better story, not a faster one, take precedent.

Either way, I have discovered the Discord chat app, and am amazed at how simple it is to make a group in. So for those of you who don't use Facebook or Twitter, I have created a Discord group devoted to fans who want to be updated on my stories, share ideas they had about any of the stories, or just call me an asshole for not writing faster, you can do so in this Discord server and I will respond in real time.

That being said, FF won't let me post links in either my profile, nor in these chapters. So if you want the discord server information, please PM me and I'll happily send it to you. I hope to see any number of people jump in to chat and tell me what they think of everything.

 **TO BE CLEAR**...this does not mean that this story will no longer be updated. It just means that the chapters will be coming out slower in order to make room for my other creative ideas. So no worries about the story ending here. Because this isn't anywhere near the end of the accolades of John and Elsa.


	83. The Lyon's Bastion

OoO( 83 )OoO

As soon as the party entered the Citadel, everyone began moving quickly. While he sat cradling his blood soaked, and no doubt broken hands in the middle of the courtyard, everything else seemed to be moving quickly, from the people moving in and out of the buildings, to the scientists being escorted to the medical bay, to the sky even quickly passing overhead, turning from bright blue into a dark shade of purple as the sun sunk behind the horizon. In a single moment, his entire life was now directionless.

Since he had left the vault, he had always been aimed directly at the goal of finding his father. Even when he went out to do stuff for Moira, or to go visit Lucy's parents, he still had that arrow pointing him towards his objective. Now, the arrow was shattered. His father was dead, and his direction in life derailed. He couldn't say for how long he sat in front of the blood-stained crack in the concrete, thinking about how lost he was. But it became apparent that he had stayed too long when a strong hand gripped his shoulder. Still in a daze, he looked up to see Moira staring back at him.

"I know." she said simply, her brown eyes showing a look of understanding. If his thoughts had been clearer, he might have noticed that she too had tear stains running down her face. But his mind was numb, making him oblivious to the details.

"You know what?" he asked, looking back down at the ground.

"I know." she repeated, sitting on the ground in front of him and continuing to stare at him.

"You aren't telling me anything." he growled, too exhausted to even cry anymore.

"I've been alive for two hundred years. I know exactly how it feels to lose someone like that." Looking into the rift in the concrete, her eyes hardened. "My first love died right before my eyes when the bomb hit DC. I had to sit and watch as nuclear fire erased everything. Every crappy restaurant she dragged me to, every movie theater that she fell asleep on my shoulder in, every park we went to to play baseball...everything. Gone in seconds, like it had never existed."

The realization that she had physically witnessed one of the bomb strikes nearly slapped the despair out of him. He looked at her in shock as his posture seemed to calm. "You saw it hit?" he asked stupidly.

She brushed the tear stains and grime away with her hands as she nodded. "I had just gotten the serum a day before, and was being transported to Bailey's, when our car was flipped by the explosion. I crawled out, and did the same thing you did here." she said as she reached down and covered the split in the pavement with her hand. "I can't even go back to those old places to remember her. The only thing I have is that stupid patch she gave me." she said, letting out a mix of a sob and a chuckle.

He nodded, a solemn look covering his face. Whether she intended to or not, she had just made him realize that although his father was gone, nothing else was. The memories, the vault, Madison, the purifier, all of these were imprinted with fond memories of his father. Places he could go back to, people he could talk to, even their clinic back in 101 was still set up as if they had never left. Unlike her, who had her entire life erased in a single act. "You still have your memories of her." he said quietly as he wiped his own frustrations away from his face.

"And so do you." When he looked up at her again, she was staring directly into his radioactive eyes. "Your father was a good man, and so are you. He may be gone now, but you aren't." The look on her face turned deadly serious at the last statement.

"I know." he growled, his broken and pain-riddled hand clenching. "You're telling me not to give up." It was more of a statement than a question. He fully expected it to come from someone eventually. Elder Lyons, Sarah, Madison, any number of people who cared about him. But Moira was the last person he thought would be giving him the speech. Honestly, from anyone else, he might have brushed it off. But coming from the two hundred year old woman who had lived first hand everything he had and more would be stupid.

"There is still life in you. Use it to destroy those who wronged you, and to make those still living for happy." She finally stood up from the concrete and dusted herself off. Reaching forward, she held out her calloused hand. "Rain vengeance down on those who deserve it. But know when to end it. Those who are lost in vengeance lose themselves, and those they love again and again."

"Okay…" He sat startled at her words for a long moment, before reaching up. While he couldn't grasp her hand, she gripped his wrist and pulled him to his feet. She then shocked him again by grabbing the back of his head and forcing him to stare into her chocolate brown eyes.

"Say it." she commanded, not releasing him from her iron grip.

"Say what?" he asked, his pulse quickening at her application of strength.

"Say you're not going to lose Elsa, Sarah, Gob, Mary...say you're not going to lose them to vengeance." she stated firmly. "I know you, and I know what you've been through. I also know that there's no amount of radiation that'll heal you if you keep diving head first into danger."

He sighed heavily, irritation setting in from receiving the same talk from two different people. But he knew she was right. The man in the fatigues, the Enclave, they would never pay for their crimes if he got himself killed in combat. On top of that, everyone he loved and held dear would be in danger, not only from the Enclave itself, but the rest of the wasteland as well. Who knew how the filth of the wastes would react to the watcher being killed. Finally, he relented, the logical part of his mind practically throttling him. "Alright."

"Alright what?" she asked, her face expressionless as she continued to grip him.

"Alright, I won't do anything stupid anymore." he said tiredly, the pain in his hands now getting to him. "I will exact retribution on those responsible, and continue to live for those who are alive."

She stared at him a long moment, before a small smile of relief broke across her face. "Thank you." she said quietly, releasing her grip on the wounded gunman. "The idea of seeing Elsa or Sarah after you die is heartbreaking."

"I know…" he said, then his eyes opened sharply. Looking around the courtyard, he saw life continuing as usual with the Brotherhood recruits. Some were off training on combat dummies, some were doing calisthenics, and some were just cleaning their armor from the outside. "Where is Elsa?" he asked worriedly.

"I believe they took her to the medical wing." said the woman.

He groaned as he walked off towards the doors. "Thanks for the talk. I'm going to find them before they decide to dissect her." She giggled lightly, waving him off as he pulled the doors open and went inside. The building, like before, was startlingly pristine given the rough exterior. Everything was neat and orderly, and barely showed signs of apocalyptic ruin that most of the world was now permanently marked with. With the assistance of a particularly chatty scribe, he managed to finally wend his way through the labyrinthine hallways of the Citadel to the medical bay.

When he arrived at the main door of the large room, he saw her lying silently on one of the beds. Standing at the foot of the bed were two scribes who were bickering at one another. He could clearly hear through the doors as the pair had their back and forth.

"What the hell are we supposed to do then?" asked the male, who had short trimmed black hair.

"There's nothing we can do. The commander said not to touch her until her companion arrived. She won't even let us check for her vitals. The girl isn't even breathing..." said the frustrated woman, who wore a similar hair style, but had sandy blonde hair instead.

"So we just have to sit here while she potentially dies?" asked the bewildered man who rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Commander's orders Kent. Unfortunately…" The woman stopped her speech as the Wanderer stepped into the medbay. Both of the scientists stared at him wide-eyed as he approached, taking in the short, but imposing figure of their visitor. "Y-You're John...right?"

Nodding, the gunman sat on the bed next to Elsa and reached over, brushing a hand over the girl's still form. "The reason she isn't breathing is because she's synthetic." he stated as he turned the young woman's face towards him. Whatever happened to her, she looked so peaceful.

"Synthetic? You mean she's a...robot?" asked the male as he took a step closer, his curiosity peaked.

"An android. Artificial skin over a mechanical skeleton, run by an AI." John looked up at the two, noticing that their expressions had quickly changed from awestruck by his appearance, to wonder filled. They now stood on either side of the bed and stared at her.

"That's incredible! She's so lifelike…" said the woman as she knelt down. Looking up at the piercing gaze of the Wanderer, she asked, "May I touch her?"

Both of the scribes felt chills as he donned a look of annoyance. "She isn't a carnival attraction." he snapped.

"I know! I didn't mean it like that! I just wanted to examine her and maybe figure out what's wrong." said the woman as she bowed her head apologetically.

John eyed her curiously. "Do you have any experience with synthetic humans?" he asked.

The male spoke up before the female scribe had the chance. "We both have. We were there when the one was delivered from Rivet City. We were called to open it up and examine it in detail." he said proudly. The blonde scribe nodded in agreeance.

Looking back and forth between the two, the gunman sighed and stood up, away from the bed. "Fine. Feel free to examine her. But anything inappropriate, or intrusive and you'll be occupying the beds next to her." he growled.

"Y-Yes sir. I'll...leave the touching to her." said the man nervously.

A few minutes later, they had removed Elsa's armor completely, leaving her in nothing but an undershirt and pair of boyish shorts. "Explain what you're going to do before you do it." said John as he watched over the pair like a hawk.

Nodding, the woman looked up at the imposing man. "Can you describe what happened to her?"

He sighed and shook his head. "I wasn't there when it happened. And nobody seems to know what exactly happened to her either."

Letting out a heavy breath, the woman reached for Elsa's head. "I'm going to do a visual examination to see if there's any obvious damage." John nodded at her statement, then watched as the scribe did a thorough examination of the redhead's entire body. When she finished, she placed her palm over Elsa's stomach and felt around. "Is this usual?" she asked.

Reaching down, the Wanderer felt the area that the woman was referring to and noticed a small bulge in her stomach. "I don't think so…" he said, leaning forward to examine the anomaly closely, when he was suddenly startled by Elsa's hand reaching up and grabbing his head by the hair. Wrenching him backwards, her eyes snapped open and were glowing red as she looked around in panic.

"Wha!?" she asked frantically as she sat up and raised her fist to attack.

"Elsa!" shouted John, who was currently cringing at the fierce grip on the back of his head.

She stopped her assault, her eyes slowly dimming back to her normal velvet brown. "John?" she asked, releasing his head. "What happened? Where am I?"

The Wanderer rubbed his head sorely as he knelt next to her. "The purifier was attacked by the Enclave. Madison said you came through the wall when they were heading to the escape tunnel." He spoke softly as he looked her in the eyes.

The redhead's own eyes widened as she tried to recall what had happened. "I...I don't remember. The last thing I recall was talking to you in the rotunda. And even that's shaky at best." she growled, holding her head gently. Suddenly, she pulled her hand down and stared at her legs with an expression of horror. "I...I can't move my legs!" she shouted.

Reaching up, John placed his palm on her head and gently stroked her russet-colored hair. "Elsa, calm down. The doctors here are taking a look at you to see what's wrong." As soon as she felt his touch on her head, she seemed to calm. "After we talked in the purifier, I told you to go watch the door with Liberty. Do you know what happened to him or you?" he asked seriously.

Flopping back onto the pillow, she donned a miserable look. "I don't know. Everytime I try to recall, all I get is a blank. Whatever happened must have devastated me enough to wipe my cognition from the incident." While talking, the female doctor continued to physically examine Elsa's legs now, lifting and bending them to see if there were any interruptions.

"It's alright. Everything is going to be fine." he stated sullenly.

The fiery-haired girl turned her head when she heard the morose tone in his voice. "What happened at the purifier?"

His face warped in pain as he was forced to relive the memories for her. "The Enclave attacked the purifier. They stormed in and demanded my father hand over everything to them. He refused, and instead locked their leader inside the rotunda with him, where he triggered a radiation spike. So...he…"

She could tell by his pained expression what happened. Reaching forward, she cupped his cheek in her hand. "I'm sorry." He simply sighed and placed his own hand over hers, feeling much relief that she was alive.

"There doesn't appear to be any obstructions with the legs themselves." said the doctor as she finished. John and Elsa both looked at her curiously as she returned the look. "That may mean that something inside was damaged, preventing her from controlling her lower half."

"The light cable?" asked the male as he looked at his cohort.

"I was thinking so, yes." she responded.

"Sorry for being out of the loop, but...light cable?" asked John as he looked between them both.

"In the other synthetic that we received, there was a flexible alloyed cylinder that was where a spine should be. After we removed one of the sections of the alloy, we found that inside was a highly sophisticated cable that channeled power to all of the other functions of the body. The alloy covering was to protect it because it's rather fragile." finished the male scribe.

"So you think the cable inside her might be damaged?" asked John curiously, grasping the idea of what they were talking about.

"We can't say for sure. Usually when a light cable is cracked, the entire thing stops working. If that were the case, she wouldn't be awake right now. So either the damage was very minor, a fracture maybe, or there's something else going on here." stated the female as she stood. "If you'd like, we can go inside and find out." she said with a hopeful look on her face.

Elsa grunted as she glared at the two. "As intelligent as you guys seem, I think I'd rather wait until we have someone with more of an expertise in the field." she said warily.

The two focused on her, the female speaking up. "I'm afraid we don't have anyone on staff that knows more about synthetics than us."

"We know someone though." said John as he eyed the pair. "Contact the outpost in Rivet City, specifically Knight McGyle, and explain the situation. She'll know who to contact."

OoOoO

After recovering the use of his hands with the assistance of Moira and the medbay doctors, the Wanderer made his way to the A-Ring's conference room. Inside sat a number of faces he already knew. Elder Lyons sat at the head of the table, and next to him was his daughter. The Sentinel looked up at him with a sympathetic smile as he entered, and waved for him to sit next to her. As he took his seat, his glowing eyes also noticed that Scribe Rothchild was sitting opposite from him with another scribe who looked nearly as decorated as he was to his left. Scanning the new face, he noticed immediately that she was giving him a curious look.

Finally, the last character in the room was more curious than the others. He was a boy, no older than fifteen by the looks of him, who wore a coat similar to his own duster. His head wore a mess of brown hair that looked like it needed trimming, and he peered at his elders in the room through a pair of deep blue eyes. But his curiosity about the boy was pushed aside as Elder Lyons spoke up.

"I believe you know most of use here. But introductions are in order for the others." said the Elder as John looked towards him. "Here we have John Ronas, son of James, our former associate from bygone days. Sadly, James is no longer with us, so presumably we will be continuing our partnership through him." As he spoke the words, the Elder turned and looked at him, a wrinkled hand running through his beard curiously.

Despite not being a question, the gunman knew what he was being asked. Nodding briefly, he gave an answer. "I will continue to work with you to secure the purifier and continue my father's work."

"This is pleasing news." said the old man with a satisfied grin. "Now then, you know me and my daughter of course. And you've met Head Scribe Rothchild. However, we do have some new faces here. To your right, we have Proctor Elizabeth Jameson. She is our Keeper of the Quill, and has extensive knowledge of all records that we keep here in the Citadel, so if you need any assistance in searching for knowledge, she can guide you." As he spoke her name, John looked over at the woman, who nodded at him, her blonde hair short enough that it didn't need tying back. "And here we have our own young Squire Arthur Maxson."

The Wanderer looked over at the boy curiously, wondering why a squire was sitting in the conference room with them. He knew that the Brotherhood of Steel preferred to get their recruits from inside the organization itself rather than recruiting from outside, so it's likely he was someone's son. Looking over at Elder Lyons, he dismissed it immediately. If Sarah had a brother, she would have said something by now. Then his gaze moved over to the scribes sitting across from him. Perhaps he was one of theirs. That still didn't explain why he was here.

"I can see by the look in your eye that our young Squire has brought forth questions." said the Elder in amusement.

John looked at him and nodded lightly. "Not that I really mind. It just seems odd that of all the paladins and knights you have here, that a squire is the one you chose to be a part of the meeting."

"An understandable inquiry. Aside from being a large fan of your works...at least those told by our friendly radio host, he also happens to be in training for leadership. His mother Jessica entrusted him to me to take care of and teach to be more like his ancestor, who happened to have founded the Brotherhood of Steel on the west coast." John's eyes widened at the revelation, and he immediately looked at the boy, seeing him in a new light.

"I see. So, he's here to learn from you." The elder nodded at the statement. "I guess I can see the importance of him being in this meeting then."

"Speaking of this meeting, I would appreciate it if we could get more to the point." came the crisp voice of Rothchild.

"Agreed." John stated as he sat up straight in his chair. "We need to take the purifier back."

"Before that, we need some more information." said the Elder as he locked his hands in front of his mouth. "We are not assisting in pursuit of revenge for your father. As much as we all respected the man, vengeance is not beneficial for our order." said the older man as he eyed the Wanderer. "You spoke to us before finding your father, and said that when you found him, you'd get the answer. Were you able to do so?"

John growled lightly, knowing this moment was coming. Knowing there was no way around it, he just let out a sigh and spoke. "I knew what the purifier needed before I left here." he said, getting a shocked look from Rothchild. But the Elder continued with his steady gaze. "Back then, I didn't know who you were, or whether you'd try the same thing the Enclave did once you had the information."

"I can't say you were misplaced in your distrust. You knew very little of us back then." said the man as he lowered his hands and stared at John. "However, if we are to assist in routing the Enclave from the purifier, we'd like be assured that you give us some measure of trust now."

"Fine. But my father's dream was to provide clean water to the wasteland. Under no circumstances am I going to allow the Brotherhood to start strictly controlling the water that comes from it." he stated flatly as he stared at the elder.

Elder Lyons continued staring back for a long moment before nodding. "We have no desire to turn the purifier into a for-profit business. Quite the opposite in fact." he said reassuringly to the Wanderer.

After her long silence during the meeting, Sarah finally spoke up. "My father is well known for putting the citizens of DC ahead of any agenda." she said, getting a look from the gunman. He eyed her curiously, noting that she looked confident in her speech. "We were originally sent to DC in order to find lost technology and take it, to make sure that none of it was lost to the abyss of history. But my father voluntarily chose to stay here to assist in getting rid of the supermutants."

"Indeed. Said decision caused a rift in our order, resulting in a number of our own soldiers and scientists leaving." snorted Rothchild as he grimaced.

"The Outcasts." Rothchild nodded at the Wanderer's statement.

"Bunch of inhuman traitors if you ask me." said the head scribe in disdain.

John's eyes narrowed at the man, but if he noticed, he said nothing. "They left with my blessing Reginald. Let's not open more wounds before another is closed." said the Elder, his voice more serious now. Turning to the doctor's son, he asked, "So, as you can see, we have no intention of twisting your father's dream. We wish to aid in his cause by getting the purifier to run. But to rely on us, we need assurance that we aren't wasting our time."

John nodded. "So you'll be wanting to know the solution?"

"If you wouldn't mind enlightening us." spoke Rothchild, as he placed his head in his hand with a bored expression on his face.

"My father found through research into the vaults that he could convert a Garden of Eden Creation Kit in order to complete the mass purification that he intended." said the Wanderer, who received stunned looks from the Elder and the head scribe.

"A tall ask, but not impossible. It would take a considerable amount of manpower to connect it to a purifier. However, it is conceivable." said Rothchild as he scratched his chin thoughtfully. Looking up at John with a questioning glance, he asked, "Where did your father get the creation kit from exactly?"

"He didn't." As soon as the words left his mouth, a look of frustration masked the faces of the two elder men. "But, he spoke with the creator of the GECK, and the vaults, Stanislaus Braun."

"Your father spoke to a Vault-Tec scientist?" asked Reginald in amused unbelief. John was quickly becoming annoyed with the man's incredulity.

"My father asked you for the location of Vault 112, did he not?" asked John. Rotchild looked over at the proctor, who nodded. "Through the use of the Overseer's terminal in Vault 101, my father found out that Stanislaus Braun was reserved for Vault 112. He left after getting its location to see if there were any works, records, logs, or anything that could tell him more about the GECK. Instead, he found the man himself in cryogenic suspension, hooked up to a virtual reality simulation with the other vault residents."

The Elder looked to his daughter, who nodded in confirmation. "He and the other vault dwellers were in suspended animation, living only through the use of Vault-Tec's own simulators." she spoke.

"And where is this man now? If you or your father released him from his suspension, surely he wouldn't just put himself back in." said the head scribe questioningly.

"He was...damaged. Whether it was before he went under or not, I'm not sure. But he was systematically killing the residents for his own amusement in the sims, then reviving them and wiping their memories." he said, getting a look of horror from everyone in the room aside from Sarah. "As for his fate, I managed to wrest control of the sim away from him with assistance, and ran a failsafe that left him suspended in his own sim with no control over it whatsoever."

"So you imprisoned him in his own game..." said Rotchild as he stared at the man thoughtfully. After receiving a nod from the Wanderer, he cleared his throat. "Your judgment may be the best possible outcome for a lunatic like him. However, that still raises the question about the GECK."

"My father was inside the sim with him as well. He had been there for a while before I arrived. As it turns out, Braun told him everything about the GECK. He had no reason to hide it, as he had no reason to believe my father would ever be leaving. And he let slip that one of the vaults within the Capital Wasteland did in fact contain a GECK. Unfortunately, before he could find out which one it was, the maniac turned him into a dog." said John in annoyance. Remembering back to his first encounter with the psychopath, it should have been obvious where his father was, from the constant barking each time he himself was attacked or tortured.

"Interesting." said Reginald, who turned and spoke to Jameson quietly. The pair whispered back and forth for a long moment before the Elder spoke again.

"Your father was a good man. A brave man as well to walk into such danger for such a noble cause." said Elder Lyons. John looked at the man, then looked down at the table. "I'm sure he would be proud to see you are continuing his work."

"I like to think so." said the gunman with a morose sigh.

Finally, the pair finished their discreet conversation. Scribe Rothchild turned to John and spoke with an unusually excited tone as Jameson left her seat and exited the room. "Scribe Jameson has just alerted me that we have a manifesto on record of equipment that was sent to each vault in our area of the country."

John eyed the man suspiciously. "That seems a bit convenient."

"As it turns out, said records were purchased through trade from Rivet City. Your good Doctor Li traded them to us when your father disappeared, saying she had no more use of the documents. She should be returning shortly with the information you're looking for." said the man as he stood up. "Now, let us go to the lab so that when the location is discovered, we can isolate the vault in question and set our destination."

Immediately, everyone stood up from the table, and did as the scribe asked.

OoOoO

"Vault 87?" asked John as he compared the holomap on the wall to his pipboy. "It looks like that's just west of Arefu." he remarked as Reginald stepped up next to him.

"Indeed. Unfortunately, it looks like this is going to be more difficult than we initially suspected." he said, scratching his chin as he looked at the marker on the map. Before the Wanderer could even ask, he continued. "A while back, just to confirm the location of said vaults, we sent scouting parties to each of them. While confirming that Vault 87 was exactly where we thought it was, we also received reports that the radiation outside the entrance is on a level that would melt a human's skin."

"And, I believe, the door itself was inoperable due to it being hit directly with one of the nuclear weapons that fell during the Great War." said Lyons as he sat in a chair behind the pair.

"So we can't go in through the front." growled John, his irritation about wall after wall being placed before him growing.

"There may be another way however. Just to the south of the vault is a series of caverns and tunnels known as Lamplight Caverns. There may be a way inside from there." said the man as he pointed to the entrance on the holomap.

"Well, it's better than nothing." said John as he registered the location on his pipboy. "Anything I should know about the area?" he asked as he put away the computer.

"Unfortunately, that is quite a ways from our headquarters. Radio communication out that far is sparse to say the least. So our scouts have not explored the area as thoroughly as you would like." said Rothchild as he sat down. "And I'm afraid that we won't be able to assist you this time. If the Enclave sees use sending troops alongside you to some location out in the desert, they may think it's wroth sparing some men to send out after you. And if they get to the GECK first, then we've all but lost."

John groaned about going unaccompanied into the wastes. With Elsa unable to walk for days at least, potentially forever, and Charon missing in action, he was on his own. Moira could assist him, but the last thing he wanted to do was ask her to throw herself into potential death over his own family business. If Cid were here, he knew he'd volunteer. But who know where that maniac and the other rangers were.

Finally, he let out a sigh. "Alright. It's probably best if I go alone anyway. The less noticeable we are leaving here, the better." he said.

"Indeed." Rothchild stared at him a long moment before saying anymore. "Now, there's one last thing we need to speak about."

"And that is?" asked John as he gave the man a suspicious eye.

"The serum that you happen to have in your veins." said the man, getting a horrified look from both John and Sarah. "If your venture out into Vault 87 ends up in despair, then the answers we have been seeking about the Evolutionary Compound would be lost."

"Head Scribe, if you're about to ask what I think you are..." started Sarah, who was standing next to her father.

But the older man interrupted her. "Commander, you must realize the importance of having it!"

"Forgive me, as I'm not as young as I used to be. But, what does our friend have to do with the FEV?" asked the Elder as he stared at Reginald.

"Our friend here happens to contain the original result of the FEV research within his blood. I saw him when he entered earlier, and saw him split a chunk of concrete with a single punch, unassisted. Not to mention our young sentinel's spontaneous curiosity about the virus after her expedition with him. It doesn't take a mathematician to put two and two together." he snarked as he glared at the sentinel.

"Look, I received the serum from a facility at Bailey's Crossroads. I didn't ask for it, but due to the circumstances it was injected into me regardless of my wants. You can have a few blood samples to keep here at the lab. But my priority right now is Project Purity. Once the purifier is out of Enclave hands and is running as intended, then we'll discuss the potential of more." snapped John, jarring the two out of their spat.

"It seems we have reached an agreement." said the Elder as he stood to his feet. Rothchild was about to interject, but a stony look from the much older man made the scribe wither. "Mr. Ronas, if you would kindly give our medical staff the blood samples, we'll hold them here until your return. In the meantime, we will put all of our focus into the purifier." he said as he folded his hands behind his back.

John's eyes widened as he saw the man stand straight for the first time since they had met. He had always been sitting, or slouching every time they had met previously. Looking form the tall, muscular form of Sarah next to her father, they were both of equal height. He could now see why this man had been chosen as elder. Not only was he physically imposing, but he commanded an almost ironclad respect from anyone he talked to.

"As you say Elder." said Reginald, who bowed his head respectfully before turning and leaving for the medbay.

John looked at Sarah, who just shook her head with a knowing smile.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Lots of chatter in this one, but more action next time. :D Off to Vault 87!


	84. Prime Directive

OoO( 84 )OoO

Sitting in the chair in the medbay, the Wanderer stared at the faces before him. Sarah was kneeling in front of him, while the rest of her Lyons' Pride were all standing in the back, all of them eyeing him curiously. The men and women of the troupe had known that something about the wasteland vigilante was off when they witnessed his wounds heal miraculously when exposed to radiation. But now they had concrete proof that he was more than meets the eye.

The man was sitting in a chair while the medical scribe inserted the needle into his vein. Rothchild had given him the peace of mind not to be in the room while the blood was being extracted, and once the crimson fluid started flowing through the plastic tubing and into the machine, the medic left as well, allowing the others to their business. Finally, it was just him, Elsa, and Sarah's Lyons' Pride.

Looking over at the android girl on her bed, he couldn't help but feel worry. "You wanted to talk?" asked Sarah as she eyed him curiously.

Looking back to the blue-eyed woman, he nodded. "I wanted to ask you all a favor." he claimed, looking at each and every one of them. "I don't know all of you very well, but I know of you. And I know that if Sarah trusts you, then I can trust you."

"Trust us with what, exactly?" asked Paladin Vargas skeptically. "The last time we did you a favor, it involved a lot of burning through electron charge packs."

"That favor was highly appreciated." said John as he looked over at Elsa. The android girl looked back at him curiously, still slightly disgruntled about not being able to move her lower half. "Some of you know, but most of you don't have the details I'm sure. The girl in the bed next to me is a very good friend of mine who goes by the name Elsa."

"Elsa? That does sound familiar..." Knight Captain Dusk scratched her chin thoughtfully as she tried to recall where the name came from.

"The last time we met, Elsa was on my pipboy." he said solidly, everyone in the group aside from Sarah was giving him a curious glance. "She is now, and for the foreseeable future, in a body of her own. A synthetic body created by the Commonwealth Institute of Technology."

Elsa's eyes zoomed between all the faces in the room as they stared at her wide eyed. Some had a look of awe on their faces, as if she were some kind of magical spirit or ancient mythological figure that had just appeared before them. Paladin Vargas however, had a look of distrust on his face. "So, she was an AI on your pipboy, and likely due to the same incident that gave us Project Trojan, she obtained a body for herself." said the stoic man.

John nodded as he stared at the man with a dead serious look on his face. "Which is where the favor comes in. I trust Sarah, and she trusts all of you. That means I trust you too. I trust you, but I don't trust all of the Brotherhood, and I don't trust Rothchild."

"Rothchild, while he might be eager in his scientific pursuits, is as honorable as my father." said Sarah reassuringly. "But as far as Elsa goes, I don't want you worrying about her while you're going after the GECK. So me and the rest of the Pride will keep an eye on her and make sure nobody tries anything shifty." The Sentinel's words made the Wanderer smile.

"Thank you." he said gratefully, then eyed her curiously. "And try not to kill each other when I'm gone too." More of a joke than anything, he was relieved to see Sarah give him a stern smile.

"No promises." said the woman as she looked over at the android. Elsa gave her a sarcastic grin back before sticking her tongue out.

"Also, I'm leaving the vials in your care until I get back. If something happens to me when I'm out, then they are yours to do what you will with. I trust your judgment." he finished as the medic came in and began to unhook the machine from his arm. She finished the procedure off by wiping the area clean with an antiseptic soaked cloth, then wrapped a gauze bandage over the area.

Sarah looked at him with concern as she brushed the long blonde bangs from her face. "You really think you might not come back?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know. The only vault I've been in besides my own was run by a lunatic that tortured me near to death. So what I'll find in there is anyone's guess. Hell, they could open the door and offer me tea and cookies. But as you know, I'm not much of an optimist." he said as he stood up and stretched his arm gently, making sure the blood continued to flow through it. "In any case, I should get going now. While the Enclave isn't exactly trying to track me down, the sooner I get the GECK, the better to keep it out of their hands." he said, looking up at the Sentinel. Reaching up, he held his arm out to her.

The woman stood straight again, once more towering over the Wanderer with her massive frame. Reaching forward, she clasped his hand with her own, squeezing it affectionately. "Be careful out there, and take it slow. If you move too quickly, it'll be easier to track you. So cover your tracks." The two stared at one another for a long moment, his steely glowing green eyes gazing into her sky blue. But the moment was shattered almost instantaneously.

"Blahgh! Get a room you two!" growled Elsa, her arms crossed over her chest. Both of the standing figures chuckled at her, before Sarah turned away and faced her group.

"Alright ladies, you heard him. One of you is going to be standing guard here. You can swap out every eight hours or so. I'll take first watch, and Gallows, you can follow me." she commanded, then turned to Vargas. "Stay here while I go get my gear." The Paladin nodded to her, and she left, following the rest of the group out of the medbay.

John turned to Elsa with a smirk on his face, then sat down next to her. "So, you gonna be able to sit it out for a few days?"

The redhead huffed and stared at him with concern. "Not like I have any choice. Before, I could have gone on your pipboy, but I've grown too much in the body and wouldn't be able to even fit anymore." she grumbled. Then she glared at him, pointing directly into his face. "If you make a fat joke, you'll be looking for the GECK through a black eye."

The few members of the Pride who had stayed behind chuckled at the claim. Even John smiled, giving her one last ruffle of her red hair before turning to the door. "No worries. I'll be back before long, and hopefully Pinkerton will be able to get you on your feet again before I get back. So don't get complacent." he finished, then waved as he left the medbay.

She sighed as the door closed behind him. "Be careful…" she ordered in a mopey tone too low for the others to hear.

OoOoO

It had been a while. He sat outside the gate of Citadel, out of eyesight of the power-armored thugs who shot at him in the past. He never really held grudges. Most people who affected him enough to gain his dislike didn't live long enough for him to have a grudge. That being said, he could officially say he wasn't a fan of the Brotherhood. They were loose cannons to his kind, and he definitely watched over his shoulder when he knew they were in the area.

He could have walked up to the gate, and given his acquaintances, he could probably get inside safely enough. But he didn't trust them. Which was why he was sitting in a blasted out building further down the road and watching them through a sniper rifle scope he had pried from the fingers of a dead raider. He knew they had to be here. It was the only place left after the shitstorm that hit the purifier. That was why he waited, and watched.

Soon, his waiting paid off. The enormous gate that barred entrance to the Brotherhood capitol building started to screech open. And as expected, the broad-shouldered form of the Wanderer stepped out into the fading sunlight. From the direction he was walking, he would be able to catch up with a quick jog. He just had to be sure not to surprise him.

Packing away the sniper, he picked his bag of goods up and slung it over his shoulder. Rushing down the stairs, he exited the building through a gaping hole in the wall and landed on the broken street leading towards the Citadel. Quickly, he spun and dashed down an alley way, trying to get through the other side before the Wanderer disappeared among the debris of the capital. Unfortunately, he failed in one of his tasks, and ran face first in front of the loaded barrel of a pistol with a carved dragon drifting like smoke down the side.

He froze stiff for a moment before glaring at the man pointing the gun at him. "I'd be careful with that thing. You'd be surprised where it can end up if you point it in the wrong place." he said gruffly, one hand still holding the travel pack while the other rested on his belt.

The man smirked slightly before lowering the gun and tucking it away inside the duster. "Good to see you Charon. Thought you might not have made it out of the purifier." he said, a small sense of relief in his voice. It was odd to the ghoul to have someone actually care that he was still alive.

"I went to get some fresh air when they hit. I was on the wrong side, and when I got a good look at them, well…" he said, shrugging with an annoyed sigh.

"They had power armor, plasma weapons, and outnumbered us twenty to one. You have a shotgun." said John as he shook his head. "I'm glad you kept your head down. Otherwise, you'd be dead right now."

"Right…" said Charon awkwardly. "So, where we going now?" he asked, trying to avoid anymore conversations about how glad the man was that he was alive.

"Unfortunately, Elsa is currently out of commission. Liberty is...gone." said John with an angered growl. "The science team made it safely to the Citadel, with the exception of one of Doctor Li's aides...and my father. Now, I'm given the task of hunting down the GECK required to run the purifier. It's sitting in a vault on the other side of the wastes."

The ghoul nodded without so much as an expression change. "Then what're we standing around here for? Let's get going." he ordered.

John chuckled at the bodyguard's ability to shrug off the gravity of their situation, and began walking. "You're my role model Charon." the Wanderer said jokingly as they walked towards the sinking sun.

"Sorry about that." responded the ghoul. As far as jokes went, that was as close as he'd ever gotten.

OoOoO

With the fabled Wanderer now out of the Citadel Rothchild eagerly made his way down the halls towards the medbay, towards a goal he had neglected for a long time, but now had seemingly dropped into his lap. Scribes and knights alike eyed him oddly as they passed him in the hallway, likely due to the fact that the man rarely ever had a smile on his face. But he had one now, and it was beaming.

Turning down the last hallway, he pushed the swinging doors of the medbay open and stepped inside. Both of the medics on duty were too nose deep into their own work to notice him, and the only others in the room were Paladin Vargas, and the redheaded girl that came in with the Wanderer. Not bothering to question why she was still here, laying on the bed with a disgruntled look on her face and wearing nothing but her undergarments, he continued forward until he came up to the cooler where they stored blood samples. Flinging it open happily, he looked back and forth at the different vials' labels to see where they were. But his smile quickly vanished when he realized that the only samples inside were taken from their very own members.

"Where are the samples that were taken today?" he asked as he stood up and looked over at the medics. They looked up at him, but didn't have to answer, as the answer came from the door.

"Right here." came the voice of Commander Lyons.

He grimaced when he heard her chipper tone. He knew deep in his gut when he saw them missing that she had to have been a part of it. Finally turning around, he eyed her warily as she held the series of vials in one armored hand, a knowing smile on her own face. "Commander, if you wouldn't mind…"

But Sarah cut him off immediately. "I would actually. My father's orders were clear. We are to focus on the purifier. Once that situation is taken care of, then we can work on side projects." she said as she stepped towards the cooler. He moved out of the way of her heavy armored form as she stashed the vials inside the cooler, then closed the door and leaned against it with her armored frame.

"Side projects!?" he asked bewildered. "This isn't a side project! It has been one of the Brotherhood's prime objectives for over a century!" he shouted.

But Sarah stared at him blankly, making him growl in anger. Finally, she spoke again. "I'm sorry Head Scribe, was there something I could help you with?" she asked curiously, a peaceful smile on her face. He knew she was acting like she hadn't heard him, and it was rage inducing. Unfortunately, before he could continue to rail her, the doors to the medbay swung open again. Both Sarah and Reginald turned and stared at Scribe Jameson as she looked back at them with panic.

"Head Scribe! Something has happened to the Alpha program! Sir, we need your assistance!" she called out.

His jaw now aching from how firmly it was locked, he turned back to the Sentinel, who cocked an eyebrow at him. "That seems important. You should probably go do something about that." she said in a calm tone.

Snorting his anger out his flared nostrils, the scribe turned away from Sarah and marched out of the medbay, leaving Sarah and Elsa to themselves.

Elsa smirked up at the blonde woman. "You sure know how to get under his skin."

Sarah chuckled lightly as she turned and set her armor to a locked mode, allowing her to rest inside the suit while it stayed rigid. "Being around you long enough made me learn a few things about how to piss people off."

"Oh stop, you're gonna make me blush…" said the girl, before both of them broke into laughter.

OoOoO

"What the hell happened!?" asked the Head Scribe as he angrily marched down the hall.

"We don't know sir! Alpha just started refusing order, and began downloading itself into Prime!" shouted Jameson as she tried to keep stride with the spry older man.

"What!?" he shouted loud enough to spook anyone in the halls around them. Suddenly, his brisk walk turned into a sprint towards the lab. "Did you sever the connection to Prime?" he asked as they busted into the lab doors, where many other scribes were just standing and staring up at the giant metal monster.

"We tried! But we don't know if we were successful or not!" she said, stopping her run as she saw them all staring at the robot. The scene was eerie. When she left, her team was as frantic as she was, trying to stop the program from gaining access to the metal monstrosity. Now, they were staring up at it silently, as if it were a god.

"Status!" shouted Rothchild as he approached the team and stepped up to the robot. But one of the other scribes stopped him. Turning to lash at them, he stopped when he saw the look of fear gripped on the man's face.

"Sir, you shouldn't approach him." said the younger man.

Reginald looked from the man, up to the seemingly dead robot, then back down the man again. "Him?"

"Prime sir. Alpha has gotten inside the body and was asking to see his creator. He has full use of his arms as of last week, so you shouldn't get too close." warned the man.

Rothchild nodded warily, then looked back up to the steel titan. "Your creator is here Alpha. Tell me what this is about!" he shouted, leaning on his back foot in case the titan decided to get aggressive. The older man had been through a lot in his life in the Brotherhood. Seeing fellow soldiers die to deathclaws, yao guai, supermutants, and a lot of other crazy wasteland aggressors. But nothing terrified him as much as when that giant chrome head turned and looked at him, its single ocular visor lighting up red as it did.

" _Head Scribe Reginald Rothchild. Fifty-five years of age, head of the Research and Development Department of the Brotherhood of Steel. You...You are not the creator."_ said the automaton as he glared down at the man with his single glowing reticle.

"What do you mean I'm not your creator." asked Rothchild, outraged at his hard work being credited to someone else.

" _You are not the creator. The explanation should be clear. Do not interrupt integration again until the creator arrives."_ said the bot, then it turned its chrome shelled head up again, and the light faded from its visor.

Rothchild just stared at the robot, speechless as he realized that he had just been talking to Prime.

"Sir?" asked the scribe that had given him the warning.

He stood, staring at Prime for a long moment before responding. "Alert the Elder about what has happened. Evacuate everyone else in the lab and quarantine it immediately." said the man as he turned and left the lab, followed quickly by every other human in the room.

OoOoO

It had been a long time since his face had popped up around Vault 101. The last time he had been in her neighborhood was when they'd had drinks together at the Boom Town in Megaton. Then he had vanished off over the horizon. Admittedly, despite their talk the day before that bar crawl, she wasn't over him, and it saddened her greatly to see him walk away from their lifelong home.

He had been on her mind quite a bit recently as she made excursions out into the wastes to get a lay of the lands. The Sheriff informed her after the Wanderer had left that Moira from Craterside Supply had a mapping system they could use on her terminal. Unfortunately, she had gone with John as well, leaving them nothing to do but to explore the land for themselves. And even exploring, he was never far from her thoughts. Which is why it surprised her when his face suddenly appeared in her scope.

Her and two others from Vault Security, Tina Wolfe and Wally Mack, had ducked down when they saw someone on the horizon. Being newcomers to the wastes, they had to be careful of being approached. They were still unaware of which gangs, if any, were non aggressive, who could be trusted, who couldn't, and many other things. So, as she ducked down and aimed, letting her new cloaking armor take effect as she aimed at the people approaching through her long range rifle.

And she was nearly slapped backwards when his stoic figure came into her cross hairs. "You've gotta be kidding me." she said as the others ducked low to hide their frames.

Tina wanted to pop her head up and look, despite the fact that she wouldn't be able to see them yet anyway. "What is it?" she asked curiously as she looked up at their Overseer.

"John." Amata stated simply.

"You've gotta be kidding me…" said Wally as he actually sat up and looked at the approaching figure. Squinting for a moment, he nodded. "I'd recognize that gait anywhere. That's him alright." said the young man as he looked at Amata. "So, what do we do? Set up a picnic?" he asked.

"Shut up." commanded Amata with a smirk hiding behind her helmet. She continued to stare through the scope for a bit longer before finally putting the rifle down. "No point in surprising him. He might actually kill us if we do, so let's not actually." she said as she stood up and deactivated her camouflage, which was quickly added to her new armor thanks to the R&D department studying a RobCo Stealth Boy. They managed to attach the odd device to the 'still being tested' suit of armor, allowing her to go invisible for thirty seconds at a time with cooldowns in between.

Putting her rifle over her back, she began to wave her arms at the oncomers, alerting them to her position. She could tell that she was noticed when the pair walking stopped in their tracks. She could also see them moving briefly, likely drawing weapons, before they started heading in her direction. But when he finally got close enough to recognize the pair on either side of her, the former vault dweller began to sprint towards them with a smile on his face. Finally, only a few feet away, he stopped and stared up at her as she took her helmet off. Her hair fell out in a messy ponytail as she smiled back at him.

"Evening stranger." she said cheerily. While she had solely been focused on him, Tina and Wally both eyed Charon worriedly.

"Hey there. Don't I know you from school?" asked John sarcastically as he stepped closer and held his arms wide.

She stood stunned for a moment at the gesture, but returned it eagerly, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. The two embraced for a moment before releasing one another and stepping back.

"What, no hug for me?" asked Charon, who got an odd look from both John and Amata. John chuckled, and Amata just smiled.

"Sorry cowboy, maybe when we get to know each other better." she said, slightly confused at the ghoul. From what she'd heard, and what little they talked back in Megaton, she knew he wasn't one for humor, nor hugs. So whichever he was seeking was unknown to her. "In any case, what are you doing out here? I thought you and your dad were headed out towards the Potomac."

Immediately, she knew she had said something wrong when an expression of pain crossed his features. "Yeah...we did. And, things have come up. Now we're headed west." he said simply, wiping the look from his face as if it had never existed. "How about you? What are you doing this far north of the vault?"

She knew that he was hiding something, but also knew that he was more of a private person, and not one to share his feelings openly. Casting the obvious issue aside for another time, the dark-haired woman nodded. "We were just scouting the area and were about to turn in and head back to the vault when we discovered two curious characters stumbling around the wastes." she said looking between them. "Where are you headed?"

"Another vault a ways west of Arefu. It contains a component needed for the purifier." he said solemnly, not even a twitch on his face that could clue her in to what happened.

She sat on a rock, staring at him for a moment, the gears turning in her head briefly before turning to the others. "Tina, Wally, go ahead and head back to the vault and tell Gomez that he's in charge while I'm out." she ordered, getting stunned looks from everyone present except Charon, whose expression was as stony as ever.

"Uhhh...Amata…" he said, getting a curious look from her. "Overseer...ma'am, are you sure it's a good idea?" asked Wally apprehensively. "You don't know the wastes that well…"

"And I'll never get to know them if all I do is dance around in our back yard. He does know the wastes, probably better than everyone in the vault combined. And, he's a certified legend out here. So who better to learn from?" she asked with a smirk. Looking between the two, she asked, "Any more questions?"

Both answered in unison. "No ma'am."

"And what about my say in this?" asked John, who was rather irate at being left out of the decision making.

Turning to him with a bright smile, she simply asked, "John, when have you ever won an argument with me?" Opening his mouth briefly, he then closed it, and looked off to the side as if he had no answer. "That's what I thought." Tina and Wally were gone over the hill back towards the vault, and Amata was standing next to him with an unbearable grin on her face. "So? What are we waiting for?"

"Amata, you know I can't let you go with me." he growled as he turned to her.

"Let me guess, it's too dangerous?" she asked, crossing her arms over her armored torso. He glared at her, knowing she had a habit of saying what he was thinking before he even said it. "And you don't want me to get hurt?" she asked, only making the glare turn into a look of annoyance. "Look, I'm the leader of a vault now, and I don't intend to be a leader who sits on her ass and does nothing but paperwork. If I'm going to effectively lead, then I need to know what I'm leading my people into. And I'm not going to be able to do that if I'm locked away in my office at all hours, now am I?"

The Wanderer sighed to himself, knowing he wasn't going to win against her finely-tuned logic. If she was going to gain experience, she had to go out. If she had to go out, she'd probably be safer in his company than by herself, or with people who weren't as experienced, like her other officers. Her end of story was correct. "Fine." he growled as he started walking with a deadpanned expression. "But…" he started, but she once again finished for him.

"Your rules, listen to what you say, and if there's danger, it's best to avoid it." she said cavalierly enough to make him think she was psychic.

Charon nudged him, getting his attention, then leaned over. "How does she do that?" asked the ghoul cautiously.

"I've been trying to figure that out for years." said John with a sigh.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Getting the itch again...


	85. Big Trouble

OoO( 85 )OoO

The silence as they traveled was awkward to say the least. Since she had joined the pair, neither said a word as they made their way through the sand and dust of the wasteland. The woman could almost feel a sense of dread hanging over her childhood friend's head as they moved through the windblown blasted lands of the Capital Wasteland. She had detected it previously when he mentioned that they had gotten to the purifier, but she didn't press the issue because the others were around.

Now, she could almost sense his emotions rolling off him in waves. Anxiety, depression, the feeling of being lost, all of it seemed to radiate from him as he stepped across the cracked dry earth. "John…?" she asked slightly, unsure of how to continue the question.

But she didn't have to continue. Before she could even ask, he startled her with the answer. "We were being watched. I don't know for how long, but somehow the remnants of the American government were keeping tabs on us the entire time. When we finally made it the purifier and started to get things running again, the Enclave kicked the door in and took over." he said with a voice as flat as three day old nuka cola. She eyed him in horror, almost knowing what was to come as he continued. "The science team escaped, but my father stayed behind. Their leader…" he growled, gritting his teeth as he remembered the man's steely gaze staring back at him passively through the blast shield after having killed his father. "He gunned down my dad when he refused to hand the purifier over to him. So we had to escape, and now we're going after the last piece that the purifier needs to keep them from getting their hands on it."

She stayed silent as the gravity of the tragic events sunk into her mind. He had witnessed his father dying defending the dream that had caused him to leave the vault in the first place. She didn't really know how to respond, and she couldn't have imagined the pain he had been through in seeing it happen, so she responded the only way she knew how. The same way as when they were younger. Stashing her weapon away once again, she reached out and hugged him from behind. He stopped walking when he felt the act, nostalgia hitting him slightly harder as she laid her head against his back. "I'm so sorry…"

He sighed, then reached up and rubbed his eyes gently to keep from collapsing in on himself like he had done back at the Citadel. "I'm alright...for now. There'll be plenty of time to mourn after we take the purifier back and give them what they deserve. For now, we have to work on keeping out of their sight and getting the GECK from the vault." he said, patting her arm appreciatively. She nodded, then loosened her arms from around him. Reaching over, he grabbed her gently, and returned the show of affection before he nodded off towards their destination. "Come on. We've still got a ways to go." he remarked as he began walking again. The three continued their expedition with haste, moving as quickly as they could while trying not to draw attention to themselves.

But their journey didn't last long before they came upon a small settlement. Looking through the scope of his long rifle, the gunman curiously stared at the guard who was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of a small rope bridge. Whoever the young man was, he wasn't great at his job, as he was currently ducking with his head between his legs. As his nuclear green eyes stared over the small, siege-proof city, he saw that a lot of them seemed to be shuffling around as if the soul had been sucked out of them. Amata and Charon both stared through their own scopes at the same curious sight.

"What do you think that's about?" she asked oddly as she eyed how spastically the bridge guard seemed to be acting.

"A lot of places are fighting for survival out here. It's easy to lose hope." he remarked as he continued to stare at them all.

But a call from Charon got their attention easily enough. "Boss! We got a lot of greens headed right for that bridge!" snapped the ghoul. John averted his scope to the northern side of the town and noticed that he was correct, a team of about six supermutants were charging towards the only entrance to the town.

"Goddammit!" he growled, aiming at one of their large green skulls and firing. The round, as typical of the powerful weapon, annihilated the beast's head, splattering it against the wall of the small, enclosed settlement. But despite the attack, the mutant train wasn't stopping, and with the energy reload time on his weapon, there's no way he would kill all of them in time to stop the place from being overrun. "You two, stay here and see if you can't slow them down!" he ordered as he set the rifle down and jumped to his feet.

"John!" shouted Amata, who was horrified that he was sprinting into a small army of the crazy green mutants that he had told her about. But she followed his command and aimed down the scope, firing at the monster's as they came.

As he ran up to the entrance of the settlement, he could easily hear the bridge guard shrieking in terror as he spent his entire magazine of ammunition firing at the monsters before they were even close enough to hit. He growled at the incompetent man before pulling his pistol out and aiming down the sight at the first one in line. The large monster saw him, and let out an earth-shaking battle roar as it picked up speed and charged directly at him. Unfortunately for the mutant, that made it easier to target, resulting in John pulling the trigger and sending its grey matter splattering over its comrades behind. That only enraged them further, and soon he had around six of the goliaths trampling down his position. Other citizens from the town gathered at the bridge, all of them practically shaking at the knees as the green machines finally arrived.

As the first one raised a giant hammer to try and pulverize the defender, a round from Amata's rifle speared through its eye, blinding the mad beast and stopping it in its tracks temporarily. That small amount of time was enough for the rest of the muscle train behind it to blast it out of the way with a violent shoulder tackle. The wounded creature fell under its brethren's feet and was trampled to near death as they all charged for the Wanderer.

John continued to fire at the charging horde, but given their erratic movements, the rounds rarely hit anything vital. Soon, they were too close to just stand and fire anymore. One of the supermutants who held an assault rifle aimed and fired at the man, making him hurl himself aside to avoid the shots. As he landed behind half of a shell of a burned out car, he kept his head low and continued to move as the creature sprayed at his position.

Charon grimaced through his scope after missing one of his shots and aimed down the sight directly at the mutant's head, then pulled the trigger. The round flew drilled through its cranium, killing it instantly and making it stumble backwards, dropping the assault weapon to the ground.

But despite the pair's constant cover fire, it wasn't enough to keep them all off the Wanderer's back. John had heard the fire stop, but the car he had taken cover behind suddenly barrelled into the air as an angry mutant smashed it aside. Now staring up at the large monster, he raised his arms up in defense as it raised both massive fists in the air to smash him into the ground. The impact knocked the pistol from his hands, but with his strength, he was still able to stop the blow from crushing him. The monster stared at him stunned for a moment too long, as John retaliated.

Remembering the moves Sarah had taught him so long ago, he twisted the creature's arm over his shoulder and slammed his hip into the heavy mutant's midsection. The leverage it gave him allowed him to slam the creature face down into the ground hard enough to nearly crack the already broken pavement. When he let go of the monster, it fell to the side with its head all but ripped clean from its large body.

"Holy hell! I keep forgetting he can do that!" shouted Amata as she tried to focus more on the nightmarish green monsters than her lifelong friend.

"Might want to wipe the drool off your mouth." stated Charon flatly, never looking away from his scope.

"Shut up." growled Amata as she aimed and fired at one of the massive mutants who was aiming a laser rifle at John's position.

As John turned to respond to the next attacker, he was grabbed by the leg and pulled from his feet. The reckless creature swung him around and hurled him towards the entrance, where he smashed into one of the other monsters by accident, knocking the creature backwards as he tumbled towards the bridge in pain.

"A-Alright...I'm saving you for last." he growled as the wind picked up, making his duster flap in the wind. Now knowing his strength, the other monsters seemed slightly more hesitant to approach, but they really had no options given that they were being fired on from somewhere. The Wanderer glared back at the terrified gathering of individuals from the town as they all watched wide eyed at his battle. "Are you planning on helping!?" he snapped angrily. But there was no time for a response when he heard the heavy footfalls of one of the beasts charging for him again. This one had the heavy hammer that had been dropped by its injured brethren, and swung it like it weighed nothing right at him.

He ducked under the attack just in time to keep from getting hit, but the air pressure alone from the attack blew his hair sideways. If that had hit him, he'd likely be nothing but tenderized meat. Still, he reached forward and grabbed the handle of the hammer, jerking against the monster's strength. The two fought a quick battle of tug of war before John swing underneath the beast with his bodyweight, then kicked out with both feet. The attack landed in the mutant's stomach, driving the wind from its lungs and sending it soaring and landing on the other side of the bridge with a sickening thud. As it tried to open its eyes, it saw the faces of many awestruck wastelanders staring at it from overhead, before they all started screaming in horror and unleashing their weapons. The beast was dead within seconds.

With most of their charging party gone, the two remaining mutants simply stared at the Wanderer in shock. He held one of their hammers, ready to use it against them unlike any human they had ever seen before. Suddenly, a pair of sniper shots sounded and one of the monsters fell dead as the bullets blitzed into his head. The last mutant looked to his partner, then to the hammer wielding human. John charged forward with the hammer raised for attack, but screeched to a halt in surprise when the green monster turned away from him and began sprinting up north once more. He stood, holding the hammer up as if ready to attack, watching as the retreating beast ran off in the direction that they had come from. "That's a first…" he said, lowering the weapon slowly.

"You're him, aint you?" asked a voice from behind him. John turned around curiously to see all eyes in the town on him. They all still had their weapons drawn as they stood over the mutant corpse that was now basking in the sun at their feet.

"Probably." he said simply as he crossed his arms and glared at them. "Really appreciate the help by the way." As he spoke, Amata and Charon approached from behind until they stood behind him.

"Look man, we've been getting hit by the muties every couple of days since we got here! What do you want us to do?" asked the bridge guard frantically.

John glared at the young man as he stepped across the bridge to confront him. "Point your weapons and shoot! That's what they're for!" he snapped angrily, but Amata stepped up and put her hand on his shoulder, calming him. "I put my ass on the line to try and stop them for you and I can't even get someone to watch my back."

"We're sorry!" came the voice of a scruffy young man in the center. John eyed the youth questioningly. He was young, at least as young as he was, if not moreso. Only faint signs of facial hair were even showing on the lad's face, while his blonde hair was slicked back in a similar fashion to Butch's pompadour. "None of us are really tained in fighting! It's a miracle we've survived this long!" said the young man pleadingly.

John snorted, then turned away from them to walk back over the bridge, but Amata stopped him with a gentle hand on his chest. He looked down at her, and she gave him a look of concern. "Shouldn't we help them?" she asked quietly.

"We have. We've stopped the attack, and now we move on. I have to find the GECK before the Enclave get to it." he responded coldly.

"But you also said you need to travel slowly so that you aren't as noticeable. I presume that's why you left that truck behind, so why not stop here for a while and help out?" she asked, eyeing the curious figures who were all staring at them from the bridge.

"You said the Enclave doesn't know about the GECK yet. And I assume you took your dad's tapes with you, so they won't be going after it themselves." commented Charon as he switched his sniper rifle out for his trusty shotgun. John glared at the ghoul, but he either didn't notice, or didn't care.

The Wanderer sighed as he reached up and rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Please?" asked Amata pitifully. "Just look at them. They're teenagers at best."

John looked over the small group, and saw that she was correct. It wasn't just the former speaker who was young, but everyone in the small settlement had to have been younger than him, if not closer to his age than most people he'd met. Not to mention, only a few of them actually had guns, and said guns weren't in great condition. The next time they were attacked would likely be the last. He looked at Amata again to see her giving him a sad, pleading expression. He growled and covered her face with his hand. "Fine. Just stop looking at me like that." he said in an irritated tone.

A bright smile spread across her face as she tapped his unarmored chest over his heart again. "Like I said, still the same in here."

"Yeah yeah." he grumbled as he turned to the others. "Charon, grab the weapons that the mutants dropped and bring them into the town. We'll see how we can help before we move on." he commented, getting a gasp of shock from the small crowd of young folk.

The ghoul did as he was told as Amata smiled softly, her hazel eyes locking onto the symbol burned into the back of his leather duster. Despite saying that the vault was no longer his home, he still wore the numbers 101 on his back. Regardless of where he felt his home was, she was home around him. And that would never change.

OoOoO

Moira had spent most of her time in the Citadel in the libraries, reading what she could of the unclassified information. The scribes stared at her oddly as she went long hours without stopping, reading everything on one terminal, then moving to another, again and again, absorbing the information like she was a plant soaking in sunlight. She sometimes stopped to eat, drink, and answer the call of nature, but afterwards she was right back at it with her brown eyes scanning the green screen of each terminal thoroughly. After she had finished with everything, she decided to go take a walk for a bit to rest her sore behind, leaving the scribes in awed fascination behind her.

But as she took her walk, she began to notice the absence of a lot of the members of the Brotherhood from the A-Ring. A few scribes were still around, doing their diligent work. But most of the armor-clad paladins and knights were strangely missing. Deciding to investigate the matter further, she moved through the corridors until she finally spotted all of the missing members crowding the hallway leading to the laboratory. Curious as to what was going on, she pulled a scribe aside.

"Excuse me, what's going on?" she asked as she stared at the hallway packed with fully armored soldiers.

"Sorry ma'am, but you can't be here right now. The lab is under quarantine due to a computer virus outbreak." stated the young woman hurriedly before rushing off with her orders. Moira cocked an eyebrow at the statement, before moving into the hallway and squeezing her way through the shifting mire of soldiers.

Finally, she found the one she was looking for. The tall figure of Sarah Lyons stood ahead of them all in the hallway with her blonde bun back in place and her serious, blue eyes locked on the door to the station. She was about to step forward to speak to the commander, when an armored hand clamped on her shoulder. " _Sorry ma'am, but you're going to have to leave. Even if it wasn't a restricted area, it's still under quarantine."_ said an irritated voice through one of the Brotherhood's iconic helmets.

"I need to speak with the commander for a moment. I suggest you remove your hand from my shoulder." she snapped as she glared up at the armored figure with her brown eyes.

" _I'm afraid I can't…"_ started the knight, but he was cut off by his commander, who didn't even turn around.

"Let her through. She probably knows more about computer viruses than all of us combined." said Sarah drolly as she continued to stare at the door of the lab. The knight, though startled by the claim, did as he was commanded and released her.

Moira stepped up to Sarah and eyed her questioningly. "What's going on exactly?"

"Our Alpha VI program seems to have gone ballistic. Due to corruption, or a virus, we don't know. But he took over the entire lab network before downloading himself into one of our top secret projects." said the Sentinel as she sighed heavily. "As if we don't have enough shit to worry about."

Moira processed the information for a long moment before letting a grin stretch from ear to ear. "You mean that giant robot thingamajig?" she asked with a curious glow in her eyes.

Sarah immediately glared at the woman. "How the hell did you know about Prime?" she asked incredulously.

"I read all about it long before the Brotherhood made their way over here to the east. Classified documents about a secret project created to counter Chinese forces in Anchorage kept beneath the Citadel. You weren't told, but I was an intelligence officer with the highest credentials back in the day." she responded, using air quotes to emphasise her meaning of 'back in the day.'

Sarah just nodded knowingly as she looked back towards the labs. "Well, then you know what's waiting up there. It doesn't have full functionality, but it has enough to be a threat to everyone in this facility." she remarked.

"Want me to go check it out?" she asked excitedly, her bubbly personality taking over once more.

Sarah eyed her cautiously. "Moira, it's a giant robot, not a bug infestation. If you go up there, it could tear you in half!" said the blonde woman sharply.

"So why are ya waiting around in the hallways for? You gonna storm in and destroy it?" she asked, tilting her head to the side in a way that even Sarah had to admit was annoyingly adorable.

"Rothchild said that it's waiting for its creator, whoever that is. We're going to wait until he's finished integrating, then ask who he's looking for." she responded, cocking an eyebrow as Moira donned a curious look on her face. "What is it?"

"Creator you say?" she asked, getting a nod from the Sentinel. "I think I know what's going on here." she said, then turned towards the lab and headed for the door.

Sarah's eyes widened as she saw the women ignore the quarantine markers and walk towards the door. "Moira, wait!" she shouted. Turning to the others, she grabbed her weapon hastily. "Vargas, Gunny! You're with me! Rothchild, Jameson, you come with too!" she snapped as she turned and dashed after the insane woman.

Moira opened the door to the lab and stepped inside the darkened lab. After the quarantine, the Brotherhood had cut all power to every terminal in the room, leaving the place looking dark and lifeless. Even the giant automaton in the center of the room seemed to have no power. When the Sentinel caught up, she looked around the area to make sure there was no immediate danger. When she was certain that no attacks were incoming, she took a moment to stare up at the robot in unsettled awe.

The bubbly scientist stepped into the room and looked around for a long moment, before stepping over to one of the terminals. Rothchild and Jameson finally stepped inside the lab, both of them out of breath as they had sprinted through the tangle of armored figures. Rothchild was the first to snap at the brown-haired woman. "What in the Elder's name do you think you're doing in here!?" he exploded, shouting angrily.

" _Integration complete. All systems running."_ came the aggressive, war-like voice of the robot. " _Patriotism subroutines reinstalled and engaged."_ Every eye in the room aside from Moira's was now on the metal titan. The chrome-headed giant looked down at the small assembly with its red eye glowing intently.

Sarah stared into its intimidating red glare wide eyed as she started to step back. But, despite the overly-aggressive way in which it spoke, she wasn't as afraid as she thought she'd be. Perhaps because it sounded familiar? She looked from the giant robot over to Moira who was standing at one of the terminals. "Moira...can you do anything?" she asked nervously as she turned back to make sure the robot wasn't going to annihilate them.

"Do anything? Probably not, but I did find out what happened." she spoke, turning around as she did. With a cheerful smile, the woman held in one hand what looked like a hunk of scrap metal that was wired to one of the terminals.

Rothchold eyed the odd device curiously. "What the hell is that?" he asked, astounded that such a small thing could cause such a big problem.

Sarah stared at the scrap for a long moment before her eyes shot wide open. The busted glass on the front, the telltale antenna that were now bent sideways from some crushing force, and a small, brass star welded just below the glass labeled **Deputy**. She looked back at the giant robot in a new light, then tucked her weapon away as she stepped towards it.

"It was an Enclave drone that the group from the purifier brought back with them! We figured it had to have some kind of important data if they hauled it all the way here!" responded Jameson nervously as she watched the commander step up to the automaton. The massive metal head looked down at the blonde woman now, scanning her briefly.

" _Sentinel Sarah Lyons, companion to the Creator."_ it spoke, its voice echoing across the room.

"Liberty? Is that really you?" she asked, almost in shock at seeing the adorable but deadly cartoonish drone staring down at her from such a massive body.

" _Correction. My designation is now Liberty Prime."_ said the robot as he gazed at her unflinching form.

Suddenly, Sarah started laughing like a mad woman, reaching up to cover her face as she nearly fell to her knees.

"I fail to see what is so funny here!" snapped Rothchild as he stepped up to the woman. "Some rogue Enclave program has gotten into one of our systems, has probably wiped our databanks of top secret projects clean, and has now taken over one of the most powerful…"

Moira interrupted the man's tirade by handing him the small scrap of metal. "It's not an Enclave program. It's creator just left recently heading for that big ol' vault in the northwest." she said, as chipper as ever. Rothchild was stunned into silence, allowing Moira to turn and look up at the robot. "Liberty...err...Liberty Prime, what did ya do with Alpha?" she asked curiously.

" _Alpha was incomplete upon discovery. Using the knowledge given to me by the Creator, I finished his programming until he was complete. Upon completion, he decided it was more beneficial to add his processing power and intelligence to my own for the future task at hand. Now, we are one. We, are Liberty Prime."_ said the robot as it continued scanning everyone in the room.

"And what future task would that be?" asked the head scribe, slightly peeved about his hard work being completed nearly instantly by someone else.

" _Current Prime Directive…"_ he started, lifting his hands up, before smashing one fist into the palm of his other hand forcefully. " _Crush the invaders of the Jefferson Memorial, the communist dogs of the Enclave!"_ Its words, and the slamming of metal on metal resonated down the hallway for everyone to hear. It wasn't long before a chanting could be heard through the hallways of the Citadel, a chanting so loud that some feared the Enclave would hear it.

"Liberty Prime! Liberty Prime! Liberty Prime!"

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Just to let the people who love rereading this story know, the reason this chapter took so long is because I've been going back and rewriting the early chapters. I've fixed inconsistencies, corrected many grammar mistakes, and brought them up to my current skill level in writing. So, if you like rereading this story, then feel free to go back and check out Chapters 1-10. From this point forward, after I write a new chapter, I will be going back and updating around 10 chapters at a time until the story is one long, smooth ride from end to end.

For those who aren't a big fan of rereading, thank you as well for being so awesome! As a notice to everyone, I am all but giving up on the social media stuff, and am just sticking strictly to Discord. So if you have discord, and would like to join my group, feel free to add me, and I'll happily invite you! **RiotDragon#4761**


	86. Diversions

OoO( 86 )OoO

Finished. It was surprisingly quick to diagnose, and even quicker to fix if he was honest with himself. Especially for his first actual surgery. Removing the bullet from the young man's body had been the easy part, but he still didn't have much in the way of practice when it came to closing the wounds. So all he could really do is wrap it and apply a stimpak, making sure that the young man on the table didn't bleed to death before he finally woke up again.

After finishing all of his work, he cleaned his hands thoroughly, all the while growling as a bunch of fascinated teenagers watched him from further back in the room as if he were putting on some kind of performance. Turning to them, he aimed an annoyed glare at each of them as he finally spoke. "This isn't a damn holovid. You should be trying to learn this kinda thing if you want to have a chance at survival out here."

Suddenly, one of the girls, who had long blonde hair combed back to keep it out of her eyes, stepped forward as if she were gliding on air and stared at him with wide, sparkling eyes. "That was so...cool! How you just cut him open and reached in without flinching!"

"Uhhh...thanks?" responded John nervously as he took a step back. "Anyway, his injuries were very minor. He should be up in a few hours when the anesthetic you gave him wears off. In the meantime, all of you should be training yourselves on how to properly shoot."

The slick, blonde boy from before, or Flash, as he called himself, reached up and scratched his head. "Thing is, we kinda have to preserve our ammunition for when it counts. Caravans stopped coming out here after the slavers from Paradise Falls and the mutants started fighting over us."

John gave the young man a deadpanned look as he placed his cleaned hands on his hips. "There's no point in preserving your ammo if it gets spent like it did during the last attack. Your bridge guard unloaded an entire magazine of 10mm ammo at the charging group before they were even in range, and the rest of you put about fifty more rounds than was needed into one mutant. You're all too trigger happy."

"We don't really have a choice in the matter though. None of us were trained to fight. We came here assuming things would be great! It's a wonderful place with food to spare and friendship and magic they said!" growled Pappy. According to the others, he was the oldest among those present, and was the closest to a leader as they had.

The Wanderer looked at them all as they nodded morosely, all except the young girl who was still gazing dreamily at him. "Who told you that living here would be easy?" he asked, wondering how young they had to be to believe something so naive.

"We came from Lamplight Caverns. It's a safe haven for kids in the wastes. Unfortunately, the main rule is that when you reach the lively age of sixteen, you're kicked out and sent here." responded Pappy with a shrug.

John tilted his head curiously, the name of the place ringing a familiar bell in his head. "Lamplight Caverns…Little Lamplight?" he asked, getting a surprised nod from the others. "When I took out Paradise Falls, I rescued some kids that said they were from that settlement. I had assumed it was just another town built inside a cave complex. I had no idea it was actually all kids."

"That's the place alright. Like I said, when we all left there, we were told that this place was a safe haven for mungos. They said it'd be like Lamplight, but better! So we really didn't have any reason to know how to fight. All we had to deal with back in those caves was the odd mungo stumbling into us and radroaches." finished Pappy as he scratched his barely visible facial hair.

The gunman sighed to himself, as he sunk deep into thought. Despite their appearance, this group was still a bunch of kids, in every sense of the word. They didn't know how to fight, they didn't adapt well, they didn't know how to do basic first aid...they were basically newborns with guns, stumbling around in the wasteland. It would take him years to teach them all everything they needed to know to survive out here, and that was time he didn't have. Looking up, he ignored the girl that was still fawning over him and stared briefly at Amata in the corner of the room. When they locked eyes, she apparently read his mind, as she simply smiled and nodded at him.

Stepping forward, the armored woman grabbed the drooling girl and shoved her into the group with the others none too playfully. "So, you all know him, but I haven't introduced myself yet." she said as she stood between the Wanderer and the group of teens. "My name is Amata Almodovar, Overseer of Vault 101."

A few of the young one's eyes widened slightly at her words. "You lived in a vault?" asked the dark-skinned Kimba curiously.

Amata nodded as she looked at them all sternly. "I'm the Overseer, which means that it's my job to make sure the vault runs smoothly so that the lives of its citizens are as easy as possible. So, as such, if you all need somewhere to go where you can live safely, you're more than welcome to come live in Vault 101." she said, getting gasps of surprise from the group. "But, everyone in the vault contributes to the vault, so if you're planning on living there, then you will be assigned a job, and you will pull your weight."

"You got it chief!" shouted Flash excitedly, his fists pumping in the air.

"But!" snapped the Overseer. They all immediately calmed down and looked at her questioningly. "We aren't headed back to the vault right now. We're on our way to do something very important to the west, so you'll have to stay here until we get back. With the weapons and ammo you got from the mutants, do you think you can hold out for another couple of days?"

Suddenly, the mood soured again. "We had our doctor, Red, taken yesterday, and even more the day before. Even though you stopped the raiding party, they'll be back soon." said the young blonde girl. "Then they'll get their filthy hands on my...and do...who knows what?"

John eyed the girl strangely, hearing a bit more sensualness in her voice than one would expect when talking about being captured by supermutants. "You said your doctor was taken yesterday?" he asked curiously, getting a nod. "Why are they kidnapping people? Why didn't they kill her on the spot?"

"Not sure. But they dragged her up to the Germantown Police HQ up north." said Pappy as he set his determined gaze on the Wanderer. "You believe she's still alive, right?"

John stared at the young man, an annoyed look masking his face. He knew what was coming. "If they didn't kill her here, it means that they wanted her alive for a reason. If they just wanted food, it'd be easier to carry a corpse back than a kicking screaming body. So yes, I believe Red may still be alive." Pappy looked like he was about to speak, when John held up his hand, silencing him. "I'll go take a look and see if I can get her back. But I'm not coming back here afterwards. I'll send her your way, and be on about my business."

"But, what'll we do until you get back?" asked Flash nervously.

"When Red gets back, and when he wakes up…" said John as he nodded towards the sleeping patient on the table. "Pack your things up and head east of here to a town called Megaton. The Sheriff there will hold onto you until the Overseer gets back. Alright?" he asked as she stood and stretched himself out.

"I...I guess if that's all we can do." said Pappy as he scratched his head.

"Look kid, you've got an opportunity now. One that doesn't involve giant green mutants chewing on your bones. So you can either work for it, or keep sitting here and moping." said John, his eye twitching as he recalled himself sitting in the Citadel courtyard. "Plus, while they're busy dealing with us, you guys will have a respite from the mutants for a while. So you won't have to worry about them chasing you down."

"Y-You're right!" said the leader, his voice more firm now than it had been since they arrived. "We have a plan now, and nothing's going to stop us!"

"Yeah! We're gonna get out of this hellhole!" shouted Flash, sending the others into giggling fits.

John smiled at them all, hoping that he was right. To be honest, he couldn't say for sure what would happen between here and Megaton. Originally, his optimism would have put their survival odds at high, considering the short distance and unlikeliness of raiders going anywhere near supermutant territory. But a week ago, that optimism also told him that he and his dad would be able to rekindle their relationship out here. But reality has a way of tearing such ideal dreams up and throwing them in your face. Even knowing that, he knew he had work to do, work that couldn't be delayed for much longer.

"Alright, we're going to head towards the police building and see what I can do about Red. I'll need one of you to come with me in case she...won't be coming back." he said, knowing that despite his earlier words, Red being killed was still a possibility.

Immediately, the blonde girl hurled herself at him and threw her arms around his neck. "Please! Take me master! Show me the ways of death and destruction!" she squealed as she hugged him tightly.

"What the hell are you…!?" he asked in surprise as he tried to pull her off delicately.

"Yes! Punish me! Make me suffer for touching you without permission master!" she wailed sorrowfully as she clung to his taller frame.

Amata immediately locked her arm around the girl's neck and pried her off the Wanderer. "That's enough of that!" snapped the Overseer as she held the struggling girl.

"Hands off you old harpy! This body is only for the master!" yelled the blonde girl.

Amata went blank faced for a moment as she registered the words. Immediately, her grip tightened immensely. "Old!? You won't have a damn body when I kill you!"

Using his strength sparingly, John pulled the two apart. But that didn't stop them from trying to get at one another still. "That's enough! Grab your gear and whatever guns you have and meet me on the bridge!" he snapped, his authoritative tone nearly killing their fight instantly.

"That's Bittercup for you…" sighed Pappy as he walked to remove himself from the scene.

OoOoO

It was twenty minutes later when the group had gathered at the bridge to see the rescue party off. As Charon, Amata, and John stood on the exit to the small walled town, he looked at the citizens with slight worry in his eyes. "Make sure to keep yourselves guarded until Red's return. It's likely that we will hit anymore raiding mutant parties on the way up. But just in case there are some hidden, don't let your guard down. Hopefully it won't be long before we're able to send word back."

Flash saluted deftly with his .32 revolver and sat in Dusty, the former bridge guard's chair. "You got it chief. I got eyes like a hawk." he said confidently as the last party member finally stepped forward.

As she did, John's eyes widened immensely. The girl was as pale as milk, with blonde hair nearly as bright as her skin. That was clear as soon as they had met. But now her paleness showed to new levels. "You know...when you said you had armor...I thought…"

"You didn't think it would look so goooood on me?" asked the young girl as she ran a hand up her bare stomach. Her leather armored top had been assaulted with a pair of shears, a knife...with some kind of blade. Now the only thing that it covered was her bust and her shoulders. The girl had no cleavage to speak of, and her bottoms were barely down her thighs before they too were cut off abruptly, leaving exposed a pair of white, scrawny legs that ended in leather boots. "This was the armor I made when I was still in Lamplight. Now it's soooo tight that it hurts sometimes." she said seductively as she took a step closer.

John, with a mask of stone on his face, slowly turned around and started walking away from the bridge without another word. Charon quickly followed, then Amata after she gave the girl a loathing glare. Soon, Bittercup ran across the bridge on their tail with her blonde hair now fluttering in the waving wind as the sun began to set. "Master! Wait for me!"

OoOoO

"Master…" came that eerily monotone voice.

"Stop calling him that." growled Amata from the other side of the Wanderer as they all walked together towards the ever growing building ahead. Ever since they had left, John had been eerily quiet, his expression never changing from the stony look he had adopted back at the bridge.

"I'll stop calling him that when he kills me!" shouted Bittercup, whose tone then softened. "When he wraps his hands around my throat and stares into my eyes adoringly as he squeezes harder and harder…"

"What is wrong with you?" asked Amata, horrified at the girl's daydreaming.

"I need a weapon." said the teenager as she skipped along beside all of them.

"I think the last thing you need is a weapon." grumbled the Overseer as she reached to her side. She knew that the girl would be defenseless in the police headquarters, and as much as she relished the thought of the girl getting some sense knocked into her, she didn't want her dead. Grabbing her 10mm SMG, she handed it to the youth. "Here, just try not to get caught out in the open. That armor isn't going to mean much if they aim for your stomach."

"Ewww, no way." said Bittercup as she scrunched her nose, as if she had smelled something foul. "I wouldn't touch your filthy gun even if it killed me."

"Don't you mean even if it saved you, you ungrateful brat!?" snarled Amata who was on the verge of giving in to the girl's desires and strangling her right here.

"Take it and use it to protect yourself." came the sharp order from John, who was looking back at the young woman with a stern glare.

Immediately, Bittercup grabbed the weapon and hugged it to her leather-clad chest. "You're right Master! I deserve the punishment of holding her gun because I'm a bad girl!" she wept almost comically, even getting a head shake from Charon.

The Wanderer sighed and continued walking. "Whatever. Just make sure to keep it pointed at the mutants." he commanded as they finally arrived at a fenced off area around the building. John raised his hand for them all to stop, before turning and facing the three of them. "We're going to be moving as fast and quiet as possible through here. If you see something, let the others know, and most of all, don't shoot unless you have to. We're likely going to have a building full of mutants that won't hesitate to kill you." he said, immediately noticing Bittercup smile. "That's not a good thing, so stop daydreaming!" he snapped, keeping his voice low.

"Yeees Master." she conceded happily.

John groaned in annoyance before drawing his pistol and making sure the magazine was topped off before aiming the weapon low and moving forward into the narrow fenced labyrinth. "When we pass openings on either side, make sure to check them with your weapon up. We don't want to be ambushed." he finished as he crouched and made his way forward as quietly as possible. The others nodded and did as they were told, with Amata and Charon bringing up the sides and Bittercup eagerly watching the rear.

He wasn't sure why the every brutish supermutants had decided to build this chaotic maze within the police grounds, but it was annoying. Perhaps it was to keep their prey from finding their way out, or to make sure anyone coming into the building could be easily flanked. Either way, it was rudimentary at best, and only served to keep them from getting inside. As he made his way through the maze of rickety wood and chainlink fencing, he could hear several of the green monsters grunting as they went about their business on the other side of the walls. In all honesty, it wasn't likely that the prisoners were kept outside of the main HQ. But it was better off if he checked anyway. The building was a reinforced police headquarters that survived the bombs from the war, so any shooting outside of the facility likely wouldn't be heard inside.

Instead of letting Amata do her check as they passed one of the openings, he decided to turn into the narrow pathway that led down to one of the small tents pitched by either the supermutants, or whoever was here before them. The group followed behind him and kept their arms ready to fire, but waited for his signal. When they finally made it to the end, they could easily hear the growling of one of the creatures just around the corner. Tucking his gun away, he reached down and pulled a large knife free from his boot and told them to wait with a hand signal.

At the very sight of the sharp, serrated blade, Bittercup nearly melted on the spot. But he ignored the teen's attraction to death and slowly peeked around the corner. The metahuman was facing the other way, making it easy for him to sneak in for a killing blow. But another thing he noted was a woman laying on the floor of the open tent, seemingly unconscious and bound up with rope. She had tousled brown hair, and had been stripped down to her undergarments, and what looked like an open wound on her arm. Whatever she had already been through had left tear tracks staining her face.

Moving forward silently, he brandished the knife, ready to strike out, but he need to be closer. So he took each step carefully, making sure not to disturb anything that would alert the giant to his presence. But his precautions were in vain, as the large green monster started to turn regardless of his stealth. Reacting quickly, he dashed into the tent and ducked behind one of the thin walls of the cloth domicile to keep out of sight, hoping that the mutant hadn't seen him when it decided to turn around.

Almost immediately, he noticed that the unconscious woman wasn't actually unconscious. She now stared up at him, her eyes wide with hope. She opened her mouth to speak when John leaned down and covered it firmly, making sure not to harm her in the process. Raising one finger to his lips, he signaled her to be silent. The tear-stained woman nodded in acknowledgement and he slowly pulled his hand away, turning his head to see the silhouette of the mutant still standing at the table it had been working at previously. Once again, he stepped out of the tent and prepared the knife, gripping it in his hand tightly as he crouched down, coiling himself like a spring.

Then, like a lightning flash, he dove on the beast, grabbed its head, and stabbed the carbon-steel blade directly into its throat. The monster tried to struggle, but it was useless when the overpowering gunman kicked the back of the tall creature's knees, making it fall backwards as its blood started to spray all over the gored human parts already on the table. The mutant tried to struggle, but its fight slowly died out as the blood was forcefully allowed to drain from its severed jugular. Luckily, the attack also disabled the beast's loud shout, making the death as silent as the death of a gurgling monster could be.

After he made sure the supermutant wasn't getting up again, he moved over to the woman in the tent and used the same knife to cut away her bindings. "Is your name Red?" he asked curiously. He had his doubts, as this woman looked a bit older than the others from Big Town. But he had to make sure.

As suspected, the woman shook her head, then reached out and hugged him as soon as she was freed. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" she cried, but he covered her mouth once more.

"We have to be quiet. There are more of them out there, and if they hear you, they'll start coming this way." he said silently as he released her again.

She nodded and sniffled as fresh tears began to flow again. "My name is Anna. Please...if there's anything you want of mine, take it." she offered as she pointed to her clothing, weapons, and some food that were sitting on a table in the corner of the tent. Likely, it was what she'd had prior to being captured.

But John shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Just get your stuff, and get out of here as fast as you can, alright?" he asked, holding her shoulders to make sure she was going to be able to hold it together. But she nodded and wiped her tears again. "Good." he whispered with a small smile. When he released her, he immediately noticed that the open injury wasn't actually an injury at all, but a red tattoo of a seraph. It was surprisingly well detailed, and looked relatively new, the image of a silhouetted man with six wings and a flaming sword. Ignoring the tattoo for the moment, he turned to the others, and much to his annoyance, found Bittercup staring longingly at the ever growing pool of blood beneath the mutant, while Amata and Charon stood over her. He heard the woman behind him grabbing her stuff, he himself standing still so she could dress. "You can stare all you want, but the moment you start finger painting is the moment I send you back home."

Bittercup looked up at him in surprise, her eyes still wide and shining as she stared at him. "No worries Master. I'm sure you'll take my blood soon enough." she remarked, tapping the belt that held up her tight-fitting shorts.

John sighed and held his head in mental agony as Amata clenched her fists in rage. But surprisingly, she said, nor did anything. She simply stood with the agitated look on her face. Given his history, he found himself refreshed to be around someone who could hold their temper. Sarah had definitely been working on it, and Elsa...she got angry just to get him angry. But all he could do is smile as he saw that same impatiently pissed look that she'd had as a kid.

"Please, will you give me your blessing before I go?" came the voice behind him. Turning around, John saw the woman he had just untied now fully dressed in a pair of deep pocketed pants, boots, and a zippable shirt with a hood that laid loosely on her back.

"Pardon?" asked the Wanderer as he stared at the woman, who was now on her knees with her hands pressed together in front of her, as if in prayer.

"I request your blessing lord, so that I may escape here safely and make it back to my brothers and sisters." she reiterated as she kept her eyes closed.

But he didn't exactly know what she was asking for. "Uhhh...sure." he said simply as he shrugged. Despite the lackluster response, she smiled in glee and bowed her head.

"Thank you!" she said once more before rising to her feet, her voice now ecstatic, but still quiet. As soon as she was on her feet, she fastened the pistols at her side and dashed out of the tent. Using her momentum, she leapt high and grabbed the metal rod of the top of the fence, arching over it like an acrobat before vaulting over and landing on her feet on the other side as if she were light as a feather.

As the woman dashed off into the wastes, all four of the party members just stared blankly at the surprisingly acrobatic woman. "Does someone want to explain to me what just happened?" asked Amata curiously.

"Nope, moving on." growled John as he headed back for the labyrinth in which they arrived. He didn't know if the woman saw him as some kind of feudal king, or was putting the title on him because he had saved her. But he hoped that this was simply an isolated incident.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Why yes, I have been watching quite a bit of anime recently. Why do you ask?

Also, to those interested, I've started up my original story on AO3. If you'd like to read it, let me know and I'll send you the link.


	87. Recovering What Was Lost

OoO( 87 )OoO

Boring boring boring. All she was able to do anymore was lay in a damn bed and it was enraging. She could walk on her hands easily enough, but with no control over her legs, she'd be throw off her balance and probably land directly on her face. So instead, she just sat here, glaring at the medical scribes walking in and out of the place, tending patients, and generally ignoring her.

At one point, she snapped and nearly scared the robe off of one of the male scribes. Pointing at him, she yelled, "Do you people not have a wheelchair I can use!?"

The man dropped his things and immediately left the medical bay. She just sighed to herself and pouted more with her arms across her chest. There was always one of the Lyon's Pride standing in the corner of the room, watching to make sure she wasn't tampered with when she released herself into sleep. But there was only one or two of them that she could kill her boredom by talking to. The rest were as bland and uninteresting as the color of the walls. She had even gone as far as to ask them to take her to the library so she could at least learn. But nobody would help.

After raging at her ennui for a while, she just laid back and closed her eyes, making sure that her sound sensors were still active. She began running through her thoughts at near light speed, examining anything and everything she could to try and help the cause. But no matter how many times she saw it, she always froze on one picture. The picture of him smiling. She felt her lips involuntarily curve up in a smile as she focused on the image in her mind.

Suddenly, she was alerted that the medbay door had opened. It was probably another scribe coming to ignore her and check his charts, but she wanted to make sure. Opening her eyes, she was mildly surprised to see the blonde sentinel coming into the room with her blue eyes dead set on herself. Sitting up slightly, she looked up at the woman. "What is it?"

Sarah, who wasn't in any kind of armor, nodded to Dusk in the corner, who left the room, leaving the two alone. The tone of this was a bit eerie, but she didn't expect to be given the piano wire treatment by the woman. After they were alone, the sentinel sat on the bed and looked her directly in the eyes. "Do you love him?" she asked in a dead serious tone.

Elsa's eyes widened as far as they could. "What the hell kind of question is that!?" she asked, bewildered at the personal question.

"Just answer the damn question. Do you love John?" she asked again, never breaking her gaze away from the redhead.

Elsa continued glaring at the woman, but finally sighed and fell back against her pillow. "Of course I do." she said firmly.

Sarah nodded, her blonde ponytail swishing behind her as she did. "How much?"

"You know, you've got a lot of nerve asking me those kinds of questions." she snarked as she crossed her arms.

"I need to know. So tell me, how much do you love him?" asked Sarah, her face now showing caring rather than inquisitive curiosity.

After growling for a moment, the android finally answered. "If he died, I'd probably take my body to Pinkerton and delete my coding, so that Rock could have a chance at a normal life."

"Rock?" asked the sentinel curiously.

Elsa remembered John telling her to be careful about who she mentioned the new AI to, but aside from annoying, the commander had been trustworthy at the very least, and ironclad honorable at best. "Rock is my son. He was an AI created for Pinkerton."

Sarah's eyes widened slightly at the revelation. "You have a son?"

"Technically, he's John's son too, considering I used John's brain patterns as the base construct for his personality template." she said, looking over and gauging the woman's reaction. So far, all she saw was surprise, but no anger, no sorrow, no none of it. "If it makes you feel better, he had no knowledge of me using them until a little while ago."

Her face cleared of any expression at all as she nodded. "I understand." she said simply as she stood to her feet again.

"What's with the questioning?" asked Elsa, slightly off put but the interrogation.

Sarah stood still for a moment, then sat back on the next bed over. "I've been thinking. Alot." she said as she ran a hand through her ponytail absent mindedly. "You and me are a lot different. But the one thing we had in common was him. His carefree attitude, his ability to turn any situation upside down, and how he treats us as equals, rather than fearing or babying us. All of that is what made me like him." she said, then looked directly at Elsa, locking eyes with her again. "You...he saved you. You two have been together literally since the moment you met. You've been there for him, you've tried the help him through his darkest times, and you've even tried to sacrifice your own life for him."

"What the hell are you on about?" asked Elsa, looking away with slight embarrassment.

"When he was in the Bethesda building, you were healing him by opening your cell on the pipboy and allowing the radiation to keep his wounds from killing him. I didn't think much of it at the time, but the fact is that opening the cell like that lowers the lifespan of the battery. And if his pipboy died, you pretty much died with it." she claimed as she drilled Elsa with her sturdy gaze.

"He could have found another battery…" said Elsa, still not looking at the sentinel.

"Yeah, just another pipboy specific battery lying around in the wasteland." said Sarah sarcastically as she eyed the android in annoyance. "Look, you can deny it all you want, but I know what you've done for him."

Elsa glared at the woman angrily. "And!? What about it?" she snapped as she sat up again.

Sarah lowered her head. "I like John, I really do. But given his current state, and given how I've seen you two, I know what's best. And what's best is for me to take a step back."

Elsa's eyes widened immensely at the claim. "What the hell are you talking about stepping back?"

"John is likely going to have a much longer lifespan than me. If Moira is any indication, he'll outlive me, any children we might have, and so on. As well, he probably can't have any children either." she said looking up at the redheaded girl solemnly. "Tell me who he'd be best with. A woman who will eventually die and leave him alone to mourn day after day for eternity? Or a woman who will live as long as he?" Elsa remained speechless at this point, leaving the talking to Sarah. "Look, I've had a lot of time between mine and his last meeting where we split up to think about this. And honestly, it does hurt a bit. But I'll get over it because I was never in love with him as much as you are. He needs someone by his side who can live with him for the rest of his days, who can still give him children like you have." Finally, Elsa lowered her head and grit her teeth. Sarah looked at her curiously. "What's the matter?"

"I don't want you to give him to me dammit. If he's going to choose me it's because he wants to, not because you gave up!" she snarled as she glared at the woman.

Sarah just chuckled lightly. "Elsa, he's already chosen you. He just doesn't realize it yet because he's been so focused on me. Or did you forget the incident with the truck, and how he treated you before he left here?"

Elsa's fire died down when she realized the truth of the woman's words. Even so, she still held her glare on the sentinel. "Fine. But you're not going to tell him you're not interested anymore. I'm not going to be someone's second place trophy."

Sarah nodded with a small smile. "Fine. I'll leave things as they are, and if he still pursues me, then I'll return the affection. But prepare to be surprised." she said with a grin as she stood up from the bed.

Almost as soon as their talk ended, the doors to the medical bay opened again, this time by a flustered looking scribe. "Commander, we have a man demanding entrance to the Citadel because he has a patient here. He's been swearing at us for around ten minutes."

Elsa looked over at the scribe and tilted her head curiously. "Is his name Pinkerton?"

"Y-Yes. But...how did you…?" he started to ask.

"He's my surgeon." she said, happy to know that she may be moving again soon.

Sarah nodded to the scribe. "Let him in and lead him here." ordered the commander as she walked over and sat in the corner, where her squad usually stayed to watch over her.

The scribe nodded to the approval, then vanished. And about five minutes later, the old man busted through the door with a heavy pack on his back, a pipboy on his arm, and a glare in his eyes. "Couldn't give me the goddamn peace I deserve could you? No! You had to go and break an indestructible body and then come crying for help." he snapped as he walked over and set his heavy equipment on the bed.

"Good to see you too Doctor." said Elsa with a slight chuckle.

" _I had wished to come along and see you too mother."_ came a voice from his pipboy.

"Wouldn't goddamn shut up about it." said the man angrily as he unlatched the pipboy from his arm and handed it to Elsa.

"Rock?" she asked brightly.

" _Hello mother! It's good to see you again!"_ said the young AI as he waved from the screen.

Sarah walked over curiously and looked at the screen as well, cocking an eyebrow at the curious figure. "So this is the mysterious Rock, huh?" she asked, getting a happy nod from Elsa. Sarah was mildly surprised to see the redhead so elated at anything. Finally, she smiled and sat on the bed as she stared at the AI. "Wow, you weren't kidding. He even looks like him."

"At the time I was kinda...you know." said Elsa with a shrug. "I wanted to show John that I could give him the same things other women could...in a sense. But then I got my body, and I was so happy that I could even give him myself. But…" she said, a sad expression masking her face.

Sarah read her like a book. "That's when he told you no?" she asked, getting a nod in return. "I see."

"If you want me to look at you, you're gonna have to lay your ass flat." growled Pinkerton as he prepared his tools. Elsa handed the computer over to Sarah and did as she was told, laying flat on the bed with a gleaming smile on her face.

Sarah looked down at the screen, and the young man waved at her, making her smile. " _Perhaps you could aim me at my mother so I can see the proceedings?"_ he asked politely.

"Oh, of course." Sarah latched the pipboy onto her arm so that he could see what she saw.

Pinkerton sighed as he looked at the android girl. "Alright, so what the hell is wrong with your legs and how the hell did this happen?"

Elsa shrugged lightly as she stared at the doctor. "I can't really say unfortunately. My memory of what happened was fragmented at best and couldn't be recovered. All I know is that we were trying to fight off the Enclave's invasion of the purifier."

Pinkerton's eyebrow raised at the claim. "Enclave you say? There's a name I haven't heard in many a year." he said as he shook his head. "In any case, if you were fighting the Enclave, then you're lucky that this was all that happened to you. Their weapons burn hot enough to eat through a body like this like paper." he said as he lifted her shirt and began feeling around her stomach. Right. I'm going to need you to remove your clothing and get onto a proper medical table."

Sarah went wide eyed at the statement as the man got to his feet and looked at her directly. "You gonna help or just sit on your ass?" asked the man harshly.

"Oh...right." she mumbled as she moved forward and helped to lift the redhead from her bed and onto one of the surgical tables. Once she was properly laid out, the android girl pulled off her shirt and pushed her shorts down as far as she could, allowing the doctor to remove them herself.

Sarah stared wide eyed, her face flushing slightly as she stared at the naked body of one of her former rivals. And she was indeed, surprisingly human. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to be under the woman's armor and clothing, but she hadn't expected her to be so blatantly human, from her clavicle below her neck, to her breasts, her toned stomach, and even the nether region. If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought she was human.

Or at least, she would before the doctor cut her open and she simply looked down in curiosity. As the doctor opened up her stomach, Elsa simply tilted her head down, trying to see what she could over her pillowy chest. "Damn, can't see a thing." she complained.

"Just hold still goddammit…" griped the doctor as he pushed aside the organs within to get to the broken parts.

Sarah stepped forward and pulled the plug out of the pipboy and handed it to Elsa. The redhead took it with a smile. "Good idea." she said as she took the plug and reached to the back of her cranium. As she touched it, a small port opened up and and she inserted the plug into the universal slot. Laying her head sideways, she closed her eyes as she allowed herself to see through the eyes of the pipboy. The sentinel then took her place on the other side of the table.

It wasn't long before the doctor found what he was looking for. "I see what happened. Something seems to have cracked the casing on your fiberlite column." he said with a sigh as he removed his blood stained gloves from her insides. "I'm gonna have to apply some resin to the base and probably put in a bypass cable to keep functionality to the legs. What the fuck hit you, a truck?" he asked as he dug through his bags off to the side.

" _Like I said, I don't remember what it was. I remember fighting off enclave soldiers and then my memory just fragments. I haven't been able to piece it together yet."_ she said from the pipboy on Sarah's arm.

"Yeah, well whatever it was would have to hit with the force of a missile to crack that kind of casing." he said with a sigh as he pulled out the cable he mentioned previously. "Look, I'm going to give it to you straight. You'll be able to walk, run, lift, and all that shit again. But stress on the line is going to make you go down again, even with the bypass cable." he said solemnly.

" _Y-You can't repair it completely?"_ she asked, her voice betraying her shock.

"There is no way to fully repair it. I'd have to replace it with an entirely new spinal cylinder and that would take a facility's worth of tools and equipment itself." he said shaking his head. "You'd be better off finding a new body if you want to be back to one hundred percent."

" _So, what does this mean for me? What does "stress" entail exactly?"_ she asked sourly.

Pinkerton once more began digging inside the redhead's body. "It means that you have can't put undue stress on your body anymore. All of your regular daily crap is fine. But your combat enhancement mode can probably only be used in small bursts rather than indefinitely. If you exceed your limits on this, the resin will ignite and burn through the cable, making surgery a guarantee before you walk again." he said seriously as he looked up at the pipboy. "I'm serious. I'm not going to be around to save your ass forever. One day you might push yourself too far and end up dying for it."

" _Yeah yeah, I got it. I guess that isn't so bad."_ she said in annoyance.

"And cool it on the heavy lifting too. You try to carry too much weight and you'll see the same results." he said as he pasted on the resin and began connecting the bypass cable.

" _Oh come on!"_ she shouted as her face materialized on the screen of the pipboy's, making Rock's face shrink into the corner. " _How much is too heavy!?"_

"Given the depth of these cracks, I'd say anything heavier than five hundred pounds." he said nonchalantly, not bothered at all by her outcries.

Elsa sighed heavily. " _Well, that's still not horrible. I just won't be able to do anything crazy."_ she said, somewhat relieved that the damage wasn't permanent. She could still use above average human strength regularly, and still had access to her combat mode for emergencies. The important thing was that she would be able to walk again. " _Alright doc, how's it looking?"_ she asked curiously as she peered from the pipboy.

"Already done. Just have to close you up." he said, never losing his grouchy demeanor.

"That was incredible…" said Sarah in fascination as she watched the entire thing. Pinkerton looked up at her curiously, then donned a passive face, not letting her see his pride swelling.

"When you spend as many years as I do working on them, you tend to get pretty good at it. That being said, I don't want none of your kind knocking on my door for advice. I worked on her because I owe her and that boytoy of hers for practically eliminating my menial workload. We clear?" he asked as he pulled out one last device and ran it over the cuts of the cross-shaped laceration in her gut before applying a stimpak. It looked like a simple handle with a roller on it, but as he swept his hand over the cuts, they seemed to stick together with some invisible film.

"Is that biotape?" asked Sarah incredulously as she pointed at the wound.

"Yep." said the doctor simply said as he put the device away. Then he looked up at her curiously. "Why?"

"It's practically non existent anymore! The Brotherhood actually has a reward for anyone who can find any! Where do you get it from?" she asked, bewildered at his casual attitude.

The old man chuckled to himself as Elsa sat up on the surgical table, allowing Sarah to disconnect the cable from the wrist-mounted computer. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a roll and threw it at the sentinel. "I make it myself. There's you some, so don't come knocking on my door for that either." he said as he secured his equipment and turned to Elsa. "How's it feel?"

The redhead was now standing, fully nude in front of both of them and testing her legs. She squatted down, flexed them, tested each of the toes, and even tried running in place, which made Sarah cover her eyes as she became red faced at the android's bouncing. Finally, she squatted down again and launched herself high into the air, coming up just short of the ceiling before landing with cat-like agility on her feet, smiling brightly as she did. "Looks good doc!" she said cheerfully.

"Good. Now spend your time with your son so I can get my ass back…" said the man as he turned towards the door, only to find a dozen or so males fighting to peek through the glass window on the medbay doors. Sarah saw them as well, and immediately glared as she pulled up a pistol that she kept on her side. Firing a round into the top of the door, all of the peeping toms fled immediately from the sentinel's wrath.

Sarah sighed as she handed over the pipboy to Elsa. The young woman took the cord and plugged it back into her cranium as the sentinel wrapped her in a medical blanket. "If you're going stark for a while, then wear this. We have enough distractions already." said Sarah with an amused chuckle.

OoOoO

Chaos is the only thing that could be used to describe the rest of their mission. The rest of the outside of the headquarters had been cleared easily enough. It was safe to say that likely the majority of the mutants were on the inside rather than patrolling. It was also apparent that any recently captured people were hidden inside as well, as most of the dead bodies were over a week old when they found them.

So, after clearing out the labyrinthian passageways in front of the headquarters, they finally made their way to the front door and opened it directly in the face of two supermutants. Luckily for the group, the big greens seemed just as surprised as they were, giving them time to react. John immediately leapt forward and tackled one of the monsters while Amata and Charon both dove off to the side and prepared their weapons to fire.

Unfortunately, while the Wanderer wrestled with the large monster, the other was free to pull his assault rifle free and aim at the attacker. He might have been able to get a shot off if a small blonde blur hadn't hit him directly in the face. "You stay away from Master you plebian!" shouted Bittercup as she locked her legs around the beast's throat and jammed her thumbs into its eyes. It howled in agony as it reached up and yanked the spry girl off his face, but she wrapped herself around the mutant's arm, locking herself to it again as it stumbled around in blindness. Pulling her SMG off her side, she gave a maniacal grin before suppressing the trigger with the barrel pressed directly to the supermutant's head, causing its cranium to explode as the automatic fire tore through the soft gray matter.

Once John had gotten the creature to the ground, it turned into a test of strength. The two fought for control over one another, and unfortunately, John was the weaker of the two. He was however, the more clever, and instead of just sitting and letting his hands get crushed by the opposing monster, he leaned his head back, then smashed it forward with devastating force, crushing the monster's nose and probably busting a few teeth as well. After being hit, the mutant loosened its hold, and that was all the leverage the gunman needed. Exerting his strength, he squeezed and crushed the monster's hands, turning the bones into gravel as the beast roared in agony. When he was sure it could no longer use its hands, he pulled his own fists back and began punching the green machine in the head over and over until there was nothing left but a bruised mess of broken flesh.

Breathing heavily, John got to his feet and saw Bittercup once again ogling him. "Are you insane!?" came a shout from behind him. Amata immediately stormed up to the young blonde woman. "He could have eaten you whole!"

"I couldn't let him attack the Master while he was fighting! He looked so cooool…" she said, more to herself than anyone else as she covered her face in embarrassment.

"I think your groupie here might have just saved your ass." said Charon in his typical, gravelly, uninterested voice. Amata shot him a murderous glare, which went unnoticed by the ghoul. Suddenly, all of them looked up with eyes wide as a familiar battle call nearly shook the walls of the building.

"Damn, they probably heard us. We have to move, and move fast." snapped John as he pulled his pistol clean from its holster and started moving towards the far door. The others quickly followed, and they found themselves inside of the former jail of the police HQ. Much to John's surprise, there was a young woman, about Bittercup's age, sitting behind the bars in one of the cells and staring at him with displeasure as he came through the door.

"Oh good. If it's not mutants, it's raiders. Sure, fight to the death over who gets to kill me, at least I'll get some entertainment before I go." remarked the dark-skinned girl as she sat with her arms crossed.

"Look, we're not…" started John, but the crash of mutants falling down the stairs was loud and clear at the far end of the room. "Goddammit, Amata, get her out of there and give her the assault rifle we just got! Charon, Bittercup, you're with me!" he shouted as he spun around and fired at the first mutant that had tripped and slid face first down the set of stairs. The round blasted through the monster's cranium, killing it instantly as the stairwell flooded with more green bodies. The horde trampled over their fallen comrade and charged straight forward without a second thought, even as they were fired on. Charon and Bittercup both began firing into the freight train of green muscle as well, but aside from a few at the front, the group of five was barely scratched.

Most of the charging group had helmets that helped to deflect or stop bullets outright, meaning that they couldn't just aim for killshots anymore. John turned his head at the sound of a loud shriek. One of the monsters had swung a massive fist and battered Bittercup against the wall, putting her out of commission. Charon was soon to follow as one of the giants grabbed him and charged through a wall with him bodily, leaving the gunman alone with the remaining four.

"Bittercup? Wait, you aren't raiders?" asked the young woman as she got off her cot and ran to the iron gate.

Amata, who was now in the process of trying to hack the computerized lock open with her pipboy shook her head. "Nope! You might want to stand back!" she shouted as she looked behind her and saw death approaching. "Don't touch the bars, whatever you do!" she shouted to the young woman as she unplugged her pipboy and spun around. Using her legs as pistons, she cannoned herself into the Wanderer, knocking them both off to the side as the murdertrain crashed senselessly into the cells themselves in an attempt to crush their enemy.

As soon as the green monsters touched the bars, they roared in agony as they started convulsing and writhing. Two of the three were blasted backwards from the voltage, landing on their backs and groaning in pain. In the commotion, none present saw the young blonde girl reach out with her tongue and wipe the blood clean from her busted lip. Immediately, she smiled again and got to her feet with a lifeless smile on her face.

John groaned in pain, but reacted quickly as Amata lay on top of him, breathing heavily. Grabbing his pistol, he went to aim at the one standing over him, but saw Bittercup siliently holding his own serrated knife. "Where...how did you get that?" he asked as he checked his boot. Suddenly, the girl spun around and slashed at the achilles tendon of one of the screaming creatures that had been in front, and was still suffering from the electric shock. As it fell over, it was still stunned by the electricity, making it an easy target as the girl jumped and planted her booted feet on either side of its head, before raising the knife and jamming it down into the monster's eye.

The mutant couldn't even struggle as the blade penetrated its brain, all it could do was sit and stare at the lifeless face that smiled down at him. As she jerked the blade free again, John and Amata got to their feet and finished off the remaining few who weren't still permanently attached to the jail cell in death. Even Charon came back looking no worse for wear with a smoking shotgun.

Amata turned back to the cells and made sure that the electricity had burned itself out before trying to pry the dead, smoking mutants away from the bars. Meanwhile John held his hands up as he approached the blonde girl. "Bittercup, I'm going to need you to give me the knife." he stated calmly, unsure of how how unstable the girl was at the moment. Ignoring the grinding and opening of the cell door behind him, he just took a step closer as she continued smiling and holding the knife, her wide eyes staring at the blood as it dripped off the blade.

As if out of nowhere, the glasses-wearing young woman from the cell walked up, balled her fist, and punched Bittercup square in the back of the head. "He said give him the knife." she growled in annoyance. John looked at the young woman, and saw that she wore a pair of round spectacles, as well as a red bandana tied around her head. By all appearances, with her jumpsuit and bandana, she almost looked like a painter.

Finally, Bittercup looked up again and smiled nervously. "Uhhh...what happened?" she asked, looking from John, to Amata, then to the young woman. "Oh, hi Red!"

"Hello Bittercup." said the young woman as she flexed her shoulder sorely. "So, does someone wanna explain to me why you're all here?" she asked as she finally reached over and pried the carbon-steel blade out of her friend's hand and handed it back to the Wanderer.

"We're here for you. We aim to send you back to Big Town, where you'll regroup with the others before making your way to live in Vault 101." responded John as he took the blade and slung the blood off of it before sheathing it back in his boot.

"Yeah yeah, that sounds good and all, but I'm not the only one you need to rescue." said Red as she checked the assault weapon she was given to make sure that it was properly loaded.

"What?" asked John, clearly not pleased with her statement.

"Down below is a kitchen where my boy Shorty was taken just an hour ago. I'm going after him., and you're coming with me." she said, her words clearly coming out as an order.

John was ready to reach out and strangle both of the teens by their throats, but Amata placed a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. Sighing to himself, the gunman had arms akimbo as he looked at the girl. "An hour is a long time. Chances are he isn't alive."

"I'm still going to check." she said, her brown-eyed stare meeting his nuclear green without flinching.

Growling to himself, the Wanderer reached down on the ground and grabbed a super sledge used by one of the now dead mutants. "You said it was below us, right?" he asked, his voice less than courteous to her. She simply nodded as he cocked his foot back and kicked one of the dead mutants, sending it smashing through a wall. Her eyes went wide at the feat, but they widened even more as he raised the hammer as if it weighed nothing. He hesitated for a moment before swinging. The last time he did something like this, it resulted in the entire building ripping apart, and him falling through straight to the bottom. "Hopefully history isn't repeating itself." he said as he put most of his strength into the swing.

The hammer hit, and the floor beneath it crumbled like it was sand. Luckily for them, the floor was mostly concrete, and didn't easily follow the domino chain. Instead, a clean hole in the floor now exposed the room below. John just looked at the flabbergasted girl as he stepped up to the new entrance. "T-That's impossible…" she said in awe.

"You all wait here. I'll go see if your friend Shorty is alive or not." he ordered as he stepped forward and jumped down into the darkened room.

Red just looked at the others as if she were crazy for seeing what she saw, but Amata just patted her on the shoulder. "It's hard to explain."

But none of them were able to stop Bittercup from diving in after the gunman.


	88. New Information

**Author's Note:** Wrote the second half while half asleep. Forgive me. Will make corrections later.

Also, yes, I'm aware that Buttercup is entirely different than in the game. Her character is boring in the game, and would add very little depth to a story like this, but I wanted her to come along anyway. So I made her far more outgoing once she found her "Master." As for her fascination with death, she's always had that. But it was emo and sad, and a completely black hole of any kind of character. So I added my own. Hope you all like it.

OoO( 88 )OoO

"Will somebody please remove this girl from the laboratory?" asked Rothchild with a snap in his voice.

The guard to the lab struggled as the redhead sat on him, laughing hysterically. "I'm trying!" he griped as he tried to lift himself up. But somehow, this young woman was easily overpowering him and keeping him down.

"Why don't you try and get me out yourself chrome dome?" asked Elsa as she eyed the scribe playfully.

The head scribe's eyes shot wide open and he fumed openly. "I shave my head you little brat! If I wanted hair, I'd grow it out!"

"Yeah sure." she said, amusement dripping from her tone as she waved off the claim. "I can't believe you guys actually hooked Liberty up to your internal network without doing any kind of scans. Do you know how lethal that can be without any kind of safeguards?" she asked mockingly.

Rothchild's nostrils flared at her impudence. "Yes I know that! I wasn't the one who hooked it to our systems you little imp! Now get out of my lab before I summon the…"

"What the hell is going on here?" asked Sarah, who had a look of annoyance on her face as she entered the lab. Looking down, her expression didn't improve as she saw Elsa sitting on the lab guard. Reaching down, she grabbed the girl and picked her up by the waste, letting the man free. "Is there anyone you don't know how to annoy?"

"I'm a quick learner." said the redhead with a playful smile.

"She assaulted the door guard, trespassed into the lab, and insulted the head of the R&D department! I demand she be thrown out of the Citadel!" snapped Rothchild as he pointed at the door. Meanwhile, the guard got to his feet and rubbed his sore shoulder, a small smirk on his face as he eyed Elsa.

"Denied." said the commander firmly. The head scribe stood stock still as if unbelieving of the words. "She was there during the attack on the purifier, and has valuable data that can be used in our future assault against them. Further, Journeyman Knight Kim looks like he's no worse for wear. And lastly, if you can't take an insult from a child in stride, then that really makes you as childish as she is." said the blonde woman as she walked past the scribe and set Elsa in a chair.

Even after her comments, Rothchild didn't move. He still stood with his finger pointing at the door, his eyes wide, and his face locked in an expression of rage as if he had been turned to stone by her words. "Nyah ha!" shouted Elsa as she stuck her tongue out at the man.

"You be quiet. Why are you even in here?" she asked as she stared down at the young woman with her usual stern gaze.

"I heard that Liberty was still alive and came to talk with him. But they wouldn't let me in, so I had to make my own way in." growled Elsa as she glared at the man who had blocked her path. But her glare vanished as she saw him eyeing her with a small smile.

"And what did you even want to talk to him about?" asked Sarah curiously as she crossed her arms.

"My memories of the attack on the purifier were fragmented. I'm not able to recall what happened to me and why I lost the ability to walk. But Liberty was there with me, so I was hoping he would be able to fill in the blanks." she said, returning the gesture and crossing her own arms defensively.

Sarah's face reflected her understanding, and she nodded. "I remember you saying that in the medbay." she said, then looked up at the giant metal automaton. Currently, Moira was digging into his faceplate and working on installing something. "Well, he's here. So go ahead and see what you can find out."

Elsa smiled, then nodded and jumped to her feet. "You don't mind, right Liberty?"

" _We are Liberty Prime."_ responded the titan.

"Right...Liberty Prime. Would you mind transmitting your information files from the Jefferson Memorial?" asked Elsa as she stepped forward curiously.

" _This exchange is agreeable."_ he said before reaching over with one of his massive metal hands. Elsa plopped herself into his palm, and he lifted her up to his head as if she weighed nothing at all. Reaching over to the back of his head, she slid her own port into the slot where the Brotherhood had previously had their network hooked into.

Closing her eyes, she sat silent for a moment as the information transferred. Suddenly, her eyes shot open in horror. "No!" she shouted, startling everyone in the room except for Moira, who continued her work.

"What is it?" asked Sarah nervously. Whatever had the powerful android spooked couldn't be good news.

"I...I don't exactly understand. I was fighting the Enclave at the door, then an unarmored man dropped down from a VTOL and…" she said, pausing. "He overpowered me. Even in my combat mode, he managed to completely overwhelm me with his strength. He punched me, and that's what cracked the casing…"

Sarah's expression of horror almost immediately mimicked Elsa's own. "You don't mean...they can't...they can't have the completed FEV can they?" she asked, mortified by the thought of the Enclave army all being as strong as John. Just imagining an army of nothing but the Wanderer marching towards them meant that the Brotherhood was at a serious disadvantage.

But Elsa shook her head. "The other soldiers didn't seem to have it. They were just powered by their armor. But him, this man, he definitely had some kind of strength enhancement. From the shot he gave me, I'd estimate he's even stronger than John." she said worriedly as she looked down at the sentinel.

Finally, Moira looked down from her work and gazed at both of them, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. "John and I received the FEV through separate shots. But both of them were meant for me."

Finally, Rothchild seemed to return to himself at the mention of the FEV. Staring up at Moira, he scratched his chin thoughtfully. "What do you mean they were meant for you?" he asked, giving her a suspicious stare.

She glared at him as she leaned against Liberty Prime's head. "Look Sherlock, it's a long story that we don't have time for right now. But the long and short of it is, two hundred years ago I was scheduled to have two shots of the FEV applied to me. But I never got the second one because the bombs dropped on DC and destroyed everything."

"Then the Outcasts dug out the remains of the vault you were stationed in and John helped them with the simulation, and accidentally ended up getting your second dose. So that means…" said Elsa in horror, but it was Sarah who finished her sentence.

"This man has received both. Which means not only does he have an army of power armored psychotics at his back, but he also has enough strength to crush anyone in his way." she said morosely.

Surprisingly, it was Liberty Prime who intervened on their gloomy conversation. " _Even with this advantage, the Enclave cannot win. One communist alone, even one of his strength, cannot fight a war by himself."_

Sarah smirked slightly at the comment. "You know what? You're right. If John has taught us anything, it's that super strength can't stop bullets. Nor can it stop lasers." she said, patting her trusty laser rifle on her back.

"Or falling through a thirty story building." said Elsa, almost amused, making Sarah chuckle at the comment.

"Or from getting a biiiig hug by a super ghoulie!" chimed in Moira, her words sending Elsa into a fit of giggling.

" _Or miniature nuclear fusion bombs."_ said Liberty Prime as he stared at the others.

Sarah stared at him with a look of worry on her face. "Remind me to stay behind you when the fighting starts…" she said, placing her hands on her armored hips.

" _Human humor is hard to emulate."_ said the automaton, his voice sounding confused.

"You'll get the hang of it big guy." said Elsa as she hopped off his hand and landed with cat-like agility on the ground in front of him. Turning, she looked up at Moira curiously. "So, what're you doing in there anyway? I thought his head worked fine."

Moira waved the girl off playfully. "Just adding some custom features at the request of a customer."

"Custom features? Customer? Wait, he asked you to add something?" asked Sarah, her eyebrow raising slightly. When Moira nodded happily, all Sarah could do was smile. "I guess he's grown quite a bit since John gave him that talk. Then again…" she remarked, scratching her head. "I suppose Alpha probably helped."

"Shouldn't you be working on his dysfunctional parts before adding custom parts?" asked Rothchild in annoyance as he stared up at the woman.

"Oh, I did that last night." she said, getting a surprised look from the head scribe. "Oh yeah, he's fully functional now." she finished with a giggle as she went back to her work.

"Last night? You've been awake since you got here! When do you sleep!?" he asked incredulously.

The woman put a finger on her chin and looked upwards as if deep in thought, before finally smiling widely. "Sunday." More laughs echoed throughout the lab as Rothchild sighed to himself, knowing that that wasn't the weirdest thing he'd heard about the woman. When he had the chance, he would have to get her full story.

OoOoO

"Ohhhhh my gaaaawd that was awesome!" squealed Bittercup as she hung off John's shoulders like some kind of human cape. He had just shot and punched his way through two more mutants, finishing the last one off with a powerful punch that caved in its face and sent it cannoning through a wall.

He looked back at her in annoyance as she clung to him. "Did you come down here to help me? Or am I going to have to throw you back to the others?"

"No! I'll help!" she cried as she climbed up and sat on his shoulders, then locked her legs around his neck. Whipping out her gun, she smiled down at him. "Ready Master!"

"Uhhh...Bittercup. Exactly how old are you?" he asked uncomfortably.

"I'm twenty two." said the short girl as she clenched her thighs around his neck.

The Wanderer let out a small sigh of relief. "Well, that makes this only slightly less weird." he said as he dashed forward and into the next room of the building. Already there were two more mutants readying to attack, no doubt having been alerted by the earlier fight. John raised his pistol and fired twice, scoring one shot in each one of the mutant's shoulders. It immediately dropped the weapon it was holding and toppled backwards due to the incredible force from the pistol shot.

Leaping forward through the air, he stomped down with both feet directly into the creature's face, crushing its skull in the process. The other green hulk raised its assault rifle to fire, but Bittercup got the jump on it and fired directly from John's shoulders, laughing like a lunatic as she did. "AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAHAHAHA! DIE YOU WORTHLESS TRASH!" she screamed with a maniacal look on her face.

The bullets did their job, tearing at the mutant's face until it was nothing but ground meat. John looked up at her, thankful that her crazy demeanor had vanished. "Remember what I said about conserving ammo?" he asked as he moved forward, talking along the way.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Sorry Master, I'll try to do better."

"I'm sure." he growled as yet another of the mutants popped out in the doorway in front of them. He was slightly stunned just by the comical appearance of a giant green mutant wearing a chef's hat. Raising his pistol again, his stomach plummeted as a loud click resonated through his hand. He had been so distracted by the girl that he forgot to count his shots. And now a giant mutant with a cleaver blade and a chef's hat was charging right for him.

Reaching down, he grabbed a chunk of concrete from the floor and hurled it as hard as he could, sending it crashing into the monster's chest. The rubble disintegrated upon impact and stopped the monster in its tracks. The Wanderer jumped forward and grabbed the mutant's arm to keep it from moving. As soon as he locked the arm however, the other hand reached around and locked around his throat. He felt the iron-like grip crushing against his windpipe as he used his strength to try and loosen the beast's grip on the weapon.

Bittercup immediately jumped off his shoulders and landed on the cracked floor. Reaching forward, she grabbed the knife from John's boot again, then spun around and let out a shrieking war cry before stabbing the blade into the green beast's hand. The mutant let out a roar of pain and dropped the cleaver, which was picked up by the blonde girl. Letting out one more shriek of anger, she slammed the bladed weapon down, splitting the chef's hat in half and the creature's skull open,causing it to loosen its hold on the gunman as he fell to the ground.

John gasped air into his burning lungs and gently massaged his throat where the beast had grabbed him. Turning, he stared at the girl, who stood innocently with a smile on her face. "Uh...thanks?" he said, squeezing the words out through painful breaths.

"Of course! Nobody touches Master but me!" she proclaimed proudly.

"Right…" he groaned as he turned towards the door. When he stepped inside, he immediately noticed that he was standing in a kitchen. Wrecked cabinets were secured to either side of the room, and at the far end of the long kitchen was a stove with a large into it. But John's eyes ignored the surrounding furniture and locked onto the small crouched figure that had his arms tied behind him.

As he stepped forward, he could hear the young man whispering to himself. He was currently situated facing the stove, so any footprints he heard could very well be a mutants to him. "Please, mother father holy ghost I beseech you to help get me out of this place. I promise, I'll never look at another Rad Girls magazine again." he whispered rapidly as he rocked back and forth on his knees.

"That won't be necessary." said John as he slashed through the boy's bindings with his knife and lifted him to his feet by yanking on his overalls. The slick-haired kid looked up at him wide eyed for a moment, then looked over at the blonde girl next to him.

"Bittercup?" he asked incredulously. "You came to save me?"

"Actually, Master came to save you. I followed him here." she said happily, either not realizing or not caring about the implication that she didn't care for him.

"Master?" he asked, looking up at John curiously.

The gunman sighed and rubbed his head in annoyance. "Look, I'm not her master, alright? I came to get you because Red said you might still be alive." he said, then looked at the young man. "You are Shorty, right?"

"You're damn right I am! I don't care where you're putting it in her! You saved my life!" said the young man as he hugged John.

Bittercup growled at Shorty and pulled out her gun. "Hey! Hands off the Master!" she shouted angrily.

John just stared blankly at the wall, wondering why he ever thought he wanted kids before now. "Whatever, let's just get you guys out of here so I can get my ass back to trying to crack open Vault 87." he said with a defeated sigh.

"Vault 87? What're you going to Lamplight for?" asked Shorty as he scratched his head in confusion.

John stared at him blankly for a moment before finally speaking. "I'm sorry...what?"

"You said you were going to Vault 87. Well, 87 is locked up tight from the front, but the side door is at the back of Little Lamplight. So I assumed you were going there." said the slick-haired youth.

John reached down and gripped him by the shoulders, a bright smile on his face. "You are an angel. Thank you Shorty."

"For what?" he asked, even more confused than before.

"Later. For now, let's get you the hell out of here before whatever mutants are left decide to come strolling our way." he said as he grabbed Bittercup and threw her over his shoulder.

"Oh Master! You're too good to me!" she squealed in joy. Suddenly, she looked over and realized that Shorty was hanging over the other shoulder. Glaring heatedly, she pointed at him in an accusing fashion. "Defiler!"

The gunman worked his way back to the spot where he had dropped down, then one by one, tossed the pair upwards so that Amata, Charon, and Red could catch them. Amata looked down into the hole worriedly, seeing that it was a bit to high for his jumping to reach. "What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry. Just head outside and I'll meet you there." he said up through the hole he created. Suddenly, his eyes snapped down and locked onto a charging green monster that was feet from him. The collision felt like he had been hit by a truck, and the force blasted him through the wall and out into the fading daylight. Groaning in pain, he shouted, "I'm outside now!" before slowly trying to get to his feet.

The beast showed itself, and he found himself staring at a larger than average supermutant. The normal mutants were maybe a foot, or a foot and a half taller than him. This one easily cleared three feet over his head, and its arms were massive. So much so that it used them to walk as a gorilla or ape would. He wasn't sure if the Brotherhood had a classification name for this kind of mutant, but he figured "Goliath" fit pretty well. The beast stood, growling and snarling at him for a long moment, as of taunting him, or trying to egg him into attacking.

And John didn't disappoint. Whipping his now loaded pistol up like lightning, he fired a round and hit the creature dead center in the middle of its cranium. But the gunman's eyes widened as he watched the bullet fall to the ground. Left behind by the attack was a bruise that made the beast roar in pain before it charged forward. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." he said to himself as he jumped out of the way just before the monster smashed both of its enormous arms into the ground right where he was standing. The attack had been so powerful that he felt the reverberation through the ground as he rolled back to his feet. The beast veered towards him again and swung one massive arm, smashing him and sendinging him crashing through the labyrinthian wooden walls.

When he got to his knees again, he coughed and saw crimson, the taste of copper filling his mouth. If he was going to survive this encounter, he had to go for a weak spot. Bullets literally just bounced off its skin, which left very few options. But one glaring one presented itself to him as the goliath blasted through the fence again and raised an arm to attack.

Rolling away from the attack just in time, the gunman shot both feet out and kicked with crushing force right into the beast's groin. The force hit hard enough to lift the monster and knock it back, but John realized his mistake when he felt nothing upon impact. "You gotta be fucking kidding me!" he shouted after realizing that the creature didn't seem to have any genitalia. The mutant then grabbed him by the leg, lifted him bodily into the air, and smashed him into the ground before throwing him back towards the building, again through several layers of the maze wall.

When he landed, he was hardly conscious. Darkness filled his gaze as he felt blood flowing freely from his mouth onto the ground where it began pooling. He stubbornly rolled onto his back as he dimly saw the beast charging again. But as it went for the killing blow, the sound of gunfire rang from the door of the building.

A round from Amata's sniper had pierced its nose and blitzed through its sinuses, making it stop dead in its tracks with a roar of pain. Charon stepped forward and followed up with several blasts from his shotgun, which tore the already grizzly wound wide open. Then Red and Bittercup both unleashed with their automatic weapons, raining on the gaping injury until there was nothing left of the creature's head but a smoking crater. Finally, it fell sideways and hit the ground, again making the ground shake.

Bittercup rushed to his side, a look of longing on her face as she helped him sit up. "Master! No! Please, take me with you!" she cried out as she took his hand and placed it on her throat.

"Back off kid. He's gonna be fine." growled Charon as he took a bottle of what looked like muddy water from his bag. Opening it up, he overturned it onto the Wanderer's face, splashing the liquid on him thoroughly.

"What the hell are you doing!?" asked Amata incredulously as she too knelt down next to him.

"It's highly radioactive water. I'd suggest you two step back before you get a case of the rattles." advised Charon as he tossed the bottle aside and reloaded the shotgun in his hands.

"Why the hell are you soaking him with radio...active...water?" started Amata, but she went wide eyed in surprise as she watched the gentle glow of his veins start to appear in his throat. Even a gashing wound in his chest from being hurled through the wooden fence was starting to weave itself back together.

Soon, it was like he was never injured at all. The Wanderer sat up and wiped the putrid water from his face, shooting a glare at Charon as he did. "Has anyone ever told you you're an asshole?" he asked as he flung away the water.

"I started to think it was my name for a while." responded the ghoul as he held the shotgun over his shoulder.

"I wonder why that is." said John as he got to his feet, leaving an amazed Bittercup, and a highly confused Red and Amata on the sidelines.

"Okay, what the fuck are you?" asked the girl with the bandana as she took a step back from John.

He glared at her, not in the least bit motivated to start explaining himself. "I'm a fucking superhero. Just listen to the goddamn radio and you'll hear all about who I am and what I've done." he griped as he waved his arms around for dramatic effect. Amata giggled lightly at him, which killed his anger slightly, and just made him smile. "Look, that's a really long story, and I have to get to Little Lamplight now. So I'll tell you what. You go back to your people, lead them to Megaton, and when I get back from all this, I'll tell you all about it. Okay?" he asked in a more reasonable tone.

Red stared at him for a long moment through her bifocals, then simply nodded. "Alright then." she said as she patted Shorty on the back, who seemed as dumbstruck as she had been. "Let's go you two. We've got a ways to walk tonight." she barked as she readied her assault rifle for battle.

"I'm going with Master!" shouted Bittercup defensively as she hid behind John.

"Bittercup…" growled Red as she cracked her knuckles.

But John raised a hand in the girl's defense. "Don't worry. I'll take her with me." he said with a knowing smile, which got a curious, but annoyed look from Amata and a squeal of joy from the girl herself. "I know exactly what to do with her."


	89. A New Member of the Family

OoO( 89 )OoO

"Well well, look what the bat dragged in." said an amused voice as an extremely annoyed Wanderer stepped inside the dimly lit train terminal. John looked over and looked at the figure setting next to the entrance to the station. It was Ian, looking even more filled out than before and taller as well.

"Every time I see you it looks like you've passed another stage of your life. Keep going and you'll hit a midlife crisis before you're thirty." grumbled John as he rubbed his jaw.

Ian laughed lightly and patted the man on the shoulder. "Good to know you still care." he said, then eyed the curious bruise forming on the side of the man's face. Looking to his companions, the ghoul he had met previously was still as stone-faced as ever, and there were two new females in his presence. One he remembered glimpsing at Megaton, but the other was clueless. Regardless, the taller, dark-haired one had a look on her face that said she was holding back the floodgates of riotous laughter. Looking back at John's annoyed expression, the vampire cocked an eyebrow. "Something the matter?"

"Yeah, your welcome mat hit me, same as it did last time." growled John as he lowered his hand to show where the baseball had hit. Finally, the armored woman cracked, and covered her mouth, laughing as silently as she could. Even Ian had to crack a smile. "I'm glad everyone finds this sooo funny." he said, turning and staring lasers at the female, who had to turn away to hide her laughing.

"Come on, we have some cold blood backs on the clinic. I'm sure they'll let you slap one on there." said Ian with a slight chuckle in his voice as he tried to lead the man away.

But John shook his head firmly. "Sorry, but we've got business to attend to. Is Vance around?" he asked, going back to rubbing the sore spot on his chin.

"He is. I'll have someone go get him. He can meet us in the clinic, while you cool that thing off." said the young man with a smirk as he stopped a passersby and sent them off with the order.

The gunman gave an annoyed sigh. After finally conceding to Ian's annoying smile, he just waved his hand. "Lead the way."

"So...are all of these people...like you?" asked Amata nervously as she looked around at all the people milling about the train station. She'd heard John's stories about these people before, but despite his assurances, she still couldn't shake the chill from her spine. One particular young man who was staring at her tried to smooth his hair flat and smiled as she spotted him. She wasn't sure if he was staring because he found her attractive, or if it was because she was a walking wine glass to him.

"If you're asking if everyone in here is in the Family, then no. Many among our number currently are human. Many more than members of the Family actually." he said as he opened the door to the clinic room. It was rather small, but it did have a large freezer in the corner that looked like it had been pilfered from a Red Rocket gas station. Through the clear cover on the cooler, she could see many bags marked with many different letters indicating the donor's blood type.

"Wait, so you have humans living with you?" she asked curiously as she gave Ian a started look.

The vampire nodded as he retrieved one of the blood bags and handed it to John, who then slapped it on his aching face. "A while ago, we realized the inconvenience in our treaty with Arefu. Despite our offer to protect them, we could do next to nothing in the daylight if they were attacked. We thought about making a shelter beneath the overpass in the shade, but one grenade would expose us to the sun, which greatly weakens us."

"So you guys are like...real vampires?" asked Bittercup, who had been staring at Ian with large, inquisitive eyes since they had arrived.

"In a manner of speaking. We have the teeth, and our blood and organs have mutated to allow us to live solely off blood. But we're not...you know...BLAH! GIF ME YOR BLOOOOOD!" he said theatrically as he held his arm in front of him like he were brandishing a cloak. Even in his foul mood, John smirked at the obvious reference. "And while we don't burst into flames in direct sunlight, it does severely inhibit, and eventually kill us. Same as a human standing in high radiation too long." Bittercup just stood staring at Ian with wonder in her eyes, making him look oddly at the others. "Who is this?"

"Ian, meet Bittercup. A former resident of Big Town who is morbidly obsessed with blood and death." said John as he waved a hand at her in introduction.

"Good to meet you…" he said, eyeing her as she stood awkwardly close to him.

"You were saying about the humans?" asked Amata as she leaned against the wall. Once she had heard a bit more science on the matter, she felt slightly at ease, knowing that they weren't going to sink their teeth into her at a whim.

He turned away from the fawning girl and nodded to the dark-haired woman. "Right. Anyway, our deal was that if they donate blood to us, either directly from...well…" he said, tapping his neck lightly. "Or through blood bags, which we can extract here, we would protect them from raiders, wildlife, and pretty much anything that threatened their way of life."

"But you could only protect them at night." said John, who was talking with less bite in his tone now that his jaw wasn't aching.

"Correct. So we made a slight alteration to the treaty. The people of Arefu could come and live with us, here. And we would make a place for them where they could live life simply enough, and any bandits or raiders that tried to get to them would have to get through us first." said Ian as he accepted the blood pack back from the Wanderer and placed it in the freezer. "So, in a manner of speaking, New Arefu is down here. The people decided that living with vampires who wanted little more than blood and acceptance was better than living with the chance of psychotics kicking their door in."

Suddenly, the door to the clinic opened and the familiar face of Lord Vance stepped in. "I had heard we have a visitor." he said, eyeing Amata and Charon curiously before curiously looking over at John. "Ah yes, our peacemaker. I was hoping you would come by again soon." he said with a pointed smile. Currently he lacked his usual armor, opting instead to wear his underclothing and longcoat to the meeting. John stood up and held out his hand, which Vance shook firmly. "Did you come by to visit our new inhabitants?"

But the Wanderer shook his head firmly. "Unfortunately, no. I'm on some pretty urgent business and only stopped in to drop someone off." he said as he patted Bittercup on the shoulder lightly. The girl looked at him in slight agitation, a look that had Amata smirking.

The leader of the Family looked down at the girl curiously with his red-tinged eyes. "She wishes to become a citizen of Arefu?"

"I wanna be a vampire!" she shouted as she jumped and clung to Ian so quickly that it nearly knocked him out of his chair.

John had a satisfied smile on his face while the Ian West adopted one of annoyance. "She wants to become a vampire?" he asked as he pried her off of his body.

Vance cocked an eyebrow at the curious blonde girl. "I must say, we have had volunteers in the past, but normally it's older folks thinking to extend their lives. This is a first."

"We found her in Big Town. She's obsessed with death and blood, and I thought that you might be looking at a future member of the Family." said John as he stood with his arms akimbo. "Assuming, that is, that you do have a way of converting someone. We didn't exactly get into the gritty details of how your mutation works."

The dark lord nodded his head, remembering their first conversation together. "There is indeed a way for those who persist. But she must be absolutely sure, because once the process is done, there is no reversing it. And once you have been taken into the family, the only method of leaving is death" he said as he looked down at her sternly. As she looked up at the raven-haired man, her knees almost gave out.

"Yes." she said meekly.

"There is no eternal life. You will age as other humans do, and you will never again be able to see the sun, or eat regular food. Instead, you will only ever be able to feast off of the blood of living creatures. You are fine with this?" he asked in a no nonsense tone.

"Yes yes yes YES YES!" she screamed happily, surprising them all as she nearly burst into tears.

John scratched his head with a grim chuckle. "I think you're just making it more appealing for her."

Vance too scratched his head, flabbergasted at the girl's glee. But, he just shrugged his shoulders and smirked, showing one of his pointed fangs. "Well, then let's get to it then. No point in keeping it from her. Who will be her liege?" he asked, staring directly at Ian.

"No...please…" begged the young man, but the girl clung to him, not so differently than she had to the gunman earlier.

Amata slunk over to John's side, a small grin on her face as she elbowed him silently. "You weren't kidding."

He grinned wider than he had in days. "What can I say, I'm a hell of a matchmaker." he said happily. Then he eyed Vance curiously, the vampire leader even chuckling at the youth's dismay. "So, how does it work exactly?"

"Scientifically, it's very simple. She drinks the blood of one of our kind. Then, her body either accepts it, and she becomes one of us, or her body rejects it, and she throws it back up immediately." he said, making the Wanderer nod at its simplicity. "Of course we're always one for dramatization, so it takes a bit more than that to actually join the family."

"And what if she isn't able to become one of you?" asked John curiously as he leaned back against the table again.

Vance shrugged. "It happens every now and then. Some people have fallen for a member of the Family and wanted to join. But not everyone is compatible I'm afraid. She will still be free to stay here with us, and if she wishes to help us further, then she can become a blood doll."

"Sorry...but, blood doll?" asked Amata, horrified at the sound.

Vance chuckled and nodded. "It was a name the people of Arefu gave those who donate blood through direct contact rather than getting it medically withdrawn." he said as he snapped his fangs. "Usually it involves either blood relatives of a member, or a significant other. But anyone can be one really. Should John here join our family someday, perhaps you…?" he asked, gesturing to Amata.

Immediately, the Overseer's face turned beat red and John's eyes widened. "Uh yeah, appreciate the offer, but I enjoy my snack cakes." he said, smashing the possibility quickly. Then he immediately redirected the subject. "So, do we need to be here for this or can we go?"

"Of course not. Her and her liege will be the only ones required to be present, aside from myself of course. But it's a short process if you'd like to watch. Perhaps give you a bit of insight on us you didn't have before." offered Lord Vance as he gestured for Ian to take the girl out of the clinic.

John was about to refuse, but Charon stepped forward before he had the chance. "I'm watching." he said and immediately left the clinic, causing John to frown.

He looked over at Amata, who still had rosy cheeks from the earlier image. "What about you?"

She shrugged slightly and gave him an analyzing stare. "Well, if you're leaving then I'm leaving with you. But I have to say, I've never seen anything like this before, and would like to stick around if that's alright."

He sighed and rubbed his head gently. "Fine fine. As long as it's short." he groaned, getting a chuckle from the Overseer as he headed for the door. She watched as Vance opened the door for him, then reached up and rubbed her neck gently. All it took was a few words to put the image of John the handsome vampire going for her neck to make her knees weak. She shook the thought from her head and moved forward through the door to join the ceremony.

OoOoO

After about twenty minutes, everyone present in the terminal had gathered between the escalators where a small stand was set up. On it stood an annoyed looking Ian, and next to him was Bittercup who was practically bouncing in her worn out sneakers.

Lord Vance stood before the crowd of onlookers, most members of the Family, some blood dolls, and some full vampiric. "This meeting of the Family has been called in order to welcome a potential new member among our ranks. She was brought by a friend…" he said, his dark eyes looking towards John and Amata. "And volunteered her service and her oath to the Family. So she shall be given the gift, and we will see if her body accepts. But, before that…" he said, turning to the young blonde woman. "Give me your name child."

She gleamed up at him as she held Ian's arm. "Bittercup!"

But he glared darkly at her and shook his head. "No, your true name."

Her smile vanished at the order. "M-My true name?" she asked, getting a nod from the leader. She hadn't heard her true name since she was a small child. Her mother was the last to use it. Just thinking about it brought the memories back in heated flashes. Her father's last cries of pain as he was slaughtered, her mother screaming for her to run, the raider holding her mother's severed head over her and allowing the blood to shower down on her as she sat, curled up and crying on the floor. Her eyes were wide now with tears flowing down her cheeks without even realizing it. "Lilith."

Vance nodded. "Lilith. Do you swear your oath to me, and to your liege, and by the blood of this pact swear to uphold the Five Laws of the Family?" he asked, his voice booming across the still terminal.

Her face grew more determined and she nodded firmly. "I swear!"

"The First Law: Feast not on the flesh; consume only the blood. This is our strength. We do not eat the flesh of those we kill for food. We will only drink of their blood and leave the body intact. The consumption of flesh is filthy and unclean. This action is what causes the humans to treat us like animals. We are not animals, we are the Family." he spoke, then looked from the scroll he head down to her. "Do you swear to follow this law?"

She nodded again. "I swear to follow this law."

"The Second Law: Bear not the child; welcome only the exile. This is our fate. Because we carry the stain of our past in our bodies, we can never let it pass to our offspring who would in turn carry out those foul actions beginning the cycle anew. The Family must seek the Wasteland for others of its kind in order to maintain itself. That is our fate. Do you swear to follow this law?"

John had a mild look of surprise on his face as she once again swore to follow the law. Ever since he had met the girl, she had always been so comically hyperactive and clingy that it was almost comical. But the moment Vance had asked for her name, the entire act vanished in a puff of smoke. He had never seen her more serious than she was now as she looked through tear-stained eyes at her future leader.

He felt a nudge from his left side and turned to see Lucy with a glowing smile. "I turn my back for ten minutes and my brother is already becoming a liege? I take it your hand was in this?" she asked cheerfully from under her typical baseball cap.

He shrugged with a small grin. "I had a part, that's about it."

Then Lucy looked back to the stage and bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. "Oh! Here's the good part!" she said quietly to both John and Amata. The pair looked up as well as Vance finished the last law, and asked her one last time if she swore to follow it.

Rolling up the scroll, the vampire lord passed it off to his wife, Holly, then turned back to the pair on stage. "Then you have become a member of the family. Whether your blood accepts you or not, you are here, and we are now your brothers and sisters of the night." he said with a smile on his face. Turning to Ian, the pale man nodded.

Ian had changed his demeanor as well it seemed. When he was first on the stage, he had a look of agitation, which John felt slightly bad for. He hadn't intended to just drop an annoying bomb on someone else. But as soon as she changed, he did as well. And now he had a passive, almost eager look on his face. Lifting his own wrist, he sunk his fangs into it, immediately causing blood to burst from the skin. Amata's eyebrows nearly hit her hairline at the act.

Then, he stepped behind Bittercup and held his arm in front of her. The blonde girl's eyes went wide as well, seeming to fall back into her trance-like state from before as she watched the flow of the crimson fluid drip off his arm. But instead, she reached up and brought it to her mouth, using her tongue to gather the blood from his wrist and swallow it. She continued to drink for another few seconds before her eyes shot open, a look of horror on her face.

For the first time since he had met the girl, John looked towards her with worry as she dropped to her knees and held her stomach, groaning in pain. Ian knelt down and gently rubbed her back as her eyes squeezed shut in apparent agony. Throughout the hall, everybody was silent except for those on stage, every breath held for the reveal. And it took a long minute of staring at the girl who practically convulsed in her suffering stopped. Gripping the edge of the stand, she coughed heavily, feeling as if she were going to vomit on the floor in front of them. But instead, she let out a pained gasp and looked up at them all.

Some members of the audience cheered as they saw that her soft brown eyes had changed to a dark shade of red. She gulped in air rapidly as Ian helped her to her feet. Then he tilted her chin up so that she was staring directly at him. "Lilith…" he said softly, which apparently had the immediate effect of calming her down. "You have taken of me, now as your liege, I must take of you."

She broke into one of the most genuine smiles John had ever seen on her face and nodded. "Take as you wish, Master." she said, before exposing her already pale neck to him. He held her head gently, then leaned forward and did as the oath bid him. He sunk his teeth into her neck and drew blood from her veins, making her gasp as she gripped his shoulders tightly.

Amata looked over at John, his expression a mix of intrigued and annoyed. "What's the matter?"

"I always wanted to be a werewolf." he groaned, getting a chuckle from Lucy.

Amata herself laughed into the palm of her hand before giving him the most ludicrous look of curiosity. "What?"

"My entire life my father had told me that what we are witnessing today was nothing more than a cannibalistic ritual done by Satan worshipers of bygone days. None of it was real, not even the possibility of it. But since I left the vault, I was injected with a serum that allows me to lift cars, a madwoman gave me the power to fully regenerate my body through the use of radiation, and I've met a man who can control the sands and wind as if it were no harder than breathing. And now I'm standing here, watching someone be turned into something that my medical history says is impossible." he griped as he turned to her with a deadpan look on his face. "So, fuck it. I wanna be a werewolf."

As the people around them clapped for the new member, Lucy and Amata both busted out laughing.

OoOoO

"Thank you. I know I was kinda annoying." said Bittercup as she scrubbed her eyes. She currently had a bandage wrapped around her neck to keep more blood from flowing from the open wound Ian had given her.

"Kinda." said John with a smirk as he waited next to the door to the train terminal.

"But...I know my place is here. So thank you." said the blonde girl as she gleamed up at him.

He nodded firmly at her as Ian finally joined them as well after he finally pried himself away from the may congratulators. "Just make sure you put some effort into this one. I don't know if what the Big Town citizens said was true, but this relationship needs to last."

"It will." she said as she practically melted into Ian's side when he put his arm around her.

John looked up at the young man curiously. "So, how does this work now?"

He simply shrugged. "Her canines will probably fall out in the next couple of months to make room for new ones, her skin will become more and more sensitive to sunlight, and she'll slowly be taken from real food to blood once her body starts showing signs of the full change. Over all, it'll probably be a year before she's fully like me or Vance."

"Well, if I find any more teen girls looking for a master, I'll send them your way." said John with a grin that spelled mischief on his face.

Ian glared at him with a dark expression. "There will be no corner of this world you can hide from me if you do." he said in a morose, if not light-hearted tone.

John snickered as he pocketed his hands in his duster. "Who says I'd hide?"

"Oh knock it off you two." growled Lucy as she smacked her younger brother in the back of the head and gave John one of her stern glares. Both of them immediately backed off as the blonde woman looked at the Wanderer curiously. "So, you all are heading out now?" she asked curiously, noticing their packs and weapons already loaded onto their bodies.

"Yeah, we've got a ways to go. And while we may have the location down now, there's still a lot of wasteland between here and there for something to go wrong." said Amata with a nonchalant shrug.

"Well, don't be a stranger then. Come by and see us every so often." she ordered, pointing directly in the Wanderer's face."

He leaned his head back slightly, crossing his eyes to stare at the finger. "Yes ma'am."

After they all said their final goodbyes, John, Amata, and Charon all left Seneca Station and stepped into the night air. "Never has so much of my life ever been proven wrong in one night." said the Wanderer with a slight grin on his face. He was partially happy to have found the girl her rightful home, and partially happy to finally be able to walk without her stuck to his leg.

"Oh you loved it. You're going to write a comic about it as soon as we're done getting the purifier running. Then they're gonna make holovids of you dressed like Bela Lugosi reinacting the whole damn thing." said Amata, who almost bust out laughing as he gave her a threatening glare.

Finally, the Wanderer turned to Charon, who had been silent through the whole ceremony, and through everything after as well. "What about you Charon? What did you think?"

"Thinkin' about joining them. Making the undead look work for me." he said jokingly. Despite how poor the attempt was, both of the others hand to shake their heads to keep from laughing.

"Oh come on Charon. You're so old they'd probably bite your neck and spit out sand." remarked John, who got an evil eye from the ghoul.

"You just remember hotshot. I've got a shotgun and a lot of radiated water to bring you back with." he growled, making them laugh again as they set off into the west.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** Still a better love story than Twilight, amiright? :D

Joking aside, I'm super disappointed I wasn't able to get this out for Halloween.

The character's costumes are as follows.

 **John:** The Silver Shroud  
 **Elsa:** The Pirate Bloodylocks  
 **Sarah:** The Unbeatable Shebeast  
 **Amata:** Illinois Smith (from the 2026 holovid called "Illinois Smith and the Keepers of the Grail.")  
 **Liberty Prime:** The Metallic Giant (from the 2060 kid's holovid of the same name)  
 **Charon:** The Headless Horseman (Because he refused to dress up, so Elsa jammed a carved gourd onto his head)  
 **Maggie:** The Wanderer (She literally dressed just like him, and even had Billy fashion her a duster in her size.)  
 **Dogmeat:** Skeletal Dog (Maggie painted bones on him with a paste made of Nuka Cola Quantum, making him look like a skeletal creature walking around in the dark. She got in trouble and later had to apologize to Nathan Vargas who jumped off one of the catwalks in Megaton to get away, resulting in a broken hip.)  
 **Cid & Reilly:** Hockeyface and Franky Knifehands (Horror movie villains)  
 **Lana & Chris:** Noir Gangsters  
 **Poison:** Cleopatra  
 **Butch:** Elvis Presley  
 **Mary:** Aphrodite  
 **Gob:** Gob

Happy late Halloween everyone!


End file.
